GOYB Parenting

For alternatives to the usual "spanking is the primary and best tool in the parenting-of-young-ones toolbox" child-rearing paradigm found in Fundamentalism, may I introduce you to: Get off your butt parenting. Gotta love the name! *snickers* So true though. If you want to adopt a less confrontational parenting style, you (the parent) are going to *have* to get off the couch more often. Hollering instructions in from the next room . will . not . cut . it. Seriously.

GOYBP defined:


It's not about spanking.



Connect before you correct.

Can you spell "misspell"?

Spelling mistakes.... gar!!

Anyone who knows me IRL will howl at the thought that spelling mistakes drive me up the wall because I am constantly heard asking "How do you spell...?" But hey, I have the right to be a hypocrite, yes?? ;-)

Few things bother me more than spelling mistakes on people's personal blogs, in e-groups, and mass group e-mails. Very few things. Especially when those mistakes are made by mothers who are homeschooling their children. Especially then. RARH!!!

Granted some of my impatience is born of (literally) countless hours on the phone with home-schooling moms bewailing the abysmal spelling scores on their children's "end of year" standardized test results. "But she/he loves to read!?!" (Did'ya catch the whiney tone?)

Um.... yea, so? Obviously reading ability has precious little to do with aptitude for spelling (or his/her scores wouldn't be so low). They are two separate skills that *must* be taught as such. Spelling is NOT learned by osmosis, or absorbed by extensive reading. Vocabulary perhaps, but not spelling.

Or don't bother teaching your kids how to spell. Why should I care? After all, they're growing up with spell checks embedded in every word-processing program imaginable. Who needs to learn to spell well anyway? Funny thing... when I was growing up (back in the dark ages of course), Mom would always answer my spelling queries with "Go look it up in the dictionary."

I know first-hand how had it is to find a word you're spelling phonetically aloud that's not spelled phonetically in print. I "get it" that homographs are tricky and that spell check won't catch homophones either. And I know if you look, you'll be able to find mistakes in what I've written; so I wouldn't bother taking the time to hunt. It probably wouldn't be much of a hunt. LOL

Besides, I'm not home-schooling so you can't say the pot is calling the kettle black. :-D

/end rant

Of Carts & Horses

A Passion for Thee

Set my heart, O dear Father, On Thee, and Thee only,
Give me a thirst for Thy presence divine.
Lord, keep my focus on loving Thee wholly,
Purge me from earth; Turn my heart after Thine.

A passion for Thee; O Lord, set a fire in my soul, and a thirst for my God.
Hear Thou my prayer, Lord, Thy power impart.
Not just to serve, but to love Thee with all of my heart.

Father fill with Thy Spirit, and fit me for service,
Let love for Christ ev'ry motive inspire,
Teach me to follow in selfless submission,
Be Thou my joy and my soul's one desire.

A passion for Thee; O Lord, set a fire in my soul, and a thirst for my God.
Hear Thou my prayer, Lord, Thy power impart.
Not just to serve, but to love Thee with all of my heart.

~Joe Zichterman



Ever think about the words of "A Passion for Thee" above? "Hear now my prayer, Lord, thy power impart... not just to serve, but to love thee with all of my heart" Isn't that cart-before-the-horse backwards?? Shouldn't our service come second, born out of our love for Him??

I know the song is about our passion (love?) for Him, but today (when the little voices in my head sing it) it winds up sounding like "Hey Lord, my service for you is A-OK, but I prolly ought to love you more. Will ya help me with that check-mark??" I'd love to ask Joe Z... especially since he's "out" of "Fundy-ism" now.... I really like most all of the songs that I know he's written, and I've always liked this song especially. But since it was played for the offertory this morning, it's been running through my head... Then the words started sinking in & I started wondering. Things that make you go "Hmmmmmm........ " ;-)

Praying for a heart of love... all the while assuming that I already have a heart bent toward service? What's with that?? To me it seems wrong-headed Scripturally. But given what I know of Joe (he has his head on pretty straight), it behooves me to assume JZ was trying to point out this weak area in the camp not ingrain it more.

1 Corinthians 13 makes much of love/charity being the primary thing--the motivation from which our actions should spring. If the greatest command is to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and the second is like unto it--to love our neighbors as ourselves (i.e. service); wouldn't that imply that our service ought to be borne out of our love for God, rather than serving (first?) while we're praying to love Him more?

Not that there's any harm in praying for a deeper love for the Lord and a closer relationship with Him.... I suspect my hang-up is just semantics. :-D Or maybe it's hyper-sensitivity to anything about what I should be "doing" as a believer. When you've been indoctrinated by a definition of grace that includes what I do (grace is God's enabling power and desire to do His will), you start developing jerky knees.

If justification is all God's work & glorification is all God's work, why can't sanctification be (more about) God's work too???

Before the Throne

Before the throne of God above
I have a strong and perfect plea
A great High Priest whose name is love
Who ever lives and pleads for me
My name is graven on His hands
My name is written on His heart
I know that while in heaven He stands
No tongue can bid me thence depart

When Satan tempts me to despair
And tells me of the guilt within
Upward I look and see Him there
Who made an end of all my sin
Because the sinless Savior died
My sinful soul is counted free
For God, the Just, is satisfied
To look on Him and pardon me

Behold Him there, the risen Lamb
My perfect, spotless righteousness
The great unchangeable I AM
The King of Glory and of Grace
One with Himself I cannot die
My soul is purchased by His blood
My life is hid with Christ on high
With Christ my Savior and my God

"Before the Throne", lyrics by Charitie Less Bancroft, alt. lyrics and music by Vikki Cook.

© 1997 Sovereign Grace Worship (ASCAP).