She May Have Been a Kennedy...

Eunice Kennedy Shriver passed away this week. She is known as the sister of former president John F. Kennedy and more importantly, the founder of Special Olympics. She was inspired by her intellectually disabled sister and that inspiration led her to create an Olympic event catering to such persons.

What you may not know is that Kennedy was pro-life. This may surprise us considering the political dynasty to which she belonged, but not when we consider her commitment to equal rights for every human being. To Shriver, all human life is worthy of protection. She understood that if the preborn child is not worthy because he/she failed to pass someone's "personhood test," eventually the intellectually disabled would fail as well.

I am saddened that none of the news outlets I heard report on her passing made mention of her commitment in this area.

"It is my deepest hope that the world can begin to look at our friends with special needs and, for once, tell them, 'Yes, you do belong; yes, you are wonderful; yes, you can be a shining light of hope for the world!"
— Eunice Kennedy Shriver

Sotomayor's Christian Oath

Sonia Sotomayor took the oath to become our newest member of the Supreme Court. I couldn't help but notice that she made this vow with her hand upon...the Bible. She ended her oath with the words..."So help me God." Let us pray that she will remember both when she is asked to rule on the First Amendment.

Ignorance in Pennsylvania

The Pennsylvania legislature rescinded its invitation to a Gettysburg pastor to open a session in prayer because the pastor included the name of Jesus in that prayer. (Advanced written copies of all prayers must first be supplied before the visiting minister is allowed to pray.)

The folks of Pennsylvania must not know much about our nation's history; how, for example, just days after Thomas Jefferson wrote his "wall of separation letter," he went to the capitol to hear a visiting Baptist preacher proclaim the gospel..at the invitation of congress! Obviously, the wall of separation between church and state didn't prohibit the full preaching of the gospel within the walls of government. That prayer in Jesus' name would have been considered contrary to the first amendment would be laughable were it not for the ignorance required to hold that position.

Pray for Our Brothers and Sisters in North Korea

A North Korean woman has been publicly executed for distributing Bibles in that nation. We should remember this entire family in prayer.

Members of our church recently had Bibles confiscated by the Cuban government during a trip to the Island nation to our south. In both cases we see how frightened these communist governments are of the Word of God. Even nonbelievers recognize the power of this book to transform hearts and lives...and societies. Furthermore, once someone has tasted real freedom in Christ, they will long for freedom in every realm of life and they will rarely support regimes that seek to deny it.

Gee, Ya Think?

A new study finds that sexual activity among teens is correlated to tv viewing. Gee, ya think? The sooner children view adult content, the sooner they are sexually active, the study claims. What's really fascinating is that for every hour that children ages 6-8 watched adult content, their chances of having sex during early adolescence rose 33 percent.

A Worthy Promotion

While I was as surprised as anyone to hear about Sarah Palin's resignation as Governor of Alaska, I have been sickened to hear and read the political commentary surrounding it. Everyone is debating whether or not this is a good political move or whether it helps or hurts her chances to become president. Let me tell you what I have yet to hear: I haven't heard anyone asking whether this is a good parenting move or whether it helps or hurts her chances to raise godly children. Frankly, as much as I supported Palin, her resigning as Governor is a promotion. In fact, I'll take it one step further. I believe that the role of a mother is so important and so honorable and so worthy of respect that if Palin were to go from being a full time mother to being president, THAT would be a demotion.

A Funny Surprise

I looked inside the cover of a book I have to read for my next Doctor of Ministry class and I was surprised to see that I had an autographed copy. (I'm not going to publish the author's name online.) The author had written a personal note to a "Jim and Nancy" in which he said "Thank you for putting up with my son." It turns out, "Jim and Nancy" sold me their copy of this book on Ebay. So the question is, just how hard was his son to put up with?