2006-11-27

What's Really Going on in the O.C.

Dirty Dancing Banned in the O.C.
Freak Dancing Is Too Hot for a California High School
By LAURA COVERSON
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Click on the story title for the whole report.
Personal I am glad to see this. I wish that our society didn't have to respond to these extremes. Someone might try and say that our culture has always thought that the dancing of youth was too extreme. They might point our Elvis Presley wiggling his hips or the movie Footloose.
But this is something entirely different.
The "dancing" this article is speaking is far and away beyond "dancing". It is essentially a simulated sex act that is unfit for public display. Unfortunately the youth of today have full access to this behavior in half the videos played on MTV, which is promoting this as appropriate behavior.

-T-

Welcome to the world of paradox

From the web-site www.ysmarko.com. Marko is the president of Youth Specialties, an organization that creates resources for youth pastors, youth and parents.
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Welcome to the world of paradox!
If you have a preteen or a young teen living in your home, you gain a whole new appreciation for the concept of paradox. These wonderful kids completely embody every meaning of the word. In so many areas, they seem to be both one thing, as well as the polar opposite! (This can be quite maddening, and paradoxically, quite exciting!) It’s all about transition, baby.
Here’s a list of a few you might notice:
Young teens can be incredibly trusting, but will only listen to someone who’s honest and transparent. Young teens (and especially preteens) don’t have the jaded skepticism of their older teen brothers and sisters. They are very willing to trust – a wonderful characteristic that shouldn’t be missed. This time of life is, in many ways, a last-stop refueling station into the long desert drive of adolescence. Take this opportunity to build on that trust, to show that your word is good.
At the same time, they are beginning to develop a more adult sense of the baloney-detection. If you want to be an example to your young teen, if you want to continue in a role of impacting their lives, it’s essential that you do so through a commitment to honesty and vulnerability. This can be pretty tough, even threatening. When you’re wrong, it’s crucial that you admit it. If they sniff out insincerity or hypocrisy in your or your words, you’ll quickly lose your place of leadership in their lives.
They’ll catch less than you’d think, yet they’re savvier than you’d expect. This is a tricky one, but so true! Because the life of a young teen is all about change (physical, intellectual, spiritual, emotional, psychological), they have a huge tendency to “in-one-ear-out-the-other” behavior. You’ve certainly experienced this! You explained to your daughter why a certain behavior is a bad choice, and two weeks later, she seems to have no memory of that discussion. Often that’s because she really doesn’t have a memory of that discussion!
But at the same time, young teens are developing a very savvy ability to see through charades, to understand when they’re being marketed to, and to be aware of consequences. Often what happens with kids this age is that they are savvy enough to understand a situation, but not enough to apply it to their lives.
They want to be treated like adults, but have the opportunity to act like children. This has enormous implications. They’re caught in an in-between world. They know where they want to go: they know they want to be treated like adults, to have more freedoms, to make more decisions on their own, to not be treated as if they were 4th graders. It’s important to talk to young teens with an adult voice, and to begin the move to a come-alongside perspective.
But at the same time, they are still very much children, and need the opportunity to act that out, without pressure to grow up too soon. A girl may move out of her childhood music choices, but still love to play with Barbie dolls. Allow her to live in that place. A boy may desire to sit at the adult table at family gatherings, but still keep a childhood stuffed animal on his bed. Don’t rush them into adulthood, but don’t treat them like little kids anymore either.
Some are really young adults, while some are really children, and most are both. The reality is this: it’s not that the young teen living in your home is either a child or a young adult (with some magic line being crossed at some point); it’s that she’s both, at the same time. Young teens aren’t just in-between, they’re in an overlap zone – childhood remains, while they’ve already stepped into the young adult world.
Living with paradox isn’t easy! But it’s not only the reality of the young teen years, it’s somehow part of God’s wonderful design for this transition to healthy independence and adulthood. Have fun!

2006-11-17

"Deliver Us From the F-Word"

This article is for anyone else who finds the F-Word to be somewhat over-played. You can read it below or go to the original website HERE.

