 I don't mind scrubbing toilets, I guess. I just don't always get around to it as often as I should. Especially in our master bathroom, which I rarely use. Does that seem odd? To not use the master bath hardly ever? Well, for the first 11 years of our marriage, my husband worked a rotating work shift: six weeks of straight nights (7 p.m. to 5:30 a.m.) and then six weeks of days (6 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.). Since my #1 goal in life back then was to not ever wake him up while he was sleeping, I used our hall bathroom...and still do. Even though he now works straight dayshift, with a different set of hours, old habits die hard. Okay, well, I did wake him up on September 11th. But normally, I never woke him up. And I learned to keep our little girls back then very quiet so they wouldn't wake up Daddy, either. When I heard that SheSpeaks was planning to let folks use and review the new Scrubbing Bubbles® One-Step Toilet Bowl Cleaner, I thought it would be worth a try. If it meant I could get away with scrubbing the toilet less often, maybe it would be worth it.  The entire kit was easy to set up, even for me. I'm a bit on the "mechanically-challenged" spectrum. But it was easy - the directions were very clear. Whew! When Elmer arrived home from work that night, he was interested in this gadget. He was a bit disappointed to learn that he could only step on the little "pedal" twice a day instead of after each flush (must be a man thing!!!), but he seemed fine with the refreshing smell of the product at work. After one week of use, I was scrubbing the toilet in the other bathroom, so I went to check out the master bath toilet. Ugh. There was still a ring at the water level line that was going to need to be scrubbed. I was surprised. Our water isn't hard water, nor is it ultra soft. But it's on the soft side of grains of hardness, so there shouldn't have been a water line ring based on minerals in the water. I checked out the price of the refill - which needs to be purchased monthly - and it was between $4.50 and $5.00 per refill can. Bummer. I think the concept of this product is really great, but it still needs some more work. If I'm still going to have to scrub the toilet bowl every week, while paying $5 per month to use this product, it really isn't worth the expense to purchase it. If, however, the product enabled me to still have a clean-looking toilet bowl after about a month, and all I needed to do was to clean the toilet seat and lid each week, then that might have been worth the expense, although I still think it is overpriced. So...there you have it. My take on the Scrubbing Bubbles® One-Step Toilet Bowl Cleaner. It's a great concept, but it's a bit on the expensive side of things, and it didn't work as well as I'd hoped. The End.
I received one Scrubbing Bubbles® One-Step Toilet Bowl Cleaner startup kit and a one-month refill from SheSpeaks in exchange for my honest review of this product. No other compensation was provided.
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 I've heard about the Women of Faith women's conferences for a number of years now. I never bought tickets because it was 3 hours away from my home, it seemed expensive to me (when adding in the price of food and lodging), and the promo videos shown at my church seemed to always have this as one of their main messages: "Women need to get away from their families to take a break, in order to feel satisfied and fulfilled as a woman." Maybe that wasn't their main philosophy, but since that isn't my philosophy in life, I decided years ago to not attend. I mean, women haven't been able to get away from their daily routines and families except for the last 75 years, unless they were in the top upper crust of society. Does that mean that thousands of years of womens' lives were unfilled, or wasted? Especially those who are believers in Christ? I hope not! I must admit, I just wasn't interested in attending a conference if it hinted strongly at this message. Until I was invited to apply for two free passes to the Women of Faith conference this last spring. I'm a book reviewer for BookSneeze (Thomas Nelson Publishers), and they were encouraging their book reviewers to apply for a set of two passes to the conference. I decided, "Hey, what can it hurt? If I'm accepted, it will be much less expensive to attend! And if I don't really enjoy it, that's not a lot of money I'm losing." So I applied. And I was accepted! Now to choose who would go along with me! I prayed right away, "Lord, please show me the best person to take with me on this special trip, who needs Your encouragement, love, and grace in October." Again and again, the Lord brought my cousin, Jayne, to mind. She was SO excited to learn that the Lord brought her to my thoughts over several weeks' time. Then, something unfortunate happened. I was curious to read an acquaintance's own personal review of her trip to the Women of Faith conference in her area, but unfortunately, she was quite disappointed with the weekend, and while she was gentle in her review, there were quite a few things she did not like: the music, the speakers' books being pushed, one of the speakers who did the splits on stage, the seating being too dark to take notes, and the fact that Bible verses weren't mentioned very often.  