Educate Yourself – Even Bill Gates Believes

I often use some great courses from Academic Earth and The Teaching Company.  Sometimes I just watch them myself to learn about a subject, or we use them within our home education.  Apparently, I’m not alone because Bill Gates has written about these resources in one of his latest blogs.

The Gates

If you haven’t discovered these resources, they are great.  It’s like being in college without the dorm rooms and homework!

Cheap Replacements – Good or Bad?

I found a new love, shopping bags!!  OK, I know that’s kind of weird and all, but I love this place called reusablebags.com.  They have these beautiful and sustainable shopping bags for my trips to Aldi’s, Sam’s, etc.  I picked up a few of those babies in various designs and, have to say, I might be the best dressed bag lady at the store.

I received their email the other day about the Top 5 trends of 2009.  One in particular caught my attention:

“Reusables went mainstream in 2009. While it’s great to see the trend take hold among consumers, many eager manufacturers have jumped on the bandwagon and flooded the marketplace with mass-produced, low-price/low-quality reusables. Because of their short lifecycles (and questionable safety and production standards), cheap reusables essentially defeat their intended purpose – which is to reduce consumption!

Unless people wake up to the problems inherent to cheap reusables,  the plague of poor-quality drinking bottles, flimsy polypropylene bags, etc. will become as problematic as the disposables they were designed to replace!”

So, they are talking about things like refillable water bottles, snack containers and reusable bags from the retailers.  Their point was, though to the consumer they appear to be helping the environment, they are in fact so poorly made they will just add to the problem, not help it.  So, instead of buying a Dasani in the bottle, you buy an inexpensive plastic bottle and fill it up at home.  Problem is, that inexpensive bottle is really no better than the Dasani bottle, it will not last.  Same with the Walmart, Target, Food Lion reusable bags.  Use them a few times and they are ripped to shreds.  Put them in the dishwasher or washing machine and you get goo or string.  So, are we playing into the hands of the cheap imitations?

Of course, this is from a supplier of quality bags that cost more so you can make your own mind up about that aspect.  It did make me think, are we not doing the same thing with Christianity?

One of my favorite books ever is The Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning.  He states, “The choice usually presented to Christians is not between Jesus and Barabbas.  No one wants to appear an obvious murderer.  The choice to be careful about is between Jesus and Caiaphas.  And Caiaphas can fool us.  He is a very religious man.  The spirit of Caiaphas lives on in every century of religious bureaucrats who confidently condemn good people who have broken bad religious laws.”

Ouch, and he goes on to say, “The way we are with each other is the truest test of our faith.  How I treat a brother or sister from day to day, how I react to the sin-scarred wino on the street, how I respond to interruptions from people I dislike, how I deal with normal people in their normal confusion on a normal day may be a better indication of my reverence for life than the antiabortion sticker on the bumper of my car.”

So, is today’s Christian a cheap substitute?  Do we even know any winos or sinners anymore?  If not, we need to first, see ourselves as the truest of sinners and second, get out of the aquarium.  Jesus called us to be fishers of men, not keepers of the aquarium.  We must ask God to put us in situations that make us uncomfortable so we can see His people.  We must turn back to the greatest commandment, Love God’s People.

There is no cheap imitation for Christ.  He is about loving the unlovable, helping the poor, seeing the God Child in everyone.  To treat His grace in your life any other way is just adding to the problem.

What If The Hokey Pokey Is What Its All About?

Have you ever seen one of these bumper stickers?  I saw one yesterday and had to chuckle.  We all remember playing this game, putting our hands, feet and bodies in and out and “shaking it all about.”  What a fun, innocent game.

Well, I was wondering if others think maybe that is how we operate as church members?  I mean, we jump in church then we jump out.  We can even be seen “shaking it all about,” though usually this doesn’t happen during worship, if you know what I mean.

As a christian, does the world simply see us as doing nothing more than the Hokey Pokey?  Do we proclaim, “Jesus is what it is all about!”  And, can the world hear us through the noise of those around us jumping in and out, shaking it all about?

In 2010, make sure the world is hearing the tune you want them to hear!!  Live it out loud!

