Did You Vote in the Primary?

This morning I got up a little early and got the family around to get to the poles. I was undecided right up until I stepped into the voting booth. I'm not sure why, but it was a very difficult choice for me. I would have originally voted for Cain, but since he dropped out I have been undecided. In the end I had to go with my gut level feeling.
My wife and I were the third and four to vote in our district. It seemed to be a very low turnout. I encourage everyone to get out and vote for which ever candidate you find yourself pulled toward. The important thing is that you vote and let your voice be heard!!
If you voted today Feb. 28, 2012 let our readers know. Leave a comment a tell us that you voted. If you want you can even tell us who you voted for. Thanks for voting!!

Homeschooling Information

There are few things I really like about my job, but one that really seems to get me excited is talking to parents who are looking for information about homeschooling. Being home schooled myself I have a pretty good vantage point from which to explain the good and the bad about teaching your children at home.


Being that part of the store I work at houses one of the only Teaching Stores in Michigan we get a lot of people coming in looking to purchase materials for homeschooling. On occasion I get to talk with people who are considering the option of homeschooling and are looking for advice. Two of the biggest questions I get asked are 1) “Did you like being home schooled?” and 2) “Won't my kids be socially awkward or inept?” My answers are the same to everyone who asks; 1) “I didn't like it at the time, but looking back I got a really good education.” and 2) to quote my mom, “Your kids will have more social life than they could know what to do with.”

Most people researching home schooling don't realize that most home schooled students are done with their classes by noon. There are organized sports for students to get involve in, and there are classes that they can take that are away from the home.

The young couple that came into the store were shocked when I told them that there are organized sports for home schoolers. They also had no idea that there was anything out there to help teach your children at home. This particular couple had recently moved to the area and wanted to finish out the school year at home. However, when they heard that there were so many options for homeschooling her eyes got big like she wanted to do more than half a year.

The whole reason for this post isn't to convince readers that they should home school their children (heck, I'm not sure I will be homeschooling my own kid) it is to help those who are looking for more information on taking the plunge. The above couple were at a loss on where to get information on homeschooling or even how to begin, so I thought I would try and get some links together in one place to help those searching for more and better information. Note: some of the following links are Michigan based.

Teen Works (Michigan Based)

http://www.teenworks.net/

West Michigan Home School Athletic Association:

http://www.wmhsaa.com/index.php

Lansing Home School Athletic Association:

http://www.homeschoolingmichigan.com/kidsports.html

Abeka Curriculum:

http://www.abeka.com/abekaonline/downloadcatalogs/?user=guest

Home School Resources:

http://homeschoolcentral.com/

Homeschooling Conventions:

http://www.greathomeschoolconventions.com/

Please know that homeschooling is not for everyone. If homeschooling is your education of choice or if you are considering homeschooling please know that this is not a quick fix for children with A.D.D or A.D.H.D. Speaking from experience there will be times when your child will burst into tears because of the frustrations that can come with learning at home. Homeschooling is not easy on the parents, in fact parents need to be more involves than ever before in their child's schooling. If the parent is not attentive the child could end up failing out of school or falling behind their peers in school. While homeschooling can produce some very smart and well rounded students, it can also produce lazy, unhealthy, and uneducated adults.

Looking back on my own experience with homeschooling I realize that I got a good education and I was well socialized. I was involved in home school sports, a top rated youth choir, and had hundreds of friends home schooled and otherwise.

If any reads have any questions feel free to comment and I will try to get back to you in a timely manner.

Ped Egging the Human Heart

I have this affinity to the callouses on my feet. I like to get rid of them. Standing on my feet all day I seem to get an excessive thickness on my heels. A few years ago my wife bought me a “Ped Egg”. You remember the television commercials, don't you? They show a woman using this contraption to remove those pesky callouses on her feet. In just a few minutes they show the woman holding out what seems to be the entire first layer of her dermis in this little glorified skin shaver.