Now, I was feeling confused...and frustrated. Oh, I did not want to be setting myself up for a weekend where I was going to feel mis-er-a-ble. Jayne and I were able to split the cost of gas and parking to our event location, and we were able to join up with four other bloggers (two whom I knew already) and share two nice motel rooms between the six of us, so our lodging was very inexpensive - and only for one night. The motel provided a good, hot breakfast, and Women of Faith provided boxed lunches for both days. For one of the dinners, I was able to use a gift card someone had given us, so we really spent hardly any money at all on the entire weekend event! Okay, here's where I tell you what I thought about our weekend away! The event was highly orchestrated and planned, in order to be smooth and flow well. Even the worship team had choreographed their walking patterns as they sang. For me, it wasn't too "over the top" and "television-like". Instead, I found this relaxing and not distracting at all. The music was beautiful! I love music of almost all genres, and I found the music to be tasteful and respectful, but also a ton of fun! I had heard that the speakers' books were going to be pushed throughout the whole weekend, but I was pleasantly surprised to see that their books were rarely mentioned. Yes, they had tables of books outside the arena seating area where their books could be purchased, and rooms where book signings were taking place, but several speakers never even mentioned their book titles once. It was too dark to take notes. Fortunately for us, on the second day of the conference, we were given almost front-row seats down by the central stage. We were able to benefit from the great lighting, and take notes! But for everyone else in the audience who wasn't down on the floor, they were in the dark. :( The only negative thing I really didn't care for was hearing about the "Women of Faith credit card". Since the book of Proverbs warns us regularly about the problem of being a borrower and owing money, I'm not sure why a Christian organization would feel they had the freedom to promote their own credit card. I was disappointed to see this. I do wish that passages of Scripture were mentioned more often than they were. But I also didn't feel like the Bible was overlooked, either. I was able to write down plenty of Bible verses! And nothing I heard that weekend caused any red flags to go up in my mind. It was a fabulous weekend!  I've listened to Patsy Clairmont's life stories on Focus on the Family for the last 30 years. I've learned so much from her! She has gone through some seriously hard times in her life, including being bedridden for months at a time due to agoraphobia. I can't imagine being terrified to leave my home, let alone my bedroom or my bed, but this was a big part of her adult years. She is recovering - obviously - or else she wouldn't be on stage in front of 10,000 people! Here are some helpful tidbits of godly advice from Patsy when we are going through a crisis: 1. Ask for prayer from others! 2. Never underestimate the power of prayer! 3. People matter for the words they say or text to us. 4. Say, "I love you." It renews our hope. It destroys our fear. 5. Change can be good. What if our resistance to change prevents healing from happening? 6. So many changes seem threatening or disastrous to us when it's God's hand in molding our life and spirit.  I'd never heard of Marilyn Meberg before, but like all of the other speakers, she was fabulous! Here's what I took from her talks: Many of us want more of a good thing, craving something new and better all the time, so we'll go chase after adrenaline rushes to get more of that good thing. Life without God's purpose is wanting more and more but never being satisfied. We think that the next stage of life will satisfy the cravings of our hearts. Augustine said, "You, God, have created us for Yourself, and our hearts are restless until they find rest in You." Ecclesiastes 3:11 - God has planted eternity into our hearts. II Corinthians 5:5 - When God says, "You're satisfied in My presence," (in heaven), there will be no more yearnings.  Lisa Welchel is well known to most people as "Blair" in The Facts of Life. I never watched that show when I was growing up in the 1980s, because we didn't get that channel! My only experiences with Lisa Welchel are in reading some of the books she's written in the last ten years. Lisa talked a lot about having friendships with other women. She encouraged us to learn to extend more grace to ourselves, and to also ask God to give us more grace for our friends. Here were her three lessons about friendship: 1. If you want a friend, you need to be the kind of friend you want to have. Don't place expectations on your friend to fulfill your needs. Instead, be grateful for who they are and what they give to you. 2. Identify safe friends. Keep at a safe distance, at first. Pay attention to how they gossip or are judgmental. Look for women who are full of positive comments, steering conversation to other topics when gossip comes up. 3. Avoid women who look like they "have it all together," that gal to whom it is really important to look perfect. Find someone who has failed yet still desires to seek the Lord and will give you grace as well when you fail.  I began listening to Sandi Patty's music back when I was a kid. Yes, I know she has more of an "opera-style" voice, but I wasn't opposed to that, and there weren't really that many options available on the Christian music scene in the early 1980s. Her voice is still spine-tingling, amazing, perfect pitch. Loved it!  Okay, I have to admit that I'd never heard of Mandisa before the Women of Faith conference. Obviously, I'm not an American Idol follower. It's not that I wouldn't enjoy the program, I just rarely watch television shows. When I got home and told my girls about the musicians, they squealed when I mentioned Mandisa. "Did you get her autograph?" "Did you buy her CD?" Um, nope. I didn't know my girls even knew who she was! Sorry, girls.  Selah is a three-person musical group that combines country and bluegrass, classic rock and classic contemporary Christian music, and pop and urban gospel. Whew! Maybe that would seem impossible to mix together, but we enjoyed their music a lot. Very inspirational!  Andy Andrews was the only male speaker at the conference. At first, I thought, "What? Why would a man be speaking at a women's conference?" Well, he was simply amazing, that's why. And it was one of his products I ended up buying at the conference, not one of the ladies' books or materials! Ha!  All in all, I can say that I thoroughly enjoyed my weekend at "'Women of Faith: Over the Top." Given the opportunity to be able to have free passes to attend, I'd go again! Or, if we suddenly won the lottery (which we don't even play), I'd go again and bring a bunch of my friends with me! You may learn more about the Women of Faith conference programs and see if you'll have one of their conferences near you in 2011 and 2012! I'm glad I turned from skeptic to learner that weekend. Whew!
