Family makes a difference through foster care and adoption...

This article and "Today" show video tell the story of Daniel and Lori O'Brien. They are 2 ordinary people who decided to open their homes and hearts to 11 foster children. They ended up adopting 7 of them, in addition to their 3 biological children.

They took in all kinds of kids: different races, kids who had been beaten and molested, kids who were deemed "unadoptable." They didn't have a lot of money, or a fancy home, but they did have what every kid needs--lots of love.

For me, there's something to be learned here. I don't know if these folks are Christians, but I do know that if every Christian family was willing to take in a child or two, there soon wouldn't be any kids left who needed homes.

Like I said in last week's podcast, we Christians really do have it in our power to live out the gospel by taking care of the neediest people on earth. Unfortunately, we instead spend countless millions on stuff we don't need, and political campaigns to pass laws that make sure unbelievers "act Christian."

NFTW #019--How Christians use their money; Your false beliefs may be dragging you down!

Christians have an opportunity to end a lot of suffering in the world. But we'll have to change the way we use our money. Will we do it?

Also, do you have false beliefs that get between you and God?

Listen to the podcast here:



Or right-click here to download!


Here is the ABP article I quote from...

Did anyone else see this one coming?

It must be true what they say: $700 billion doesn't go as far as it used to...

NFTW #017--What are we spending our money ?; What is God keeping for us?

We need to pray for believers in India.

A new survey causes me to ask: What should we be spending our money on?

Also, What does God keep for us?

Listen here:




Right-click here to download this podcast!

Here is the story on the trouble in India.

This is the story of the survey on what churches are raising money for.

DisneyGirl needs to discover Chris Tomlin...

Yesterday, I mentioned that my boy has discovered my iPod. He belts out the Chris Tomlin in the YMCA locker room, and all the way on the drive home.

I'm a little more disturbed by what I heard from DisneyGirl, my oldest daughter, when I came home yesterday. She and the Mighty Mrs. J were dancing around, singing a great old hymn of the faith. You know the one:

Elvira
Elvira
My heart's on fire
For Elvira

As if that wasn't disturbing enough, I then hear DisneyGirl singing the heartfelt lyrics, "Giddy up, oompapa, mow mow." Although, when she sang it, it was more like, "Giddy up, chippy, chippy, waw waw."

I think we need to schedule an intervention for her...

Good folks doing good work...

The Mighty Mrs. J and I are blessed. We have a great marriage (at least I think so), with great kids, and a nice house. We don't have a ton of money, but we don't hurt for anything either. And it's becoming more important to us that we help people in this world who have real needs. There's a lot of reasons this is more important to us. One, it is the right thing to do. Second, we want our kids to realize how blessed they are, especially compared to other people.

I say all that to tell you about one of the groups that we've been supporting for a while, the Foothills Pregnancy Resource Center. They work with pregnant women here in southern California. They provide counsel and guidance for these women, trying to get them to choose life for their babies. They are growing, reaching out, trying to provide more services to the communities they serve.

Here's a link to their web site. Click over and see for yourself what they do. And, I'm not one to tell you how to spend your money. But while you're at their site, why not give them a donation? Saving kids is a pretty terrific way to spend your money...

Stuff I'm thankful for...

Well, it's close to Thanksgiving, at least here in the US. I know up in America's Hat, you've already celebrated the holiday. But heres something I'm thankful for: my dog. Specifically, my dog Maxine. She's the one who just cost us enough to pay for a used car. I took her to the vet again today, and she looks like we're going to survive.

How affluent are we in the US? So affluent that our vet wouldn't even consider that we wouldn't want to pay so much to save the dog. There was no question. And, we were able to pay it without going broke. Is it right to spend that much on a dog? Probably not, but once we already owed it, we had no choice.

Anyway, the point is I'm thankful that our dog is OK. And I thankful that we're so blessed that we can afford an occasional outrageous bill...