Tonight I was Ped Egging my own pesky, crusty, feet when a thought popped into my head like the sweet aroma of dead skin filling air and half filing the plastic egg. I found myself wondering, “I wonder if Jesus needed a Ped Egg?” I am sure He did because He walked everywhere. I would imagine that His feet were much more crusty than anything we would see today. Then I wondered, “if Jesus ever took a pumice stone to His feet, or at least tried to scrape His callouses on a rock?”

I can't help thoughts like these. They seem to fly into my head so fast that I don't have time to block them. I'm not sure I would even if I could. I get a lot of thinking done this way. The thought flies in, my A.D.D. kicks in, and my mind goes from “What is the square root of 3905763?” (because I am very smart) to, “I wonder if Jesus ever chewed on His own toes nails?” (again, because I am very smart).

I often wonder how far Jesus walked out of His way to see just one person? How far would He go to let some one know His love? The christianese thing to say would be “He walked all the way to the cross”. But, really, how far? Or, better yet, how far did he run, if you see Jesus as the father in the parable of the prodigal son? I don't run much, but I have done my share and it only increases the thickness of skin on my heels, so I would bet that Jesus had to do a lot more running than me.

I tell you what, I see Jesus not as someone who just runs to people in need, but I see Him as a Ped Egg to a world of calloused hearts. And getting down on His knees, looking past the stink and dirt, He takes His Ped Egg and begins to gently, lovingly, scrape the callouses off of our hearts. The interesting thing is, once He gets the callouses off of our hearts, He asks us to go and start doing the same for someone else.

So, who's heart are you Ped Egging?

Human Trafficing

As of late I have been awakened to the rising problem of human trafficking in our country. My wife and I were sitting on the couch a few nights before the super bowl and she was reading and article on human trafficing in America. she read to me a quote from that article in which it stated (and I am paraphrasing here) that something like 20,000 women and young girls were trafficked into Indianapolis to service the super bowl attendees. The super bowl is the single most event in the U.S in which women and girls are trafficked.

These statics blew me away! How could I have missed this before? I guess I have just chosen to not think about the problem. I recently read a book by Philip Yancey entitled "What Good is God" in which Yancey interviews a room full of prostitutes and sex workers. Durring the interview Yancey listened to the women compare their daily quotas. "Linda, a former top madam in Australia who's business used to gross $30,000 per week, remarked that in her day the 'girls' serviced around five clients a day; now they have to accomodate ten to fifteen. Hilda from Costa Rica reacted with shock: 'Fifteen? I did up to a hundred a day, on a double shift!" I was so caught off guard by what these women were saying. I became so sad as I read this portion of Yancey's book that I had to put it down for a few minutes in fear of breaking into tears.

My question is, where is the church? Where is the government? To be honest I know the answer to that question. One of the women Yancey interviewed said that they can't rely on the government officials to stop human trafficing. The government officials are some of their best customers.

I lived for several years in a small town near Lansing, Michigan. When I first moved there I saw a building (L.A. Spa) across from a John Deere dealership which from its name looked to be a spa. Boy was I wrong. From talking with some friends I soon found out that this was no spa. I should have known from the V.I.P sign on the door that it was more than a day spa. My friends and I would make jokes about the place, but since I have learned more about human trafficing I don't find it funny anymore.

What if the women hold up in that place are there against their will? What if they are never allowed to see the light of day or step outside and get some fresh air? What if they are being beaten daily? I have never seen anyone go in or out of that building, yet the sign out front is always lit up saying they are open.

My heart breaks for those women inside that place.

I have heard that the place has been raided by the police several times yet it is still open twenty four hours a day seven days a week. I cannot imagine the conditions the women are forced to live in. Just how many women are in there?

It is strange that this little town from the outside seems to have it all together. There website states that "they come home to a small, close-knit community of established neighborhoods and businesses where people care for and about their neighbors. This community spirit makes Portland a hometown we are proud of." Yet, when you look past the shiny veneer of this little town it has a very dark under belly of sex and drug abuse. The sad thing is that this is certainly not the only town with problems like these. There are millions of small towns with these same problems, yet the brothels stay open and the strips clubs continue to flourish.

Because of these problems I am made keenly aware of the need for a loving and just God. One who gives grace and continues to give it as long as we live even to those who are doing the trafficking.