I was given two free tickets by the Book Sneeze program for Thomas Nelson in exchange for promotion of the event and an honest review.  Our daughters have enjoyed American Girl dolls for years now, and though we get their regular emails, we've never seen the full-sized, 18" dolls there on sale - EVER! This week only, through November 13th, 2011, two of their historical dolls are on sale for 25% off their regular $100 price! If you've been holding out on getting an American Girl doll due to the cost, this may help make your decision. I'm not an affiliate with AG, nor do I benefit from letting you know about this sale. Well, I do benefit financially only because my mom and I were already planning to get one of my daughters an American Doll for Christmas. Brittany uses her dolls all the time for making stop-motion and regular movies. By splitting the cost with my mom, and taking advantage of the sale this week, we'll now each save over $12 on one of these dolls. We're excited! I've had a few people over the years ask if we think the AG dolls are worth the cost. Well, that all depends. They are the sturdiest 18" doll we've seen, and we've seen a few different brands of dolls come through our house: Springfield Collection, Madame Alexander, an 18" doll from Fred Meyer, and an 18" doll from WalMart. The #1 thing that makes the AG dolls stand out is their hair. Their heads are thickly covered with hair - lots of strands filled in closely together. All of the other dolls have sparsely covered hair. While the other brand dolls look beautiful in the box, the hair problem becomes apparent in just a few days...or hours. Many hair styles don't work because their open scalp shows through. The hair is also lower quality on the other brands of dolls, so it frizzes even worse than the AG dolls. With the American Girl dolls, Brittany has learned how to straighten and curl the dolls' hair, remove blemishes from their skin, make their skin matte finish again (it becomes shiny over time with lots of playing by a child), and many other features to restore AG dolls back to near-original condition. Other brands of dolls are harder to restore and work with because of the poorer quality of materials. However, even with that said, a child needs to take care of her American Girl doll well. If she is too young, or not mature enough, it can look "trashed" in no time at all. You'll be shipping it off to the American Girl doll hospital (can we say, "expensive"!!!), or hiring my daughter, Brittany, to restore the doll...or just shrugging your shoulders and saying, "Oh, well!" If you have younger children in the house who would potentially "abuse" or harm an American Girl doll, it would be wise to have it kept up high in a closet or up high on a bunkbed, or locked away when your older child is not playing with the doll. EnJOY!
 First Form Latin, by Memoria Press If you've been following me here on Joy In Our Journey for any length of time, you'll probably be aware that our family has used and reviewed a variety of Latin language programs. When I found out that I was selected to use and review First Form Latin this autumn, I was glad to hear this good news! Ever since our family finished using the two-year program, Latina Christiana 1 and 2 by Memoria Press, I'd been curious about how First Form Latin (also by Memoria Press) would fit into our learning. First Form Latin, an introduction to Christian (Ecclesiastical pronunciation) Latin for students grades 5-12, is authored by Cheryl Lowe, who also designed and wrote Latina Christiana that we used in our home for the last two years. When a student completes First Form Latin, he will have earned one year of high school foreign language! Second Form Latin is currently also available, so a student could use these two years of material and earn the coveted two years of foreign language study that can be more difficult to earn while being homeschooled. Third Form Latin is currently in the pre-ordering stage, but it will be available soon as well, for additional Latin studies.  According to the Memoria Press website, First Form Latin is:
I'm going to show you the individual pieces available for First Form Latin, and let you know what we thought of them: Instructional DVD lessons:  The girls and I began to watch instructor Glen Moore on the first DVD introduction. There weren't any visuals to go along with his introduction, although visuals (PowerPoint style) did appear occasionally in later lessons. Right away, the girls said that if they hadn't had two years of Latin already, they would have not understood some of the concepts briefly mentioned. They felt like this would be frustrating to new students. However, we were definitely going to go ahead and watch additional lessons, to learn more about this program. In the Introduction to Unit 1 , the girls noticed that the teacher didn't clearly define some key words, or that he went over new words too quickly: stem vowels, conjugations, action, tense. Yes, they are familiar with these words now after two years of Latin, but since this program advertises itself as designed for students and teachers with no Latin background, the girls were quite concerned that a student completely unfamiliar to Latin would have been shrugging his shoulders and saying, "Huh?" When we began watching Lesson 1, we were glad to see that the DVD presentation followed right along with the wording in the First Form Latin Student text. And, some PowerPoint-types of graphics were available on-screen to help us focus on the new lists and concepts. Whew! But then...disappointment. The chart showing the grammar form for Lesson 1 was in small print. Ugh. We could only tell what some of the words actually were because we were familiar with this chart/grammar from from using Latina Christiana, and because we had the student text open in front of