There Is A Time For Everything

 

"I'm reminded of what an older friend said to a few of us young friends of his recently. Not exactly in his own words, he said there isn't an absolute finish line for everyone in life. Our tracks are different, our lanes are different and our durations- different. The only thing we have in common is the same judge.

For example one person graduates at age 20 and struggles for the next five years to get a job. Another graduates at age 25 and gets a job immediately. One marries a virgin and spends the next decade waiting for the blessings of children. Another, probably after having series of abortions in the past, becomes a mum almost immediately after marriage. One becomes an MD at 30, another becomes MD at 52.

Life is full of twists and turns, ups and downs plus many surprises and offers each one of us have different opportunities. It is up to each of us to patiently prepare and wait for that opportunity.

We learn on the way- no one knows it all or has it better. The devil always tries to tell us that lie over and over but that's just it- A LIE!. There is a reason why we all don't fall at the same time. Its so that when one is down, weak and discouraged, the other, who is strong, can encourage and uplift him.

God never promised that the road would be easy but promised never to leave or forsake us. There's no competition in life so let's learn to go easy on ourselves and trust that God is working it all for good (even if it doesn't make sense at the time). The bible assures us that there is a time for everything but most importantly that "it came to pass".

Whatever trials, challenge or downtime, this too shall pass and in due course, you'll be up and strong again to lift up those who maybe down around you" . It is well with us all, Amen! Lots of things in life are by choice and not by force. Let's try to have an amazing life people!

The Resolution for Men (Excerpts from the movie Courageous)

As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord

THE RESOLUTION is a bold declaration of commitments that men are making to be faithful to God as the spiritual leader of their home. As read in the movie COURAGEOUS, to mark the moment and celebrate the commitment being made to God and family.

Message

THE RESOLUTION

• I DO solemnly resolve before God to take full responsibility for myself, my wife, and my children.
• I WILL love them, protect them, serve them, and teach them the Word of God as the spiritual leader of my home.
• I WILL be faithful to my wife, to love and honor her, and be willing to lay down my life for her as Jesus Christ did for me.
• I WILL bless my children and teach them to love God with all of their hearts, all of their minds, and all of their strength.
• I WILL train them to honor authority and live responsibly.
• I WILL confront evil, pursue justice, and love mercy.
• I WILL pray for others and treat them with kindness, respect, and compassion.
• I WILL work diligently to provide for the needs of my family.
• I WILL forgive those who have wronged me and reconcile with those I have wronged.
• I WILL learn from my mistakes, repent of my sins, and walk with integrity as a man answerable to God.
• I WILL seek to honor God, be faithful to His church, obey His Word, and do His will.

I WILL courageously work with the strength God provides to fulfill this resolution for the rest of my life and for His glory.

As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. ---Joshua 24:15

How To Discipline Children: 7 Tips for Christian Parents

Disciplining your children is an important aspect of parenting. There are many opinions about the right way to discipline your children so sometimes it is hard to know what is best for a Christian family. Even with the following suggestions, there are personal decisions you will have to make. I want to encourage you to follow God’s Word and His plan for raising a godly family and instilling proper character in your children.

God has given you the responsibility to raise your child. That responsibility does not belong to your child’s school — not even your church. It is your responsibility from God; therefore you should take the role of leader and authority with confidence knowing that it is God-ordained that you do so.

Start Early
You must start early with discipline. Waiting until your child is 14 is too late. Habits will have been formed long before then. Babies can quickly become great manipulators of their parents. The way you respond to your child’s manipulation as a baby sets the tone for the rest of your life together. If you wait until your child is 5 years old to start instilling discipline in them, then you have waited too long.

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France to Replace 'Mother' and 'Father' With 'Parents' on Official Documents

The governing body of France has stated that should the government pass legislation redefining the historical interpretation of marriage, current words used to describe parental figures could be removed and replaced with gender-neutral wording.

Francois Hollande, the French President, pledged to introduce legislation that would legalize same-sex marriage while he was running for president. Opponents have voiced their concern over the proposal to remove the words "mother" and "father" from official documents should the country adopt same-sex marriage.

The change would only permit the use of the word "parents," which would be used in marriage ceremonies for both heterosexual and homosexual ceremonies.

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Why Women Still Can’t Have It All - Anne Marie Slaughter

This article is from Anne Marie Slaughter in "The Atlantic" magazine. She was one of the speakers at last year's "The Platform" which held in Lagos, Nigeria. Anne-Marie is the Bert G. Kersetter '66 University Professor of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton University. From 2009 to 2011, she served as Director of Policy Planning for the United States Department of State, the first woman to hold that position. She will be coming to Nigeria again this year, 2012, to speak at the October edition of "The Platform" in Lagos, Nigeria.  

It’s time to stop fooling ourselves, says a woman who left a position of power: the women who have managed to be both mothers and top professionals are superhuman, rich, or self-employed. If we truly believe in equal opportunity for all women, here’s what has to change.

