Bedrock

Perhaps like the beloved grandfather I never got the chance to be, I am writing especially to younger folks,. I'm the oldest of 4 sons, the oldest of the cousins on one side, and third oldest on the other side of my extended family. My youngest brother was born when I was fifteen, and I was his frequent baby-sitter. I often gravitated toward the elderly because so many that I grew up with were older—grand parents, a couple great grands, aunts and uncles and great grands there as well, and my parents' friends. I also have always had a love for kids. After our father died, I discovered I had a concern for others, like my brothers, going through loss or alienation from their dads. I've lost track of how many in their teens and twenties, mostly boys perhaps because I had only brothers, I befriended. I have been a friend, mentor, tutor, and teacher to young men and a few young ladies growing into adulthood, some have even lived with me. I found them in coffee shops, r

Between a degree in physics and a second in pastoral ministry, I'm well prepared for work as a teacher and tutor, and I have done both. Between one school and the next, I saw a request for tutors for young refugee students from southern Sudan, often called the “Lost Boys.” Though I never had an interest in foreign missions, I became enamored of these survivors, many of whom were eager for an education and the chance to make things better for their people back home. Over time, I helped students from other places in Africa, the Middle East, South and Central America, and Asia, many refugees, but also foreign exchange students and international college students. I hosted 5 exchange students in my home, 2 from South Korea, 1 from Brazil, and 2 from China and supervised a few others. I loved them all like sons, and still do! In the process, I have learned much about the histories and cultures of southern Sudan, Liberia, Gabon, Ethiopia, Somalia, Afghanistan, Guatemala, Honduras,

(Originally posted elsewhere on 10/13/2012) Remember the 3 R's—Reading, Writing, 'Rithmetic? When I started school, they were still important; in fact, somewhere along the way I learned, “ School days, school days, those were Golden Rule days; reading and writing and 'rithmetic, taught to the tune of a hick'ry stick .”  The song  goes on to recall a childhood romance, but it captured the essence of good, basic education — learning to read , based on phonics, which enabled readers to match written words to words they already used in conversation, but progressing to comprehension; then learning to write , which included spelling which was much easier after learning the rules of phonics, then grammar, and finally essays; and to do math --adding, subtracting, times tables, multiplying, dividing, fractions, decimals, and percentage s. No student should move on until these basics have been mastered—no technology needed or allowed ! Parents and teachers should recognize th

More Amusement, Less Moral Certitude Two books written near the end of the last millennium have a message that Americans, especially American Christians, need to hear. The first is AmusingOurselves to Death: Public Discourse in an Age of Show Business , written by Neil Postman . The second is The New Absolutes: HowThey Are Being Imposed on Us How They Are Eroding Our MoralLandscape , by William D. Watkins . The former warns of the risk of preoccupation with various kinds of self-absorbing entertainments and the like, while the latter warns of a redefinition of morality, often introduced as amorality, that is meant to replace the Judeo-Christian values that have anchored and defined Western Civilization and the very heart of the United States, both government and culture. Before I continue, let's engage in a little exercise. I'm going to make a quick list of concerns that arise in the political area, to a great extent because people with an ideological agenda hav

( I recently began a post on this topic but found this 12-year-old article from June 04, 2007.  As the site where I had posted it is no longer available, I am re-posting after updating it.  BTW several of the links no longer work, and I will fix them as I have opportunity ) My aunt, just a few months older that I, had a high school gym teacher who told her students, “Do as I say, not as I do.” My Dad struggled with his weight, and our family doctor, who was himself a big man, told him what kind of exercise he should practice: “Just push yourself away from the table.” Ha! Ha! Very funny. What do we say to a doctor who tells a patient to do what he clearly does not? We have a word for people who say one thing but themselves do something else: hypocrite! What is a hypocrite ? 1) a person who pretends to have virtues, moral or religious beliefs, principles, etc., that he or she does not actually possess, esp. a person whose actions belie stated beliefs; a person who prof

“ Cogito, ergo sum” is a Latin philosophical proposition by René Descartes, which in English is " I think, therefore I am. " I recently saw a t-shirt with “ I think, therefore I am a conservative,” and as I considered that , came up with, “I think, therefore I ask questions, doubt almost everyone, and verify or validate what they write or say. I am an intelligent skeptic, and you should be, too. I originally posted this on October 29, 2007 on another site, which I no longer use, so I apologize if I leave in something dated that you missed or forgot. Do you get as annoyed as I do with the extent to which the government fails to protect our privacy? Have you considered just how ironic and hypocritical the presumed effort is? After all, many in our government want very much to look after us, in every detail of our lives, and many of the citizenry appear to be ready to permit them to do so. How can it look after us as some omnipotent nanny and, at the same time, no