us. Even when we got closer to our television, it was still not very easy to read the words. Maybe this is because we have an "old style" television that isn't a flat panel or HDTV. I don't know. I just know that we didn't have this difficulty with the other Latin program we were using. Each time the grammar chart appeared on the screen for the lessons, it was in far too small type/font size. We liked the teacher's casual explanation of how Americans use words for "you plural", like "y'all", "you-uns", and "you's guys." My girls hadn't heard of the last two versions of "you plural", so they looked at me and said, "Nuh-uh! No one talks like that!" To which, I nodded my head and smiled. I haven't heard "you's guys" in many years, but I used to hear that when I was in junior high and high school! Mr. Moore did interject some simple humor into the teaching. He's not a Saturday Night Live comedian, but he wasn't as serious as some Latin teachers can be. He doesn't go over the new vocabulary and derivatives in the DVD lessons; students are to do that independently. As the lessons continue on the DVD, the instructor tends to go faster and faster over some of the new material. We felt like he covered some things far too quickly for us; it seemed like he was rushing through the material. The girls would have preferred to go at a slightly slower pace. Audio Recitation CD:  We thought the First Form Latin audio recitation practice CD was done very well, and would help students to quickly learn their new vocabulary and grammar forms due to the way it was organized. Student Text:   Sample of Student Text The student text is well-planned and is easy to follow. This is an improvement over some other Latin programs we have used, although we all thought it would have been beneficial to leave some of the grammar charts and vocabulary/derivatives blank so the student would need to fill them in. This would help keep students more engaged while watching the DVD presentation.
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Disclosure: I received the PLUS collection of First Form Latin materials from Memoria Press in exchange for my honest review of this product. No other compensation was provided.
Christianity and our modern day pop culture.
They don't really go together well, do they?
Everyone has a different opinion on what is allowable for Christians to view, listen to, or participate in. It was the same kind of struggle back in Jesus' lifetime, and also during the beginnings of the early church.
Were they allowed to eat meat sacrificed to idols? Did Gentiles have to follow all of the Jewish code of laws to be a follower of Jesus Christ?
It was complicated back then, just like it's complicated today.
How are we supposed to handle this as Christian parents in a post-modern society?
Christianity Today's Study Series on Faith and Pop Culture attempts to answer this question.
Eight chapters in this book attempt to address a single aspect of pop culture these days. This is a group devotional, designed to be read and used in a small group or family devotional setting, although it is appropriate for individual use as well.
The topics discussed in Faith and Pop Culture are:
Why would I choose to read this book for my family?
I wouldn't call our family "ultra-conservative" about media and pop culture. We still own a television and view Netflix movies together. We allow our children to use the internet for a variety of things: schoolwork, hobbies, social interaction. We listen to a broader range of music than just hymns and classical titles. We read books that aren't always "Christian."
But our family is also very careful with media. My husband and I strongly believe that what goes into the mind by our eyes and ears will eventually come out in our attitudes, and either squelch or encourage spiritual growth in our lives.
Because of that, we've chosen to pay for filtering each month for our computers that go online and get email. We've set our YouTube viewing to "safety mode." We pay for ClearPlay DVD filtering each month to remove profanity, racial slurs, nudity, and related inappropriate content, etc. We rarely check out fiction books from the library unless we already know about the content in the book. We have positioned our computers in our home so that no one can block the view of what they are watching or doing online. We choose not to get full cable TV so that we can avoid most of the "bad" programs there.
Lest you think our children are therefore naive because we educate them at home...and because of the precautions we take in filtering out media for our family, they are not.
A short walk down the sidewalk will usually result in hearing the F-word at least once by other individuals walking down the street. Ten minutes in the grocery store can result in hearing the F-word and many other profanities numerous times.
Speaking of grocery stores, nudity is visible - to some extreme or another - at most grocery store checkout aisles, on the magazine covers. I wish every grocery store had a family-friendly aisle like one of our local stores does. And most women these days, even in the church, dress with partial cleavage showing. If you haven't noticed.
Cigarette butts scatter the front of our driveway, even though we don't smoke.
Sometimes, we hear people yelling at each other in our neighborhood or participating in domestic violence. And one unforgettable moment in time, a large naked lady ran down our street, being beat up by her boyfriend's mother. Wow. Talk about a shocker.
And until the motion-sensor cameras were installed around the middle school next door, we used to hear or see all kinds of drug deals, drug crimes, and other scandalous behavior I won't describe. It doesn't help when your house is literally 10 feet from the school parking lot.
They don't really go together well, do they?
