Ladies First

Those are two words I don't hear very often in the outside world (I.E. outside of the Christian homeschooling crowds that I live in). The feminists have done a very good job at what they think is equalizing women, namely, elevating women, because according to them, working a 9 to 5, is so much more prestigious then being a homemaker. But what they've really done, is pull men down, and try to make them switch rolls. They may say that they simply want equality, but if that were really the case, then you would expect that at least half the time, they would be holding doors for men. But no.

In they're minds, 'equality' means 'identical', or ('congruent' to use the math term). Yet you can ask any doctor, any counselor, or any married person for that matter, and (if they're honest) they will have to admit that there are differences. Try as one might to mask it, their always will be. But is that Bad? Let me ask you this, is an ax head more important then the handle which holds it? Is the trim on a house more important then the studs which support it? They are both vastly different, and yet, they both need each other. If the studs in a house decided that they wanted to be trim as well, then the whole house would come down. Yet if it had no trim, the house would simply be a building. neither would be very comely to look upon. If the ax handle decided that it wanted to be a head, then both would be useless. They both need each other. God designed the genders to be complimentary. Equal, yet distinct. 
This blog has some really good insights into feminism, I've found it to be really helpful, he has some really good insights.


Anyway, Back to the title of this post. I thought about all of this because I was at a business lunch the other day, and when the waiter came to take our orders, she said "Ladies first" and started with the woman at the table. I was pleasantly surprised when she did so, it's not something I hear often at restaurants, probably because the waitress's are concerned that they might offend the feminist demographic. But I think that the lady at the table was appreciative.
So go hold a door, offer your umbrella, and be generally courteous to the women in your life, wether they're 5 years old or 85 years young, they'll appreciate it.
~Paul

Pandoras Box

Through an interesting set of circumstances, I ended up staying at a hotel in between connecting flights on my way back to MI from Mexico. So I'm here all alone, with internet, and a television set, nobody with me to see what I'm doing, or what I'm watching. Now the battle starts. If I do turn on the TV, will  watch edifying things, or will I succumb to my fleshly desires? We don't get TV at home, or in MI, so I don't really know what's on when, what are good shows, etc, so I would have to do some channel surfing, and who knows what might flash by as I'm doing so?
So I decided to simply leave it off altogether. The amount of lousy programming that's on there isn't worth wading through to see if there is anything worth watching. I know how easy it is to slowly slip into watching something slightly objectionable, and once you start sliding, it's hard to stop.
I'm not saying that if you have a TV in your house, then your are evil. There is nothing inherently wrong with television, and if you know which channels have good programming, then you don't have to wade through the muck and the mire.
There is such reward in overcoming the temptation to lust. If you can overcome that, then there isn't any temptation that you (with the Lords help) can't overcome. Lust is probably one of the strongest forces a man will face. Look at how many businesses, churches, and families that have been brought down because the Boss, Pastor, or Father fell into the sin of lust. The number is stagering.
But you can't just leave a time vacuum in the TV's place, so I did other productive things that were on my mental list of "to do's". I finished a lengthy email (which I love doing), and made some phone calls to family and friends back in Oregon. Time is valuable, and it's the one thing that all people have the same amount of. How will you use yours?
~Paul

Ron Paul for President!

I support Ron Paul. (and with that statement, I offend many people)
There is a plethora of reasons why, his constitutional consistency, his Christian beliefs, his workforce experience (as a doctor, OB, having delivered over 4,000 babies). Even if I disagreed with him on more things (and I do disagree with him on a few things), all of the other options on stage right now are much less appealing. (with Gingrich being the worst of the lot).
Voddie Baucham gives a very concise, to the point explanation of why he will vote for Ron Paul, and I think that it's very helpful, plus it has lots of footnotes (I'm a sucker for footnotes. There just something about being able to show where you got your info that is so reassuring).
http://americanvisionnews.com/1278/voddie-baucham-answers-why-ron-paul
Give it a read. I'd love to hear what your thoughts are.

The Value of Family

I sit here in Michigan, the house is empty because my older brother has yet to return, having just finished reading through the list of blogs that I follow, and I'm stuck by how much I miss my family. One of the blogs I follow is by a mom who's blog posts are almost always pictures and stories about her family. What they've been doing, the good and bad things that have happened, things like that. I love they're family, and reading about what they've been up to, but not as much as I could ever love my own! I know the phrase "you never miss it till it's gone" it cliché, but it still rings true. My days now consist of sleeping, reading my bible, working, blogging, math, piano, working on my car, and various others minor things, so my time is filled (maybe too filled, I've already worked 30 hours this week, and it's only Wednesday), but even though I'm busy, several times a day, I'll be doing something, and it will remind me of what a family member has, or would do in that situation. Or I'll be working on my car, and be searching the internet because I can't figure something out on it, and I'll think "I bet dad would know how to fix this, to bad it's 5am back home". I know that I often took them for granted, but now, where I only get to see them on short vacations, it makes my time with them so much more valuable. One day all my siblings will be married, we'll all live in different houses, and we'll only see each other on occasion. But right now, accept for Ross, they're all conveniently living in one place. I can't wait until this march when I'll get to go back and visit.
So I guess what I'm trying to say with all of that is this: God gives us a limited amount of time with our families, and we don't know when that time will pass, so appreciate it right now! Don't wait until tomorrow to tell your mom that you love her, or your dad that's he's awesome, do it right now! They have sacrificed more then your or I can ever imagine for they're children, and a quick "I love you" can be remembered for years to come.
~Paul

