What The Apostle Paul Would Say About Common Core

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In this day of anti-Obamacare, anti-Common Core, and anti-political party posts galore, I am glad that I really can stay above the fray. Oh, I have my political views, and I still love the country that I served, and still make an occasional political post or share a funny picture caricaturizing the other side’s views. I still care that our country represents the ideals of freedom and justice. But I have no qualm with the way of the world either. I have a dual citizenship, and I care more about the heavenly kingdom and its King, than I do the USA and her presidents, past, current, or future. I will most likely vote for the Republican candidate, whomever that ends up being, because they usually line up with my views on social justice and conservatism. But here is what I will not do:

I will not deny the political process its due. For over two-hundred years approximately half of the country has been disappointed on the second Wednesday in November. Unless Barack Obama calls out the Marines to keep from being ejected from the White House, I will peaceably claim the next victor as my president, whichever party wins the office.

I will not call an educational system “evil.” For goodness sake, people, it’s a curriculum. It is not Satan incarnate as educational programing, nor is the Devil possessing teachers because common core is implemented.  As a system, I see many things wrong. But mostly I see examples of the extreme fringe posted, not what the system represents as a whole. Like everything else man invents, it has good and bad points. But to call Common Core "evil" is to make a mockery of true evil. True evil like women forced into a slave trade; children being abused; or the use of chemical agents by a goverment on its citizenry. True evil like satanic oppression of missionaries, evil like the abuses in the Word of Faith movement that tells people dying of cancer that they don't have enough faith, or God would cure them. It's called perspective. Look it up!

I will not allow a devoted Mormon to tell me what is or is not godly. All you devotees of Glenn Beck should wake up and see that the Satan rests, not in common core, but in cultic practices and pseudo-religionists like Beck. He’s a comedian…and he is funny. But his alarmist tactics and quasi-religiosity are all a ruse, designed by the Devil to make this cult look “normal.” Be like Joseph and FLEE, from that nut-case. (Genesis 39)

I will not be straddled with anyone’s political agenda. My ONLY agenda is the proliferation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  “But Steve,” you ask, “wouldn’t the proliferation of the Gospel be easier in a free, democratic, Christian society?” Nope. Never has, never will. Two things: #1 The Gospel thrives in persecution. The church grows stronger and deeper in conviction the more oppression she faces. The church grows in false doctrine and/or complacency in the ease of contentment and safety.  #2 The USA may be a free, democratic society. But she is certainly not Christian. Hello?! If we were a Christian nation, we would not have homosexual marriage, high abortion rates, and high crime rates.

When Paul wrote “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same." (Romans 13:1-3 KJV. I put this in the King Jimmy just for you KJV Only folks) he was writing about the most oppressive, anti-Christian, ruthless government that had ever existed, the Roman Empire. 

Listen to this in the NCV: “All of you must yield to the government rulers. No one rules unless God has given him the power to rule, and no one rules now without that power from God. 2 So those who are against the government are really against what God has commanded. And they will bring punishment on themselves. 3 Those who do right do not have to fear the rulers; only those who do wrong fear them. Do you want to be unafraid of the rulers? Then do what is right, and they will praise you.” 

Paul said all of this, to all of us who claim the name of Jesus, about a tyrannical government that had him arrested for his faith, and sentenced many of his companions to death for the name of Christ. Paul wrote that statement while sitting in a Roman dungeon. and so I am content with where I am. I’m not happy about homosexual marriage, high abortion rates, and a different medical system than I’m used to. But I know one thing and know it well, Jesus is my King, and He has the final say over everything that happens…to me…to you…to Obama…and He never makes a mistake. 

Even so, come Lord Jesus!

Betty Crocker And Jesus: The Secret Is In The Mix

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The story goes that back in the 50’s, Betty Crocker began to sell cake mixes in the now famous red box. They developed a mix that only required someone to add water and bake. Apparently, it bombed. No one bought this easy-to-use mix. So the company did some market research, and found out that people didn’t buy the cake mix because it seemed too easy. Surely something that just takes water, consumers reasoned, would be dry and tasteless. Also, researchers discovered that people wanted to feel like they had to play their part to make the cake “homemade.” So, armed with this knowledge, Betty Crocker changed the formula to require that an egg and oil be added in addition to the water. And, you guessed it — it was a huge success! As Paul Harvey would say…The rest is history. No, wait…Paul Harvey would say, That was the rest of the story. Right? Hmmmmm??? Anyway…

My take is that many people think that way about our relationship with the Lord—that our relationship with God works like that second cake mix. God does most of the work, but we have to do our part and then we can know that we’re right with Him. The process of salvation is just too dang simple for some people. “Just Add Jesus” makes us uncomfortable. We need to add two freshly cracked good deeds and a ¼ cup of our own sanctification, and then the mix will come out OK. Otherwise, we’re afraid it just won’t work.

