Tales From Another Planet

One of the problems that I see with evangelism in a post-Christian society is that people have really tough questions that they know "shut down" the majority of Christians. This is the first in what may end up being a series of posts dealing with sticky evangelistic topics. I don't feel like I am very good at evangelism, but I want to get better, and how else to get better than to dive right in to one of the trickiest topics out there. "I can't believe in a God that sends good people to hell." This is probably one of the toughest questions out there. The majority of non-Christians don't see themselves as any different than Christians. They see us as hypocritical, judgmental, and "just like them". So why do Christians say that we exclude other religions and the non-religious from this fantastic "heaven" that we desire so much? Why would a good God send decent people to hell? What we do isn't "that bad" really, is it? ...

I try not to be one of "those" homeschoolers who tries to convince everyone to homeschool and is anti-public school. I actually have a HUGE passion for education, including public school. However, there is a big area that public schools are failing our children, and this may not be entirely apparent until the next generation enters the workforce. I was reading an article about Generation "Z" entering the workforce. They were talking about a few different things, and one of them was that these new employees were "risk averse" and "non-entrepreneurial". That got me thinking about the future of job opportunities for children currently in school - including my own. My husband is a manager, and one of his main complaints is that some of the employees only want to do one thing one way, and they aren't easily able to adjust their thinking, think divergently, plan ahead, or make executive decisions. This can cause real problems in the workforce. Ev...

I had started this post awhile back, and never got around to it. However, since my pastor at church brought up the topic last Sunday, I decided to finally get back to writing (since it has been forever). The famous (infamous) quote from Jim Rohn says that you are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with. As I understand that quote, we should carefully select the 5 people we spend the most time with. Unfortunately for some of us, those people may not always be easily re-selected. I have seen a lot of folks lately who are working with their children's fathers, but not actively spending time with them. Whether they are divorced, ex-boyfriends, or simply struggling, it breaks my heart. I can't fathom trying to co-parent with someone who I don't want on my "5 people" list. Yet, as a Christian, we are NOT called to disown people simply because of their failings, characteristics or personality.

With the New Year comes a new start. I have seen so many people posting on my favorite website to hate on (Facebook) about how they are "refreshing" themselves in the New Year by getting rid of people. Honestly, it just makes my heart break. Full disclaimer, I'm not talking about being a doormat or taking abuse from someone. Those are separate instances entirely and more power to those who can step away from abusive situations.

By T.P. Creech (aka "hubby") Between pregnancy and the newborn days, the blog has been neglected for some time. However, getting back into the swing of things, it is finally back to DMB Thursdays!  Which means it's time for another Live Trax review! This one's a prime number too.  (Don't ask, I'm weird.)

Ahhh, Facebook. The joys of watching other people spiral into a cycle of ever depressing memes, What did we ever do before your glorious awakening? I pretty much hate memes, but for some reason everything the Facebook criteria puts in my feed has a picture, which unfortunately includes memes. Some of the more recent ones that a select few Facebook friends have shared or posted are about "dropping toxic people". Everyone is smiling and nodding their heads, "Yeah, we don't want those people in our lives."

My third child was recently born, and things did not go exactly as I had hoped. We had been "on the fence" with the doctors for several months: placenta previa, low lying placenta, in and out of the hospital several times with bleeding issues. We finally were graduated from low lying placenta and conservatively told we could do a "trial of labor" at the beginning of January. As my due date approached at the end of January, we were feeling pretty positive about our attempt at a third natural labor and birth. The Braxton Hicks contractions were ramping up, our doula was on standby, and given my history of rather large babies, we decided to schedule a membrane sweep to try to get the party started a few days before my due date. Unfortunately, we belatedly realized that with bleeding issues, a membrane sweep may not have been the best choice. There was no immediate bleeding, but about 8 hours later, as contractions began coming fast and strong, the bottom dropped ou...