Everyone has a different opinion on what is allowable for Christians to view, listen to, or participate in. It was the same kind of struggle back in Jesus' lifetime, and also during the beginnings of the early church.
Were they allowed to eat meat sacrificed to idols? Did Gentiles have to follow all of the Jewish code of laws to be a follower of Jesus Christ?
It was complicated back then, just like it's complicated today.
How are we supposed to handle this as Christian parents in a post-modern society?
Christianity Today's Study Series on Faith and Pop Culture attempts to answer this question.
Eight chapters in this book attempt to address a single aspect of pop culture these days. This is a group devotional, designed to be read and used in a small group or family devotional setting, although it is appropriate for individual use as well.
The topics discussed in Faith and Pop Culture are:
- visual arts
- literature
- sports
- television
- "family friendly" entertainment
- violence
- Hollywood culture
- the role of entertainment in society
Why would I choose to read this book for my family?
I wouldn't call our family "ultra-conservative" about media and pop culture. We still own a television and view Netflix movies together. We allow our children to use the internet for a variety of things: schoolwork, hobbies, social interaction. We listen to a broader range of music than just hymns and classical titles. We read books that aren't always "Christian."
But our family is also very careful with media. My husband and I strongly believe that what goes into the mind by our eyes and ears will eventually come out in our attitudes, and either squelch or encourage spiritual growth in our lives.
Because of that, we've chosen to pay for filtering each month for our computers that go online and get email. We've set our YouTube viewing to "safety mode." We pay for ClearPlay DVD filtering each month to remove profanity, racial slurs, nudity, and related inappropriate content, etc. We rarely check out fiction books from the library unless we already know about the content in the book. We have positioned our computers in our home so that no one can block the view of what they are watching or doing online. We choose not to get full cable TV so that we can avoid most of the "bad" programs there.
Lest you think our children are therefore naive because we educate them at home...and because of the precautions we take in filtering out media for our family, they are not.
A short walk down the sidewalk will usually result in hearing the F-word at least once by other individuals walking down the street. Ten minutes in the grocery store can result in hearing the F-word and many other profanities numerous times.
Speaking of grocery stores, nudity is visible - to some extreme or another - at most grocery store checkout aisles, on the magazine covers. I wish every grocery store had a family-friendly aisle like one of our local stores does. And most women these days, even in the church, dress with partial cleavage showing. If you haven't noticed.
Cigarette butts scatter the front of our driveway, even though we don't smoke.
Sometimes, we hear people yelling at each other in our neighborhood or participating in domestic violence. And one unforgettable moment in time, a large naked lady ran down our street, being beat up by her boyfriend's mother. Wow. Talk about a shocker.
And until the motion-sensor cameras were installed around the middle school next door, we used to hear or see all kinds of drug deals, drug crimes, and other scandalous behavior I won't describe. It doesn't help when your house is literally 10 feet from the school parking lot.
So, the question of the day is, what did my husband, Elmer, and I think of this book?
Yup. We both read it.
We both felt like this book didn't come across quite as strongly in favor of living a godly life as we would have liked.
The author believed that if a media source (book, movie, television show, magazine, etc.) had strong art form, then it was worthy of being viewed.
And, if the media source had poor art form, then it probably shouldn't be viewed.
My husband and I believe strongly that art should not only have solid, strong form, but it should also have good taste and moral truths being related to the viewer.
So no matter how well a picture may be painted, if the scene is depicting a very immoral act, it should not qualify as being "art", and at the least, at being art acceptable for Christians to view.
This would also mean that many biblically-based movies and television programs that have very low art form would probably also be excluded by my family.
We prefer to watch something that is high quality and also has strong moral views.
The author of this book would say that most everything is allowable for the Christian to view, listen to, participate in, because there's a "message" in everything.
Well, we wholeheartedly believe that we can teach biblical messages to our children without exposing them to an onslaught of profanity, innuendo, nudity, blasphemy, and the like. That's why we make certain we can watch a variety of movies that are filtered. We can still talk about the moral lessons in rated R movies, because the filtering we pay for makes the movie into a rated G version. And we're fine with that.
We wear clothing that won't reveal any hint of cleavage, because we don't want to make it more difficult for the men and young men around us. Why tempt others to sin? What's the "good" in that?
And what's the good at watching a movie or reading a book that is filled with filth and slander? How can that enhance someone's spiritual walk with the Lord? Seriously now.
We are amazed these days at the low standard many Christians choose to use when viewing movies or reading books and magazines. You may call us "old-fashioned", but I seriously doubt that Jesus, if walking amongst us in this day and age, would happily pick up some of the more popular fiction book series and enjoy reading them. Or that he would enjoy sitting down and watching His name being blasphemed again and again. The two just don't seem to go together.
In writing this, I risk being called a prideful, hateful person. If you have chosen to show cleavage as you dress, if you choose to regularly watch unfiltered rated PG-13 and R movies, if you regularly listen to music that contains swearing and immoral themes, if you read popular (or unpopular) books that contain repeated immoral and anti-biblical content, and you feel okay about doing these things, I won't judge you.