A suiters questions

Earlier today, I was reading through my blog list, as I am apt to do, and I came across this post.
Courtship Questions for Potential Suiters Over at "Your Sacred Calling". It's well worth reading for any of you guys reading this (and gals too, it's helpful to know what were thinking about). I really found the spiritual list convicting, and helpful. I can't answer many of the bullet points, and some I am able to answer well. List's like this can be very helpful, in that they can show us our weak points, so that we can strive to strengthen them. When it comes to doctrine, and what I believe about "x", I am very weak. I had a discussion with a very Godly father a couple of weeks ago, and he really showed me how little I actually can say "This is why I believe this". So I'm on a journey, studying the bible, and filling in gaps. Do head over to Your Sacred Calling, and poke around. There's lots of things to be learned from wise people like Mrs. McDonald.
~Paul

Lessons in selflessness

"Ah, Finally Finished" I thought, "Room's all clean, now I can start working on my project". I walked downstairs to empty the garbage can, but as I was on my way back up, Dad called in from the other room "Paul, could you help Emily with the pancakes?" I really didn't want to at that moment, "Emily's a fine cook, she doesn't need my help" I reasoned, but when I walked over, and she was melting 1 3/4 cup of butter, I knew something was up. "That's a lot of butter!" I thought, I looked at the recipe, and sure enough, it called for 1 3/4 cup of flour, not butter. "Well, maybe she does need help". So, after some more inner conflict, and trying to reason why she didn't really need my help, I decided that my project could wait, but dinner couldn't. So I played Scullery maid, and helped her prepare the pancakes.
I'm really glad I did. Not only was it a good lesson for me, about dying to self, but she's a fun girl to cook with! Emily (who is 7 by the way) almost always has a positive attitude about her, so even when something doesn't go quite as planned, she just let's it slide, and looks to fix it.
I didn't really get to work on my project that evening, but as far as I'm concerned, it was an evening well spent!
~Sir Paul

A Candle in the Window

I was listening to Generations Radio a while back, and he interviewed the people who started this wonderful website, called "A Candle in the Window" (You can find it here) of which Ross and I are now members.

It's a wonderful concept, and one that I think we as Christians have in the last few decades lost a vision for:

Hospitality

Not just having friends over, but people who are complete strangers! This site seeks to help connect traveling christians find find families with whom they can stay overnight, or even just for a meal. I personally have yet to have occasion to use the service, because I haven't been doing much traveling, but I'm really looking forward to when I can do so!

I would urge you to give them a look, an consider signing up, or asking your parents to do so. 

If you do sign up, I'd love it if you'd let me know with a comment!

~Paul

LIve and Learn

Here's my journal entry for today, unedited. I hesitated sharing it because I made such a stupid judgment error, but maybe by my sharing it, I can help you keep from making the same mistake, I hope that it might be beneficial to some of you! 

December 9, Friday

I learned an expensive lesson today. I got scammed $500.

I am shopping for a macbook for Mrs. Cornelious (I'm not buying it, I'm simply doing the shopping, and she'll pay me back), and there was one on craigslist up in traverse city that looked pretty good, not too good to be true, but a good deal. So I was in contact with the seller via text message, and decided to buy it. He said that how I we needed to do it was for me to buy a moneypak card, and then we’d use an escrow service to hold the money, until I received the computer, and then it releases he money to the seller. Well, that probably would have worked, but I didn’t follow the directions exactly. I followed his instructions, figuring that he’s done this before. I gave him the number on the back of the card, and that was the last I heard from him. I should have seen the signs, there were quite a few. He said that he was out of minutes, so I couldn’t call him, He told me to give him the number on the moneypak card, and I did, even though it says not to do that right on the back of the card, I asked for his address before I gave him the number, which he did, but once I realized I’d been scammed, I looked the address up online, and it’s a house that’s for sale. Then I called the phone number, and it’s a pay per use phone, so no contract, no address, no nothing. 

So I’m out 500 bucks. 

But you know what? I’m ok with that. I mean, not that I wanted to lose that money, I still feel like an idiot (maybe that’s a little strong, foolhardy perhaps) for not seeing all the red flags, but I learned an important lesson from it. God is sovereign, so he’s in control right? So who allowed/made that man steal my money? Well, God did! And I’m thankful for it!! Because it says in James 1:2b-4 ...count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. So I can either chose to be bitter, and angry at that man for scamming me, or I can rejoice, and be thankful to the Lord for this lesson. I mean, 500 dollars for a lesson that will last me a life time? Quite a deal if you ask me! Because I know I’d learn it at some point, so better it happen now when there aren’t as many zeros on the end of the price tag. Well, I’m back in the market, and I’m going to be sure that I can hold the macbook before any cash changes hands. I won’t make this mistake again! So I’d say it was worth it. Thank you Lord!

Family Economics Conference 2012

This is the first conference that I have been to of my own free will (as in, one that I wanted to sign up for, rather then just going along because mom and dad were going), and I'm really looking forward to it!!! I would humbly suggest that you consider (or ask your parents to consider) signing up for this event. Click  Here to go to they're website. We have problems on the national scale (big ones) and problems on the state level, and on down, but one of the problems that isn't being widely addressed in the media (other then by Glen Beck) is that the family is breaking down. So this is a very timely conference, and I'd love to see you all there!

~Paul

And the winner is...

And the winner of my very first blog giveaway, is:

(spoken in a deep booming voice)'

Peeeeteer Mixooooooon!!

Congratulations!!!

I'll contact you via email to arrange shipping!

Enjoy!

Be checking back in about a month, as I'll be giving away another book!

~Paul