But the truth is that the secret is in the simplicity. No works. No deeds. No religion. No rituals. Just add Jesus. Over a billion satisfied customers later, the process still works. Just ask the Philippian jailer. He asked Paul, “What must I do to be saved?” There you go. “What must I DO to be saved?”
Paul gave him the simple secret of a successful mix; “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.” Acts 16:31 (NKJV) emphasis mine.

Try A Little Kindness

I love Aesop’s Fables. When I was a kid, it was my favorite thing to hear during story time. I read this week where scientist have proven one of the fables as true. Huh. Well, I’ve known that for many years. The old boy knew his stuff. And one thing he knew about was Kindness.
Aesop told a fable about the wind and the sun having an argument. Which was stronger, as I recall. The sun made a bet that the one who could make a man take of his coat was the strongest. The wind went first. The sun hid behind a cloud. The wind blew and blew, but the harder and more fierce the wind blew, the tighter the man held on to his coat. Finally, exhausted, (pun intended) the wind gave up. The sun’s turn was next. He came out from behind the clouds and shone on the man. The man quickly took off his coat. Moral of the story? Warmth, friendliness, and a gentle touch are always stronger than force and furry.

So it is with our daily walk. Do you see how these fruits are building. Love leads to joy, which brings peace, allowing for patience and endurance that will manifest itself as kindness. Listen, you’ve got to "try a little kindness." The stuff is addictive!
Remember Glenn Campbell? Back in the 70’s he crooned...

You’ve got to try a little kindness
Yes, try a little kindness,
Just shine your light for everyone to see
And if you try a little kindness,
You’ll overlook the blindness
Of narrow-minded people, on the narrow-minded streets
Not bad advise at all!

Prom 2014

2014 North Central High School Prom

Luke & Hailey

 The Three Amigos

Candidates For State Education Superintendent

There will be a run-off election for the GOP candidate for State Education Superintendent. Be an informed voter!

The South Carolina Education Association

Election Guide

2014 Candidates for Superintendent of Education

Candidate       

Background and Position

Sally Atwater (R)

           

The widow of GOP strategist Lee Atwater, Sally Atwater has been a special needs teacher in Colleton County for the past two years. A fiscal conservative and supporter of Governor Nikki Haley, Atwater worked for the U.S. Department of Education during the Reagan administration and later was appointed to advisory boards at the U.S. Department of Education and the National Institutes of Health. In 2001, President George W. Bush appointed Atwater executive director of the President’s Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities. She also worked on Capitol Hill for a year in 2010 as a staffer for the House Education and Workforce Committee. Atwater holds both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in special education from Winthrop University and taught special education in public schools for nine years at the beginning of her career.

Fundraising:

Raised $86,041; On Hand $58,503

Website:

www.atwaterforeducation.com

Platform:

·         Opposes Common Core State Standards

·         Supports revising state school funding formula to help poor and rural school districts

·         Supports review of safety policies in schools

Molly Spearman (R)

           

The Executive Director of the SC Association of School Administrators (SCASA) for the past nine years, Spearmanis a formerteacher and assistant principal.She served four terms in the SC House of Representatives, during which time shepresented herself as a champion for children’s issues. She also was deputy education superintendent under Democrat Inez Tennenbaum’s superintendency (1998-2007). She was a Democrat until 1995, when she switched parties. She graduated from Lander University and holds a Master’s of Education Supervision from George Washington University and an Education Specialist degree from the University of South Carolina.

Fundraising:

Raised $90,521; On Hand $67,465

Website:

www.mollyspearman.com

Platform:

·         Supports Gov. Haley’s education funding reform plan

·         Supports workplace preparedness and technology education programs for graduates

·         Has helped SCASA develop its own teacher evaluation plan as an alternative to the Zais plan; SCASA’s plan also incorporates student growth measures, as required by our state’s NCLB waiver

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SoccerBall: Why "European Rules Football" Will Never Make It In 'Merica

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So I watched my first ever World Cup Soccer Game (...err...Futbul Match.?.) last night as the USA trounced Ghana 2-1. (How exactly you "trounce" another team 2-1 is beyond me.)