EIGHTEEN MONTHS INTO my job as the first woman director of policy planning at the State Department, a foreign-policy dream job that traces its origins back to George Kennan, I found myself in New York, at the United Nations’ annual assemblage of every foreign minister and head of state in the world. On a Wednesday evening, President and Mrs. Obama hosted a glamorous reception at the American Museum of Natural History. I sipped champagne, greeted foreign dignitaries, and mingled. But I could not stop thinking about my 14-year-old son, who had started eighth grade three weeks earlier and was already resuming what had become his pattern of skipping homework, disrupting classes, failing math, and tuning out any adult who tried to reach him. Over the summer, we had barely spoken to each other—or, more accurately, he had barely spoken to me. And the previous spring I had received several urgent phone calls—invariably on the day of an important meeting—that required me to take the first train from Washington, D.C., where I worked, back to Princeton, New Jersey, where he lived. My husband, who has always done everything possible to support my career, took care of him and his 12-year-old brother during the week; outside of those midweek emergencies, I came home only on weekends.

As the evening wore on, I ran into a colleague who held a senior position in the White House. She has two sons exactly my sons’ ages, but she had chosen to move them from California to D.C. when she got her job, which meant her husband commuted back to California regularly. I told her how difficult I was finding it to be away from my son when he clearly needed me. Then I said, “When this is over, I’m going to write an op-ed titled ‘Women Can’t Have It All.’”

Please click here to continue reading the article in "The Atlantic"..

The Seduction of Pornography and the Integrity of Christian Marriage, Part Two

This is an interesting, incisive piece that I read from Dr Albert Mohler's website. Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr., serves as president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary — the flagship school of the Southern Baptist Convention and one of the largest seminaries in the world.

This is the second part of this subject. If you haven't read part one, please click here.

Part Two

The Christian worldview must direct all consideration of sexuality to the institution of marriage. Marriage is not merely the arena for sexual activity, it is presented in Scripture as the divinely-designed arena for the display of God’s glory on earth as a man and a wife come together in a one-flesh relationship within the marriage covenant. Rightly understood and rightly ordered, marriage is a picture of God’s own covenantal faithfulness. Marriage is to display God’s glory, reveal God’s good gifts to His creatures, and protect human beings from the inevitable disaster that follows when sexual passions are divorced from their rightful place.

The marginalization of marriage, and the open antipathy with which many in the culture elite approach the question of marriage, produces a context in which Christians committed to a marriage ethic appear hopelessly out of step with the larger culture. Whereas marriage is seen as a privatized contract to be made and unmade at will in the larger society, Christians must see marriage as an inviolable covenant made before God and man, that establishes both temporal and eternal realities.

Christians have no right to be embarrassed when it comes to talking about sex and sexuality. An unhealthy reticence or embarrassment in dealing with these issues is a form of disrespect to God’s creation. Whatever God made is good, and every good thing God made has an intended purpose that ultimately reveals His own glory. When conservative Christians respond to sex with ambivalence or embarrassment, we slander the goodness of God and hide God’s glory which is intended to be revealed in the right use of creation’s gifts.

Please click here to continue reading

The Seduction of Pornography and the Integrity of Christian Marriage, Part One

This is an interesting, incisive piece that I read from Dr Albert Mohler's website. Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr., serves as president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary — the flagship school of the Southern Baptist Convention and one of the largest seminaries in the world.

This is the first part... Do not forget to read the second part in another blog post.

The intersection of pornography and marriage is one of the most problematic issues among many couples today–including Christian couples. The pervasive plague of pornography represents one of the greatest moral challenges faced by the Christian church in the postmodern age. With eroticism woven into the very heart of the culture, celebrated in its entertainment, and advertised as a commodity, it is virtually impossible to escape the pervasive influence of pornography in our culture and in our lives.

At the same time, the problem of human sinfulness is fundamentally unchanged from the time of the Fall until the present. There is no theological basis for assuming that human beings are more lustful, more defenseless before sexual temptation, or more susceptible to the corruption of sexual desire than was the case in any previous generation.

Two distinctions mark the present age from previous eras. First, pornography has been so mainstreamed through advertising, commercial images, entertainment, and everyday life, that what would have been illegal just a few decades ago is now taken as common dress, common entertainment, and unremarkable sensuality. Second, explicit eroticism–complete with pornographic images, narrative, and symbolism–is now celebrated as a cultural good in some sectors of the society. Pornography, now reported to be the seventh-largest business in America, claims its own icons and public figures. Hugh Hefner, founder of Playboy, is considered by many Americans to be a model of entrepreneurial success, sexual pleasure, and a liberated lifestyle. The use of Hugh Hefner as a spokesman by a family-based hamburger chain in California indicates something of how pornography itself has been mainstreamed in the culture.

Growing out of those two developments is a third reality–namely, that increased exposure to erotic stimulation creates the need for ever-increased stimulation in order to demand notice, arouse sexual interest, and retain attention. In an odd twist, hyper-exposure to pornography leads to a lower net return on investment–which is to say that the more pornography one sees the more explicit the images must be in order to excite interest. As the postmodernist would explain, in order to “transgress,” pornographers must continue to press the envelope.

Please click here to continue