Author: Rick Lawrence
I was standing in a high school lobby eavesdropping on kids' conversations. No matter what the subject, the f-word was the universal choice of modifiers.
That's those unchurched kids for you.
Not so fast.
When we asked a couple of Christian student leaders to keep a journal of what they saw, heard, and experienced during a 10-day youth group trip, they painted a picture of spiritually hungry, morally determined kids whose one compulsive vice was cursing. For example, one wrote: "Aside from everyone's (self included) fondness for four-letter words, it was a nearly spiritually flawless day."
An isolated observation? Hardly. A Chicago Sun-Times poll of 10,000 kids found that "more and more kids are being exposed to curse words at an early age, and 'traditional' curse words such as 'hell' and 'damn' have been replaced by words once considered too vulgar for adults."
Youth leaders everywhere tell me they've heard an alarming increase in cursing over the last few years. Infractions range from the ubiquitous and casual use of the f-word to rude, suggestive, and sometimes vicious references about other people. One youth minister told me a teenage guy in his group e-mailed a female adult leader to ask what she does when she "gets horny."
What's going on here? Why do kids—even Christian kids—feel so comfortable with foul language? And how does it impact their spiritual growth?
Why Kids Use ProfanityKids swear because profanity conveys strong emotions. And strong emotions are the norm when you're a teenager. According to Timothy Jay, author of Cursing In America, teenagers also use curse words as a tool to separate themselves from adults. But why such a sharp upswing in foul language? Libby Barron, a senior at Jordan High School in Durham, North Carolina, explains, "We're desensitized to the profanity displayed in the media. We don't even notice it anymore."When researchers tracked kids living in a remote Canadian town that did not have television until 1973, they observed a 161% increase in "biting, shoving, and name-calling among first- and second-graders two years after the introduction of television."
What We Can Do We know profanity isn't nice, but is it a sin? When Jesus called the Pharisees a "brood of vipers," was he cursing them? It's important we answer these questions because kids who hear "it's bad because it's bad" are more—not less—likely to swear. They need to know why it's bad so they can stand against it. So help them forswear swearing by teaching them...
• Words have power. We either build up or tear down with them. And profanity almost always tears down. That's why Scripture is full of warnings against cursing, including Proverbs 13:3; Matthew 12:34-37; Romans 12:14; Ephesians 4:29 and 5:4; Colossians 3:8 and 4:6; Titus 2:7-8; and James 3:8-10. "Profane" means "to treat something sacred with abuse, irreverence, or contempt..." So when kids use the f-word, they treat something sacred (the act of intercourse) with contempt. Ask kids to keep a running tally of the number of profanities they hear during one day at school or one night of TV-watching. Have them report back, then ask: Were you surprised at what you learned? Why or why not? What makes profanity bad? How does swearing impact your relationship with Jesus? Why does God tell us not to use profanity?
• Cursing makes others stumble. We're warned by God that if our actions cause others to stumble, we're violating our calling to love our neighbors as ourselves. Tell kids the truth—according to researchers, people who curse are respected less in our society and have fewer deep relationships. Challenge kids to use only "prayer" words—if they wouldn't use the word in conversation with God, then it's not appropriate in any other context. Give kids alternative—and attention—grabbing-words that can substitute for profanity. Shakespearean words are a good-n-goofy choice (a pox upon you!) or try words such as drivel, hogwash, or balderdash.
Kids won't change their habits if we tell them swearing is merely an issue of niceness. But those who love God will change if it's a gospel issue. It's up to us to help them see why it is.

Rick Lawrence has been editor of GROUP Magazine for 18 years. He recently authored JC Q's: 150 Jesus-Centered Discussion Questions (Group).

Very hopeful!!!

U.S. experiment uses AIDS to fight AIDS
How interesting is this news article? Could this be a solution to our world's most feared epidemic?
This reminds me of stories I heard in middle school science about how many of our vaccines were discovered.

-T-

Extreme Sports

This website is dedicated to the extreme sport of ironing.

If anyone is interested and needs to practice let me know and I'll bring my laundry by.
-T-

This is just gross...


... and yet I want to visit it.




-T-

Another scary news article...

Australia Senate lifts ban on cloning

I'll be honest and admit that there are days when I would like to see what advances can be made through the development of cloning.
But my imagination only leads me to believe that the negative results will far out way the positive.

Just another reason to pray?

Another reason to pray for the difficult questions that this life has to offer and that we as Christians need to respond to.

I don't know about you but things like me only remind me how much I need my God.

-T-

I find this incredibly scary...

Puberty Hitting Girls as Young as 4 Years Old

Parents I find this article incredibly sobering. When people say that the world is changing, it is in more ways than we realize it.

How does the church respond proactively to this kind of news?

Thinking from the children's ministry angle, how does this affect the way we minister to children?

2006-11-01

A Commercial for Dove

I love the honesty and brillance of the Dove campany to introduce the reality of beauty in our society.

Truth is a very powerful weapon. No wonder Jesus said that the "truth would set you free."

Whenever truth is present the threat of lies and fear lose all power. The only probablem with Truth is it requires Trust, which unfortunately we lack in abundance.

-T-