OK...so it wasn't so bad that I tried to gouge my eyes out with a spoon; but after reflection I think that it is safe to say that this game (I'm sorry...this is NOT a sport) will probably never catch on in good ole 'Merica.

First of all, the rules are confusing. How can my team be off-side, if their player is behind mine? Why does time count up instead of down, why do the ref's get to arbitrarily assign extra time, etc, etc, ad nauseam. If explaining a rule requires an entire website, it's too confusing.

And speaking of Extra Time; the second item, in a single word: Math. In soccer the clock doesn’t stop moving. It also counts up instead of down. This makes it very anticlimactic. Viewers have to do math, particularly subtraction, in order to know how much time is left. This requires borrowing numbers and doing it in your head. Not cool. There is also a lot of wasted time. (see #3) So, in order to make up for this wasted time the referees arbitrarily decide how much “extra time” will be added after the 90 minutes of play is up. Games never end with a furious attack on the net. They usually end the way the majority of the game was played: some guy kicking the ball around in the middle of the field.

Third, and perhaps the most egregious of all, is all of the whining. Soccer is very much like hockey: uhhh...except much more boring and feminine. Soccer is seen in the eyes of most Americans as a women's sport. i.e. "Soccer Mom".

So what I'm saying is: Suck it up and act like a man!

Lastly, it is simply boring. All of the American sports have some element of action to keep you interested. In soccer, a guy stands alone in one portion of a huge field until some other loner comes over and harasses him a bit. He then kicks the ball to another guy standing alone and he kicks it by himself for a while. Soccer is like flying a plane. 85 minutes of excruciating boredom interrupted by 5 minutes of sheer terror.

Paint Drying > Soccer.

 So, I will probably watch the next World Cup game, until America loses anyway, out of dumb patriotism and a maniacal fascination with sports and all things Red, White, and Blue. But I wouldn't count on MLS selling out stadiums anytime soon. Hey, every four years I become a fan of track and field and then forget about it until the next time an American suits up for gold. That doesn't mean that the decathlon will be America's next top rated sport. Expect soccer to continue to be an every-four-year-fascination for Americans.


 'Merica! Heck, yeah!.

The Fruit Of The Spirit Is...Grapefruit?!

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So the fruit of the Spirit is Love, Joy, Peace and Longsuffering. Stevie asked me the other day what is longsuffering? Longsuffering is kind of like grapefruit. Grapefruit is a hard fruit to eat. For me anyway. I love it. And it is supposed to be healthy. (Isn’t there a grapefruit diet?) But it’s hard. Cut it in half and eat it with a spoon and stingy juice will squirt in your eye. Peel it and eat it like an orange and you have quite a mess with the peelings and the skins. But I love it and so I put up with the mess. Likewise Longsuffering is a hard fruit of the Spirit. So what is longsuffering? It is, of course, patience and endurance. Listen to James explain this concept...


For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. 4 So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing. James 1:3-4 (NLT)

The word for complete here means mature. God's goal for us is that we be mature Believers; and complete patience makes for a mature Christian. So why do we need longsuffering? Well, troubles and troublemakers are in our lives to develop patience, perseverance, and persistence. It is by patience we see God's work in us, and it is by perseverance we learn God's will for us.


Do you know why longsuffering is so hard? Because it involves waiting. I am convinced one of the most difficult things to do in life is wait. We wait at red-lights, we wait in line at Wal Mart, we wait for football season to get here, and when it is here we wait for Saturday! But we HATE to WAIT!!! We are a culture that exists on instant satisfaction. Microwave popcorn, fast food, instant Lotto tickets, and (as Luke has discovered) TV dinners. For our culture waiting is a difficult, if not an impossible thing to achieve.


The other day I watched Amazing Grace, the movie about William Wilberforce. If you haven’t seen the movie you should. He spent 50 years in politics with one thing in mind, one goal, abolish slavery in England. On his deathbed, he learned that parliament passed the law. He never gave up. He knew some things are worth fighting for. Some things require endurance and patience, and...oh, my...Longsuffering. Do we have that type of patience, that ability to see a tough issue through to the end.


James goes on to say, “be patient until the coming of the Lord.” (vs 7) The only reason the world is still here is not because God is powerless, nor is it because God is passive; it is because God is patient. He is longsuffering. Jesus is coming back. Make no doubt about it, that is His promise. The question is, what are we doing while we wait? Be patient with others and spread the good news of Jesus Christ and His Amazing Grace!




FYI

read more about William Wilberforce here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Wilberforce