But I probably won't be reading or watching any of the books and movies that you recommend to me. I can't trust your judgment.
Faith and Pop Culture is an excellent book that will cause you to rethink your positions on media that surrounds you. You may wholeheartedly agree with what this author has chosen to say. You may not. Whichever way you believe after you read this book, please spend some time in prayer. Ask the Lord what types of media are beneficial to your mind and soul. And listen to His answer and make choices that go along with that.
Faith and Pop Culture is under $9 at most retailers. It's not a thick book, and it will cause you to think. That is good! While we don't agree with some of the suggestions in this book, it will cause you to make decisions on the media that you view, and that is a good thing. Be convinced in your mind, after prayer and Bible study, on how to approach media in our day and times.
Yup. We both read it.
We both felt like this book didn't come across quite as strongly in favor of living a godly life as we would have liked.
The author believed that if a media source (book, movie, television show, magazine, etc.) had strong art form, then it was worthy of being viewed.
And, if the media source had poor art form, then it probably shouldn't be viewed.
My husband and I believe strongly that art should not only have solid, strong form, but it should also have good taste and moral truths being related to the viewer.
So no matter how well a picture may be painted, if the scene is depicting a very immoral act, it should not qualify as being "art", and at the least, at being art acceptable for Christians to view.
This would also mean that many biblically-based movies and television programs that have very low art form would probably also be excluded by my family.
We prefer to watch something that is high quality and also has strong moral views.
The author of this book would say that most everything is allowable for the Christian to view, listen to, participate in, because there's a "message" in everything.
Well, we wholeheartedly believe that we can teach biblical messages to our children without exposing them to an onslaught of profanity, innuendo, nudity, blasphemy, and the like. That's why we make certain we can watch a variety of movies that are filtered. We can still talk about the moral lessons in rated R movies, because the filtering we pay for makes the movie into a rated G version. And we're fine with that.
We wear clothing that won't reveal any hint of cleavage, because we don't want to make it more difficult for the men and young men around us. Why tempt others to sin? What's the "good" in that?
And what's the good at watching a movie or reading a book that is filled with filth and slander? How can that enhance someone's spiritual walk with the Lord? Seriously now.
We are amazed these days at the low standard many Christians choose to use when viewing movies or reading books and magazines. You may call us "old-fashioned", but I seriously doubt that Jesus, if walking amongst us in this day and age, would happily pick up some of the more popular fiction book series and enjoy reading them. Or that he would enjoy sitting down and watching His name being blasphemed again and again. The two just don't seem to go together.
In writing this, I risk being called a prideful, hateful person. If you have chosen to show cleavage as you dress, if you choose to regularly watch unfiltered rated PG-13 and R movies, if you regularly listen to music that contains swearing and immoral themes, if you read popular (or unpopular) books that contain repeated immoral and anti-biblical content, and you feel okay about doing these things, I won't judge you.
But I probably won't be reading or watching any of the books and movies that you recommend to me. I can't trust your judgment.
Faith and Pop Culture is an excellent book that will cause you to rethink your positions on media that surrounds you. You may wholeheartedly agree with what this author has chosen to say. You may not. Whichever way you believe after you read this book, please spend some time in prayer. Ask the Lord what types of media are beneficial to your mind and soul. And listen to His answer and make choices that go along with that.
Faith and Pop Culture is under $9 at most retailers. It's not a thick book, and it will cause you to think. That is good! While we don't agree with some of the suggestions in this book, it will cause you to make decisions on the media that you view, and that is a good thing. Be convinced in your mind, after prayer and Bible study, on how to approach media in our day and times.
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I received one copy of Christianity Today: Faith and Pop Culture from BookSneeze/Thomas Nelson Publishers in exchange for my honest review of this book. No other compensation was provided.
Everyone in your own family, if you will admit it, has quirks that may drive you crazy at times. Our family is no different.
Elmer (my hubby) has been known to lick a table knife from time to time, or wipe his mouth on the kitchen hand towel, no matter how much we tease him about how "redneck" this is.
Kelsi, age 13, gets engrossed in a book and literally cannot hear us talking loudly to her, to try to get her attention. Many times a day.
Brittany, age 11, talks incessantly at times, making it hard to focus on her as much as I should, while trying to do other tasks.
And me? Well, I still occasionally pop my knuckles. Shame on me.
Elmer (my hubby) has been known to lick a table knife from time to time, or wipe his mouth on the kitchen hand towel, no matter how much we tease him about how "redneck" this is.
Kelsi, age 13, gets engrossed in a book and literally cannot hear us talking loudly to her, to try to get her attention. Many times a day.
Brittany, age 11, talks incessantly at times, making it hard to focus on her as much as I should, while trying to do other tasks.
