Always Reforming

Here we are again.  It's 2018 and another American Institution is under fire.  This time it's Laura Ingalls Wilder and her beloved Little House on the Prairie .  For me personally LHotP invokes memories of my childhood as the TV show was one of my mom's favorites (Michael Landon will always be one of my favorite Western heroes, both from this and especially Bonanza).  How could the liberals go after such a valued tradition?  You might as well burn the flag! Well, okay, let's be honest...there are some dicey things in the books/show.  Even modern conservatives would probably grimace at some of the viewpoints that pervade the series.  The treatment of American Indians/Indigenous Peoples/African Americans is, of course, the biggest issue.  It is, to put it simply, not well-balanced.  White people are good; red people--bad, right?  Black people?  I guess they're simple and helpful.  That's about as complex as it gets.  It i...

When you're young, you think you know everything, but, as you get older, you learn that maybe your parents, and parents in general, weren't lying when they tried to tell you what you didn't know.  As you mature, you gain more knowledge and wisdom and you are more useful to God, your family, and society.  As you learn what you don't know, you are humbled and try to learn so that you can teach the next generation.  That is, at least, how it is supposed to work. I don't know if I ever thought I knew everything  about being a father (I was the youngest after all), but I'm sure I didn't know what I didn't know.  I didn't know that I knew little to nothing about being a father.  I didn't know how hard being a father is.  Let me tell you, being a father is really hard.  Well, let me say that another way.  Being a good father is really hard.  I know I've been less than that at times.  My temper has been too short, as has my attention span...

My wife and I have had four kids in just under six years, so you could say it's been a busy half decade for our family.  Having kids teaches you so much about life, which means that having them quickly gives you a crash course.  Sometimes you have to pause and consider the lessons that life has imparted to you on your journey.  Here's a few of the things I've learned so far: 1) Raising kids is difficult--way more difficult than you can anticipate while yet childless. 2) Raising kids is expensive, but maybe not as expensive as people make it out to be. 3) Bearing children is difficult on the human body (okay, I learned this one vicariously).  4) Consequently, not every woman can physically bear a dozen children, especially given the modern dearth of nutrition in our food. 5) Parenting while tired can make you say and do things you regret. 6) Gabriel needs a little brother. 7) Having less than seven children does not mean you don't love kid...

Give ear, O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old: Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children, showing to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he has done. For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children: That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children: That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments: And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not steadfast with God. (These are my notes, unedited, from a lesson this mornin...