Raising Purity

More than two years ago my good friend Gerald Hiestand showed me a book he had written. At the time, the book had no title and existed solely as a Word document on a thumb drive. Though still rough around the edges, I found its contents compelling and since I am always eager to jump in over my head I told him I would like to publish it. (Actually jumping in over my head might be a little understated. It was probably more like diving head first into shark infested waters.)

After two new babies, two moves (one remodel), two job changes, two master's degrees, a couple of surgeries, and many revisions of the book we are more than excited to announce its completion.

This book is an essential resource for any Christian parent hoping to raise pure children in a world that celebrates the opposite. Check out the www.raisingpurity.com and let us know what you think.

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Chewing On Peach Pits

There was a time in the history of mankind where staying fed and clothed was all one had time for. Between hunting animals with primitive weapons to hiding from animals hunting you there was little time to do much else.

It didn't take long for people to decide it would be easier to just catch some of these animals and keep them penned up so they could easily find them the next time they wanted a midnight snack. Pretty soon someone figured out they were really good at making cheese and instead of growing their own wheat crackers they just started trading their extra cheese for wheat crackers with the wheat farmer down the street who was really good at making crackers but not so hot at growing cheese.

A couple months later people were trading cheese for things other than crackers. People figured out they could trade their cheese for apples, venison, twine, fruitcake, and down payments on five year adjustable rate mortgages.
Up to this point the roof had not yet been invented but the flies, sun, rain, and occasional marauding band of Germanic mice prompted them to build the very first Kroger's Super Market.

All this was going through my mind while shopping at the Super Target down the street. At my fingertips I found everything I wanted, things I had not previously realized existed but now that I new existed I wanted, and things I really did not want but might end up buying anyway simply because of a well planned marketing campaign.

Exhausted from hunting down the perfectly ripe fruit, my wife's favorite brand of cereal, and the freshest milk I shoved my overflowing cart to the checkout isle. All around me well fed people drinking double venti lattes and eating trans fat free cinnamon scones heaped their newly acquired treasures onto the tireless conveyor belts. Piles of clothes, mounds of food, glitzy handheld consumer electronics, and fully automatic cheese graters changed hands without anyone batting an eye.

And totally non-sequitur the otherwise normal looking young-lady behind me had only one green apple to purchase. Here we stood in a maelstrom of perfected consumerism and her entire purchase consisted of one green apple.

Is their a moral you ask? I do not think so but I decided to buy an extra Snickers bar and a National Enquirer to help make up for her lack of societal involvement.

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No Kidding

"Who has placed me here? By whose order and warrant was this place and this time ordained for me? The eternal silence of the infinite spaces leaves me in terror." ~Blaise Pascal

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My basis for reality

This is the age of data. It is impossible to fully research every belief one holds. There is just too much out there to do justice to more than a few areas of thought. As a result I am now basing my reality off what I read on the internet. At one point I was going to rely on cable TV but then I decided there were too many commercials. Someone pointed out that every once in a while contradictions can be found on the internet. I don't believe these exist but if I do stumble upon a pair of these fabled contradictory opinions I will simply believe both.

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Blue Snakes

I had a dream about blue snakes the other night not sure if there is any significance. You can never be sure about these things so I have decided to stock up on venom antidote.

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Not That Anybody is Listening

If an author creates a blogger post and no one is there to read it, is it still a blog? Having long ago alienated my entire readership (all two of them) by not authoring any posts since late last spring, I sit before my keyboard once more to express my thoughts. Thoughts and ideas that will be read only by the unblinking eye of the Google search engine. Regardless, I ignore such lonely thoughts and press forward.

My excuse for having neglected posting to my blog looks out at you from the picture to the left. I consider it a reasonable excuse and by "it" I mean "her". Is she not the most beautiful little girl? If you do not agree, I must warn you to keep your thought to yourself.

I never expected that having a child would be such an amazing experience, an experience marred only by my harrowing experiences in the birthing ward. My psyche cries in agony from the scars brought on by the traumatic events witnessed by mine eyes. These eyes have viewed things no man should see. There are dark womanly secrets in this world that should remain secret - knowledge that should not spread.

Mental scars are a small price to pay in exchange for putting my daughter to bed every night. Until this last April, my feelings on fathership were ambivalent at best. Since April 20, 2005, all questions have vanished. Being a father is more than I could have ever expected. My perspective has indeed shifted.

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Thoughts on Easter II

While not as specifically "Easter" as my Standing Silent poem, I think the following still captures enough of Easter's portent to be worth posting. (Apologies to Gerald for verse three perhaps I will modify it sometime this week. Although after looking at Isa. 53:5 and 1 Peter 2:24 maybe not.)

Living Lost

There was a land of the living lost
To live meant death so great a cost
So great a cost it was for life
A life that burned with hate and strife
Yet those who walked that dreadful plain
Grasped for life despite the pain

They clawed for life because of death
Not letting go till their dying breath
The thought--the pain of life that’s ending
Brought a cry of terror rending
A cry for help, a cry of need
They heard no answer, just their plead

Where was the answer to meet their call
The answer longed for since Adam’s fall
For life eternal there must be blood
Life from death, a cleansing flood
So, one came to pay the cost
He died to save the living lost

Those who choose can now have life
Life that ends unending strife
Death for them has no fear
No more terror, not a tear
Since the day the answer came
The living loved is now their name

~Crnbrdeater

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