“I may be speaking to some who can say, with an emphasis, that they oftentimes find great crops of thistles springing up in their hearts, and they have to keep the sickle of sacred mortification going to cut them down, and they try if possible to dig them up by the roots. But thus it is; you cannot expect a perfect life of happiness in an imperfect world Eke this. No; your Savior carried the cross, and you will have a cross of some kind or other to carry after him. ??Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee.?? Spurgeon, C. H.
I’ve been a long time supporter of Ligonier ministries and they now have an incredible new website redesign that they are letting people test-drive (Click Here). They also have an archive of past TableTalk articles; Jenn and I have been saving TableTalk magazines for years and I have often wondered when they’ll be available in electronic format. Now all the articles are available online (Click Here for Table Talk Archive)
Will the next generation of children be characterized as undisciplined, selfish, unloving people as they grow into adults? There are many parents out there who have grasped hold of today’s popular methods of parenting which promote themselves as progressive intelligence, and evolutions in parenting. Some of these parents are only a short ways into their parenting journey and are already seeing the warning signs. Instead of a child growing in wisdom and good character qualities, they grow in foolishness and selfishness. The child is quickly learning how to manipulate their parents and become the rulers of their family. The parents are dumbfounded as to how they arrived in such a place, and as a result, they do not enjoy their children as they aught, and some, perhaps openly or secretly, begin to hate having children.
Jenn and I consider the Bible to be divine wisdom, the Words of God, perfect for teaching parents (2 Tim 3:16-17) to deal properly with their children. Consider the qualities of God: good qualities, perfect in every way (Ps 18:30). So it is natural to expect that His instruction for parents is going to be perfect in every way. Now consider the qualities of the average psychologist; they have a finite understanding of the subject and their authority on the subject is not tried and tested—it is common to discover that their methods were completely wrong and disastrous. So, who’s advice would you rather follow? The answer is obvious, trust God, not man. God instructs parents to take discipline seriously (Prov 29:15, Prov 22:15, Prov 23:13-14, Prov 13:24), and it is for the good of the child; but again, the important question is, who’s advice do you have your faith in: God or man?
The results of parenting gone bad seems to have made it’s way into cartoons and books. Parents are depicted as frazzled and with little control over the children; the children rule the household. Daniel Zalewski wrote an article in the New Yorker titled, “The Defiant Ones”, where he makes very astute observations of this very thing. Albert Mohler further discusses it in an article on his blog.
Parents would do well to buck the cultural trends in parenting; trends that tout themselves as evolutionary, advanced, and modern. Rather, parents should embrace methods that go deeper into our spiritual being; methods that are godly, holy, and divine; methods whos source is not from the mind of man, but from the mind of God.
Google is aiming to totally redesign email and how we communicate on the Internet with Google Wave. Click here to check out the video and comment here to let me know what you think.
Yes, we finally purchased our first T.V. at the Lombardi household. Our previous television was a hand-me-down from my parents. It was a Mitsubishi 28inch tube television from the 80’s—-that’s over 20 years of use! Occasionally it would show strange colors and then minutes later return to normal. It was about time that T.V. was retired.
Our new T.V. is actually used; a 5-year old Sony tube television. I know what you are thinking—-a tube television! Why would I go out and buy another tube television?! Well, firstly, it was cheap; and secondly, it is one of the best and last tube televisions every made by Sony—-34 inches of HDTV capable of high resolution 1080i with an HDMI input. I found it for $300 through Craigslist from a man who originally paid $2,200; and perhaps we’ll get a good 15 years of use out of it! 
The color is incredibly rich and vibrant and unlike LCD’s the viewing angle is a true 180 degrees; you can sit on any side of the room and see the screen clearly without any image wash. The darks are pitch black and the brights seem to be bursting out of the screen; a video of ships on the dark sea, with the stern light seeming to explode with light on the screen—-truly incredible. Come on over and watch some old technology with us!
This short film is a very good encouragement to be long-suffering, patient, and loving.
