Archive | August 2004

College or not?

Aug24

I link to a couple of blogs (Nykola and All in a Day’s Work) written by intelligent articulate young ladies who have chosen not to attend or not to finish college. They both indicate that they get lots of questions about this decision. In this post, Ambra Nykol prints an excerpt from an email that she received from a guy named Craig. Craig gives some excellent ideas about NOT attending college and why a person might choose to delay or skip college attendance altogether. Last year I gave a “Preparing for Graduation and College” seminar to a small group of homeschool moms and high school students. Here’s the list I gave them: 10 Bad Reasons to Got to College and 10 Good Reasons to Go to College.

Ten Bad Reasons to Go to College
1. I’m going to college to have FUN!!
2. I’m going to college to figure out what to do with my life.
3. I’m going to college to find a husband or wife.
4. I’m going to college to get out of my house.
5. I’m going to college to find myself.
6. My parents saved all this money for my college education, so I guess I”ll have to spend it.
7. I just graduated from high school, and college is the next step.
8. I don’t have anything else to do for the next four years.
9. All the really rich people go to college first before they get really rich.
10. I don’t wanna grow up–I’m a Toys R Us kid.

Ten Good Reasons to Go to College
1. I’ve saved up or earned or been given enough money to pay the tuition myself.
2. I want to learn something that I can learn best at a college.
3. I want to earn a credential that I can only earn at a college or university.
4. I want to learn a marketable skill in order to support a family someday.
5. I know what God wants me to do , and I need a college education to get there.
6. I don’t have responsibilities for a spouse or children, and I can afford to spend the next four years learning something that is important to me.
7. My parents and I are in agreement that college would be a good educational setting for me.
8. I want to get a broad liberal arts education now while I have the time and the opportunity.
9. I have the Biblical foundation and the right relationship with Christ to be able to filter all the teaching I receive through a Christian worldview.
10. I believe that God is leading me to go to college.

New Hobby

Aug23

I have a new hobby, and it only costs $2.00 a week. (Yes, I know that $2.00 a week means $104.00 a year.) My new hobby is . . .
iTunes. I plan to buy exactly two songs per week and enjoy lots of nostalgic moments. So far, I’ve bought the following songs:

Simon and Garfunkle: Scarborough Fair
Simon and Garfunkel: Bridge Over Troubled Water
Eagles: Desperado
Roberta Flack: The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face
From Lord of the Rings: Into the West
Artist Unknown: Eres Tu

I just found the words to Eres Tu here. Anyone else remember this ballad from the late 70’s, I would guess?

ERES TU
(Juan Carlos Calderon)

Como una promesa eres tu, eres tu,
Como una manana de verano.
Como una sonrisa eres tu, eres tu.
Asi, asi eres tu.

Como una esperanza eres tu, eres tu,
Como lluvia fresca en mis manos
Como fuerte brisa eres tu, eres tu
Asi, asi eres tu

Eres tu como el agua de mi fuente.
Eres tu el fuego de mi hogar.
Algo asi eres tu.
Algo asi como el fuego de mi hoguera,
Algo asi eres tu , en mi vida algo asi eres tu.

Como mi poema eres tu, eres tu,
Como una guitarra en la noche,
Como mi horizonte eres tu, eres tu.
Asi, asi eres tu.

Eres tu como el agua de mi fuente
Eres tu el fuego de mi hogar.
Algo asi eres tu.
Algo asi como el fuego de mi hoguera
Algo asi eres tu, en mi vida algo asi eres tu.
Algo asi eres tu,
Algo asi como el agua de mi fuente.
Al asi eres tu, como el fuego de mi hogar.

Yes, I do have an incurable nostalgic and romantic streak. And don’t insult my eclectic taste in music. I plan to have Computer Guru Son turn my cassette tape of Keith Green into computer files next and load that into the iTunes, too–right next to Simon and Garfunkel and Pachelbel’s Canon.

Join Me in Glad Adoration #2

Aug22

Does anyone else remember singing this song as a child? I think my mother taught it to me.

In the temple, in the temple,
Stood a happy boy one day,
And the doctors wondered greatly
At the words they heard Him say.

