...thoughts expressed
here are not necessarily final.
May 09, 2005
Beauty worth noting...
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Views from our garden
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The quilt is one of the winners at the Paducah
quilt show 05
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One of our favorites from the show and a rose
to greet us at home...
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Even got a cloud in the
shape of Kentucky...sort of... or am I obsessing??
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I finished my writing for my final in a session Friday
evening. My main problem is limiting and editing myself as I can write
twenty pages easier then five. All that memory work comes in handy. I
got a phone interview in this past week that went extremely well, between
the root canal and the deluge at work. But Ma Smith's Mother's Day cookies
arrived stale, as she pointedly let us know. Ain't life grand? Maybe I
should have read this- best
and worst Mother's Day gifts article before the fact...
Narnia Tour dates released.
Check
here often to see what is up on the tour...
Study: Christian Teens Theologically Shallow -Agape
Press
Results from a recent survey conducted by a North Carolina researcher
reveal that the majority of America's youth believe in God, yet there
is a shallowness in their religious knowledge, and they have difficulty
expressing their faith. Christian Smith, a sociologist at University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill, led 133 researchers and consultants in
conducting a project that involved telephone surveys of 3,370 English-
and Spanish-speaking Americans and face-to-face interviews with 267 of
the participants -- all ages 13 to 17. Protracted funding will allow the
researchers to track these young people through 2007. Thus far, telephone
surveys reveal that young people have a broad fondness for religion, although
their religious knowledge is labeled as "meager, nebulous and often
fallacious" as found through the personal interview portion of the
study. In other words, teens were unable to coherently express their beliefs
and the impact of faith on their lives. In addition, many participants
appeared so separated from the traditions of their faith that they viewed
God as a feel-good problem solver who merely existed for that purpose.
There were no indications of an absolute, truth-based theology among the
teens. Smith credits parental tendencies of Baby Boomers, poor educational
and youth programs, and responsibilities and activities that vie for teenagers'
time as reasons for their skewed view of the Almighty.
From a quoteworthy George Will on
CT Blog
"Some Christians should practice the magnanimity
of the strong rather than cultivate the grievances of the weak. But many
Christians are joining today's scramble for the status of victims. There
is much lamentation about various "assaults" on "people
of faith." Christians are indeed experiencing some petty insults
and indignities concerning things such as restrictions on school Christmas
observances. But their persecution complex is unbecoming because it is
unrealistic."
Lifeway announced its
short film award winners some time ago...
Teens Again Will Pray 'A Whole Night' For World's
Unreached Young People- Baptist
Press
I hear lots abut what young people are doing in events
like these- Iwounder if adults might benefit from something similar?
On the Saturday night before Pentecost -- all night long -- teenagers
around the world will ask God's mercy for young people worldwide who have
never heard that Jesus is the way to a life that is full and forever.
Last year's "A Whole Night for the Whole World" stirred the
hearts of young people on six continents, said Dave Bidwell of Youth for
Christ. "Whole Night" organizers with the National Network of
Youth Ministries believe the earnest prayers of a few teenagers can change
the world, said Daryl Nuss, NNYM international coordinator. "On the
first Pentecost, it was the prayers of a few, gathered together in the
Upper Room, who experienced firsthand the power of the Holy Spirit, who
began to testify, who saw multitudes added to their numbers, who turned
the world upside down," Nuss said. This year's event, set for May
14, is being conducted in partnership with Global Day of Prayer, whose
Ten Days of Prayer toward a Greater Pentecost will culminate May 15, Pentecost
Sunday, with an estimated 200 million Christians on all six continents
praying as the sun rises in New Zealand until it sets in the United States.
The "Whole Night" website ( http://wholenight.com) offers resources
and ideas for engaging teens in all-night prayer, Davis said.
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