And me? Well, I still occasionally pop my knuckles. Shame on me.
You know what, though?
Even though we drive each other CRAZY at times, we still love each other very much.
I am SO thankful for my family!
My husband is a very hard worker at his job and around our home. He determines to get the job done right, and right away. He's not one to leave a job unfinished for weeks or months at a time. I am so grateful for this!
Kelsi enjoys showing her love to us by serving us willingly. She will often clean up something, make a meal, or help out with some of my chores without grumbling. I'm very thankful for her willing spirit.
Brittany is more creative than the rest of us put together! She comes up with all kinds of creative ideas that keep us smiling, laughing, or just nodding our heads with encouragement. I love this!
And me? Well, I'm "just" Mom. And I love that!
Even though we drive each other CRAZY at times, we still love each other very much.
I am SO thankful for my family!
My husband is a very hard worker at his job and around our home. He determines to get the job done right, and right away. He's not one to leave a job unfinished for weeks or months at a time. I am so grateful for this!
Kelsi enjoys showing her love to us by serving us willingly. She will often clean up something, make a meal, or help out with some of my chores without grumbling. I'm very thankful for her willing spirit.
Brittany is more creative than the rest of us put together! She comes up with all kinds of creative ideas that keep us smiling, laughing, or just nodding our heads with encouragement. I love this!
And me? Well, I'm "just" Mom. And I love that!
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This is a part of Brenda's Garden of Learning 2011 Gratitude Challenge, of which I'm very thankful to be a part! Thank you, Brenda!
Amy Bayliss, one of the masters of making fab forms for women, has developed a unique health and weight loss journaling form that she is sharing with her readers.
I thought it was so helpful that I'd share it here with you!
To download the forms, which - by the way - look a lot better on her site than they do in the graphic above, just click on the above graphic, or go to Amy's website at www.AmyBayliss.com.
Amy's just completed 31 Days of Printables that she's shared for free with all readers, and they are very, very good. Check them out!
I thought it was so helpful that I'd share it here with you!
To download the forms, which - by the way - look a lot better on her site than they do in the graphic above, just click on the above graphic, or go to Amy's website at www.AmyBayliss.com.
Amy's just completed 31 Days of Printables that she's shared for free with all readers, and they are very, very good. Check them out!
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I'm embarrassed to admit that I've forgotten to let you, my fabulous and favorite readers, know who has won The Shunning DVD that I reviewed here a few weeks ago.
I'll write more about this later, but October was an unusual month for me.
But with no further ado, here's our winner:
I'll write more about this later, but October was an unusual month for me.
But with no further ado, here's our winner:
Sarah Bailey (seekingHim@. . . )
Congratulations, Sarah!
Sarah has until Friday, November 4th at midnight (Pacific time) to contact me via email and let me know her mailing address.
Thank you all for taking the time to enter this giveaway. You are all a blessing to me!
Thank you all for taking the time to enter this giveaway. You are all a blessing to me!
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Selfish. Tired. Discontentment. Disappointed. Negative.
That's how my thoughts and emotions tend to go when I'm overly tired, or not spending time reading the Bible and praying every day.
But God provides me with His ultimate Grace, Healing, Forgiveness, Patience, and Love.
That's what I'm thankful for - today!
So, what do you think I would be like if I had never turned my life over to Jesus Christ?
Well, definitely the top list of words I wrote, above, would characterize me as a person. I tend to be a perfectionist, and it is easy to become demanding, separated from others, and a grumbler. I think that without a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, I would NOT be a fun person to be around.
Without Christ, I would hold grudges. Refuse to forgive others. Be a racist. Not show appreciation to those who do kind things for me. Keep to myself, and not get involved in others' lives. Grumble about everything, and when I wasn't grumbling, I'd be complaining.
Yeah, I realize that those are basically the same!
Aren't you thankful that I turned my life over to Christ when I was ten years old? It was a real, sincere commitment at that tender age.
I knew I needed a Savior.
I knew I needed forgiveness.
I knew I had bad habits.
I knew I needed to show more love to others.
Knowing Christ has made all the difference in my life. Without Christ's love and forgiveness, I would be a not-so-fun person to be around. Instead of spreading JOY here on my blog, I'd be grumbling.
Yeah, not so much fun.
So with me, please be thankful that I came to hope in and trust Jesus 33 years ago. Am I perfect? No. Not until I pass away and am with Christ in heaven eternally. But I'm forgiven, and for that, I'm truly thankful.
This is a part of Brenda's Garden of Learning 2011 Gratitude Challenge, of which I'm very thankful to be a part! Thank you, Brenda!
If you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, what are you most thankful for by knowing that you are forgiven?
That's how my thoughts and emotions tend to go when I'm overly tired, or not spending time reading the Bible and praying every day.
But God provides me with His ultimate Grace, Healing, Forgiveness, Patience, and Love.