Refrain:
It was Jesus!
It was Jesus!
Standing in the temple there.
And the light of heav’n was shining
In His face so pure and fair.

2.)It was Jesus who was teaching,
And they listened to His word,
As He told them of His mission
From the great and mighty Lord.
|| Refrain ||

3.)Let us ever then be eager
To sit down at Jesus’ feet.
To be learning from our Saviour,
And His lessons to repeat.
|| Refrain ||

FLORA KIRKLAND, 1921
Howard E. Smith

This week we read the story of the young man Jesus talking with the elders and teachers in the Temple for several days while his parents searched for him. I should teach my children this song. I pray that we will all learn of Jesus in the temple on this Lord’s Day.

New location; same old blog

Aug21

Thanks to Computer Guru Son for moving the blog. I find that WordPress is much easier to use and has lots more options. Just bear with me while I learn to use them. By the way, shameless son promotion, if you want someone to help you out with your blog design or with moving your blog to a better host, Computer Guru Son is available at tiffer17@sbcglobal.net. (The promotion is shameless, not the son.)

Homeschooled Olympic Athlete

Aug18

Jennifer Nichols is a homeschool graduate, a Christian, and an archer. This quote is from her interview with a PBS reporter:

I want it to be like a worship to him. I give God my best, but if that doesn’t measure up to what other people are doing, I have offered my best. And that is all he wants.

It sounds to me as if she’s got it pretty well in perspective. Read more about Jennifer Nichols and her Olympic performance here, and here.
Jennifer Nichols only made it to the quarterfinals in individual competition at the Olympics, but I’m sure she and her parents and God are all pleased with her best. She still has the team competition on Friday. Oh, and for Dancer Daughter, J. N. is a dancer, too.
She says dancing is an outlet and has taken classes in ballet, modern, jazz, tap and Irish Step. She recently started teaching a “pre-dance” class to 4- to 6-year-olds at a dance studio in Cheyenne.

I Think I’ll Simplify My Life and Get a Job

Aug16

According to Scripture, a married woman’s focus and orientation is required to be towards her home. But while the Bible teaches that a woman’s priority is the home (Tit. 2:11), the Bible most emphatically does not teach that a woman’s place is limited to the home. Her place is in the home (1 Tim. 5:14), real estate (Prov. 31:16), agriculture (31:16), evangelism (Phil. 4:3), philanthropy (Prov. 31:20), logistical support for ministry (Rom. 16:1,6), explaining theology (Acts 18:26), and more. In all of this, the central responsibility is of course the home. This priority on the home is not threatened by geographical location; it is threatened only by sin and disobedience. ?Douglas Wilson in Credenda Agenda, Vol. 7, Issue 3 Feminist Traditionalism

I’m not doing too well at my dominion over the home, but it’s not because my mind and my abilities are not being challenged enough. I’m just not very good at the career in which God has placed me. Right now a simple 9 to 5 job sounds boring, but at least possible. No, really, I’ll keep doing my best to manage my home, and pray for grace and wisdom.

Join Me in Glad Adoration

Aug15

Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus
by Helen Lemmel
(1863-1961)

O soul, are you weary and troubled?
No light in the darkness you see?
There?s light for a look at the Savior,
And life more abundant and free!

Chorus:
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace.

Through death into life everlasting
He passed, and we follow Him there;
Over us sin no more hath dominion?
For more than conquerors we are!

His Word shall not fail you?He promised;
Believe Him, and all will be well:
Then go to a world that is dying,
His perfect salvation to tell!
In 1918, Helen Lemmel, a teacher of voice at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, wrote these words and the tune to go with them. She was inspired by these words in a tract called Focused: “So then, turn your eyes upon Him, look full into His face and you will find that the things of earth will acquire a strange new dimness. ”
I desperately need to focus my attention and hope on Jesus Christ himself today instead of all the things that distress and distract me. Won’t you do the same?

Blind Love

Aug14

Today is the birthday of Sir Walter Besant (b.1836) who finished Wilkie Collins’ last novel after Collins’ death. Doesn’t this novel sound like a fine melodramatic thriller for a cold night in October or November?
Don’t try to stop me; I’m going to add it to The List.