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Special Ed Teacher Needed for a School in China
Are you a teacher with a background in special ed? Would you like to work in CHINA? A dear friend of mine from way back in my undergrad days (AUGIE!) has been serving at this school in Bao’an and they are currently looking to hire a new teacher. Here are the details: Working in Chinese orphanages, Sunshine Academy provides education and evening caregiving for preschool and kindergarten aged children living in Chinese Government Social Welfare Centers (orphanages). We are currently looking for a certified teacher with special education background to serve as the head counselor (lead teacher) of our school in Bao’an, Shenzhen. The head counselor serves two primary roles:…
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Gutsy Guilt
In our women’s study last Wednesday, we discussed the hope, assurance, and confidence we have in this life because of our justification—that once and for all transaction (double imputation!) whereby our sins are put on Christ and His righteousness is apportioned to us by faith and we are born again! Passing from death to life, darkness to light—God justifies us once and forever, for always. And nothing—not angels or demons, anything in Heaven above or on the earth beneath, nothing can separate us from the love of God our Father. We are justified. ‘Course, the problem comes when we struggle with sin (again); we are lukewarm or even altogether apathetic…
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Never Say “If you need anything, call me.”
Ed Welch taught me (and convicted me) AGAIN with his recent article over on the CCEF website: More Things Not To Say To Those Who are Suffering In it, he makes many great points, but let me just tempt you with a few: ” … Here is something that I have heard a number of times on the ‘Not Helpful’ list. I have heard it often enough that it deserves to become part of our body of pastoral wisdom. ‘If you need anything, please call me—anytime.’ … Those who mentioned it didn’t say that the comment was meaningless to them, though it was. They said that it was actually unhelpful.…
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Shudder
HT: Clark Vowell for this (shudder worthy!) quote via his facebook update: “There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done’; and those to whom God says , in the end, ‘Thy will be done.'” – C.S Lewis
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Elder Law / Estate Planning and FaceBook
As a former estate planning attorney and current blogger/FaceBook user, I found this link from Challies.com particularly interesting: Death and Social Media ‘Course it really made me want to read through some elder law journals and I.T.-related law journals and—even more fun!—some actual case law. (MAN! it’s been too long … I wonder if my brain could even re-engage those neurons any more?) Thankfully, I don’t have to find out because smart people like Tim Challies keep sending us interesting (and readable) articles. Hope you enjoy! — Tara B.
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You Don’t Have to “Get it Right.” We’re Not Standing Back and Judging You. We’re Your Family.
If you’ve ever attended my standard women’s retreat, then you know that I usually mention in my opening session how I’m a women’s event skeptic (As a regular speaker at women’s events, believe me, I’m keenly aware of the irony.) But I have to say, the more I have the privilege of gathering with God’s women to learn from them, laugh with them, and just go through life with them? The less and less skeptical I am. Take last night for example. Our church had a baby shower for a wonderful young woman and as usual, the ladies did a great job decorating, provided nummy treats, a fun game, thoughtful…
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Confused Mix of Wandering and Worrying
Our spring women’s study started recently. We’re going through Paul Miller’s (excellent) book, A Praying Life: Connecting with God in a Distracting World, and I thought I’d share a few nuggets with you from last week’s study (emphases added are mine): – (After sharing a story of his daughter’s frustration because “prayer, it seemed, didn’t work” …) “Few of us have Ashley’s courage to articulate the quiet cynicism or spiritual weariness that develops when heartfelt prayer goes unanswered. We keep our doubts hidden even from ourselves because we don’t want to sound like bad Christians. No reason to add shame to our cynicism. So our hearts shut down. … Cynicism…
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You Will Call – I Will Answer
HT to Les & Bobbie for sending me this interview with a Harvard law professor who has lived with extraordinary pain and now is facing relatively imminent death from cancer (he will probably not live through 2010). It is worth the read: You Will Call, I Will Answer He has another edifying article over at Christianity Today: Three Gifts for Hard Times (Come to think of it, I bet this gentleman has a bunch of articles worth reading.)
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Free Picaboo Book (HT: MommyLife)
If you’ve ever wanted to try electronic “scrapbooking” (please excuse me if you’re a REAL scrapbooker and thus, that term is offensive/annoying to you) … now is the time! Mommylife.net just posted a coupon for a FREE BOOK! Just like you can’t get any more powerless than DEAD (ahhhhh, the doctrine of total depravity is not just an interesting idea) … you can’t get better than FREE when it comes to trying something new in the “I’d like to make something that captures our family’s year but I don’t have weeks and weeks of time or zillions of dollars PLUS I’m just not crafty so I’m never going to cut…
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Crisis vs. Important
I’m not a huge fan of the “fruit” analogy, but the substance of this post by Deepak Reju over at IX Marks is worth reading: Picking Fruit Off a Tree In it, he talks about investing in future church leaders—rather than allowing your day to be filled with the “urgent” and the “crises” of church life. Specifically: “One of the ideas I’ve learned on our staff is to be strategic about the men I disciple and invest in. One of our staff pastors has often talked about being deliberate in investing in low-hanging fruit—men who show a lot of potential, who demonstrate a teachable heart and desire to grow, and…