That's what I'm thankful for - today!
So, what do you think I would be like if I had never turned my life over to Jesus Christ?
Well, definitely the top list of words I wrote, above, would characterize me as a person. I tend to be a perfectionist, and it is easy to become demanding, separated from others, and a grumbler. I think that without a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, I would NOT be a fun person to be around.
Without Christ, I would hold grudges. Refuse to forgive others. Be a racist. Not show appreciation to those who do kind things for me. Keep to myself, and not get involved in others' lives. Grumble about everything, and when I wasn't grumbling, I'd be complaining.
Yeah, I realize that those are basically the same!
Aren't you thankful that I turned my life over to Christ when I was ten years old? It was a real, sincere commitment at that tender age.
I knew I needed a Savior.
I knew I needed forgiveness.
I knew I had bad habits.
I knew I needed to show more love to others.
Knowing Christ has made all the difference in my life. Without Christ's love and forgiveness, I would be a not-so-fun person to be around. Instead of spreading JOY here on my blog, I'd be grumbling.
Yeah, not so much fun.
So with me, please be thankful that I came to hope in and trust Jesus 33 years ago. Am I perfect? No. Not until I pass away and am with Christ in heaven eternally. But I'm forgiven, and for that, I'm truly thankful.
This is a part of Brenda's Garden of Learning 2011 Gratitude Challenge, of which I'm very thankful to be a part! Thank you, Brenda!
If you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, what are you most thankful for by knowing that you are forgiven?
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It's easy to forget to be truly thankful for all that we have and all that God has done in our lives. I'm the kind of person who sees both the positive and the negative in situations and in life. So, the glass is both half full and half empty for me.
What this means, in practical terms, is that when I see something that isn't right or appropriate, I will either think or say something about it.
But on the flip side, when I see something that is going well and deserves a positive comment or "thank you", I'll also enthusiastically say something and try to be an encouragement to others.
Because of that, you'll hear me say "thank you" a lot. My children hear me say "thank you" to them all day long!
Not just because I was taught to say "thank you," but because I'm truly grateful when someone helps me out or does something kind for me.
I think I'm going to give my children a complex when they are adults, because their bosses or husbands typically aren't going to say "thank you" when they follow directions or do something kind and helpful. And I'm afraid that my girls are going to expect to hear those two words: "Thank you," and be sorely disappointed when they don't hear it as often as they'd like.
I will often thank the Lord for a beautiful sunset, a peaceful day, a new friend, spiritual growth in myself and my family, and more. But I still know I can be thankful in more ways than these.
What this means, in practical terms, is that when I see something that isn't right or appropriate, I will either think or say something about it.
But on the flip side, when I see something that is going well and deserves a positive comment or "thank you", I'll also enthusiastically say something and try to be an encouragement to others.
Because of that, you'll hear me say "thank you" a lot. My children hear me say "thank you" to them all day long!
Not just because I was taught to say "thank you," but because I'm truly grateful when someone helps me out or does something kind for me.
I think I'm going to give my children a complex when they are adults, because their bosses or husbands typically aren't going to say "thank you" when they follow directions or do something kind and helpful. And I'm afraid that my girls are going to expect to hear those two words: "Thank you," and be sorely disappointed when they don't hear it as often as they'd like.
I will often thank the Lord for a beautiful sunset, a peaceful day, a new friend, spiritual growth in myself and my family, and more. But I still know I can be thankful in more ways than these.
That's why I'm going to make the attempt to participate in Brenda's 2011 Gratitude Challenge every day during November. Brenda's my boss on the TOS Crew, and she often has thankless tasks that include people grumbling to her about her decisions (and sometimes, decisions that she isn't even responsible for!). I'm so glad that Brenda has chosen to spend one month every year really concentrating on being thankful, instead of just listing a few things on Thanksgiving Day.
I hope I can keep up with Brenda. She is an amazing gal who works so hard! I know you'll enjoy looking at the other gals' blog postings about gratitude each day of November.
So, for today, November 1st, 2011, I'm very thankful that God made me to see things in a balanced viewpoint. It keeps me from becoming a totally negative person, but it also keeps me realistic so that I'm not idyllically being crazy with smiles when something isn't right, either.
Balance.
I'm thankful for that balance that God has given to my emotions.
I hope I can keep up with Brenda. She is an amazing gal who works so hard! I know you'll enjoy looking at the other gals' blog postings about gratitude each day of November.
So, for today, November 1st, 2011, I'm very thankful that God made me to see things in a balanced viewpoint. It keeps me from becoming a totally negative person, but it also keeps me realistic so that I'm not idyllically being crazy with smiles when something isn't right, either.
Balance.
I'm thankful for that balance that God has given to my emotions.
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Hi! I'm Julieanne!
You'll find me in the kitchen
trying new Trim Healthy Mama recipes, loving God, and carrying out that love as I bless my husband and teen daughters.
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