Remember, Christmas is Never Really Over

So, I went to the store today and noticed all the people grabbing the clearance wrap, bows, tags, trees and ornaments.  Since I was there to get a plastic tree storage box, I couldn’t possibly understand having anything else to store.  I mean, my bins are already full.  But, wondering the aisles made me stop to realize, that although the tree is down, the stockings are empty, the treats are gone and the holiday life is nearing an end, Christmas is never really over for the Christian.

Christ came to earth on Christmas Day.  Ok, well maybe it wasn’t the exact date but that is when we have chosen to celebrate His birthday.  The Lord of Lord, the Prince of Peace, Emmanu-el, God with Us came to earth so we might believe in Him and have eternal life.  Most of my presents will be outgrown, broken, out-of-style or discarded in a few years.  However, the true gift of Christ at Christmas never goes away, no matter whether I stop to celebrate the fact or not.

May you feel the gift of Christ each and every day in your life!

What Granger Can Teach Us

Tomorrow, some of the staff from DUMC are attending a conference in Raleigh by the key staff of Granger Community Church, the fastest growing United Methodist Church in America.  I can’t wait to see what wisdom they give to us as we try diligently to make the Gospel alive and free.  How do we take the message of Christ and share it with out current society?  To pretend we serve the same people even 10 years ago makes us unable to relate.  How can we best glorify God?

Hopefully, we can gather new insights into communication of the Message.

Are You Paying Attention?

Did You Know 4.0

Thanks to this great video by XPlane.  Can we really bury our heads in the sand and pretend the world has not changed?  Are we willing to change our perspective to meet today’s generation?  If not us, then who?  If not now, then when?

Leadership Institute, Here I Come!!

I’m headed to the Church of the Resurrection’s Leadership Institute in Kansas City this Wednesday through Saturday.  Today I really got excited because I looked up the descriptions of all the workshops I actually signed up for and got into.  Here’s the lineup:

The Children’s Ministry Boost

Creative Design, Liturgy and Leadership in Worship

Children’s Ministry Essentials

Elementary Sunday School

I can’t wait to see the exciting things God will show me this week as I try to make Denver UMC a fun place for children K to 5th grade to see the face of God.

As I Plan…

Do I include every day or the days to complete the subject?  Answer:  Days to Complete the Subject.  So, using the Sememster Planning Form on DonnaYoung.org, I began today to schedule “Exploring Life” Biology for my rising 9th grader.  I scheduled all 36 weeks but the top is labelled “A, B, C, D & E.”  Thus, if we miss a day, which we will inevitable do at some point, I can pick up where we were and continue on with the schedule.

I also went through the first 9 weeks of the Lab Manual and ordered the supplies I need.  OK, one subject down.

This Time of Year

Every year during this time of the year, I spend an enormous amount of time cleaning, sorting and organizing. I mean I really go through all things. I just can’t stand to plan a new year with all the old stuff sitting around. I want it organized and tidy. I have figured out a few things along the way though like:
* If I haven’t used it by now, get rid of it. There is a reason it doesn’t appeal to me anymore.
* Even if I like it, if it hasn’t been successfully used by now with one child all the way through then it has to go.
* Some things, though great for others, aren’t my style so they have to go.
* One curriculum choice is not going to ruin my children forever.

I’ve been homeschooling for 9 years now so I am beginning to get the hang of this thing!! LOL. I have been keeping lots of things around for “one day” but they are all going this year. Nope, if I haven’t found a way to use them by now, probably never will. Got to have some margin here for the things I do plan on using.

My plan is to organize then plan. Organize then plan. OK, I’ve got it now.

Where Do I Want to End?

I have been reading Susan Wise Bauer’s books called “The Well-Trained Mind” and “The Well Educated Mind.”  As my oldest will be entering high school this year, I am setting up a plan with the end in mind.  I remember reading that by Stephen Covey years ago and, now, here I am.  Where do I want him to be academically, socially, athletically in 4 years?  How am I going to lay out our high school experience to deliver him to that point.

Of course, education is something all my kiddos will have to do for themselves but don’t they deserve to have it challenging and …gasp…fun?  I am trying to get there.

Kristi