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Written by Dr. Harold McNabb
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Monday, 15 May 2006 20:34 |
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The dishes, garbage, and dirty laundry would pile up for days when Cat and Harlan Barnard's teenage children refused to do their chores. So the Barnards—of Enterprise, Florida—went on strike, moving out of their house and into a domed tent set up in their front driveway. The parents refused to cook, clean, or drive for their children—Benjamin, 17, and Kit, 12—until they shaped up. "We've tried reverse psychology, upside down psychology, spiral psychology, and nothing has motivated them for any length of time," said Cat Barnard, 45, as she sat in a lawn chair at an umbrella-covered table. The strike took Benjamin and Kit by surprise. They came home from school Monday to find their mother outside with handwritten signs that read "Parents on Strike" and "Seeking Cooperation and Respect!"
Cat Barnard, a stay-at-home mom, and her 56-year-old husband, a government social services worker, decided their children needed to learn about empathy and responsibility. The Barnards slept on air mattresses in the tent and barbecued while their children fended for themselves with frozen TV dinners. The parents only went inside to shower and use the bathroom.
Passers-by from this bedroom community between Orlando and Daytona Beach shouted out words of encouragement. One woman driving past the Barnards' house rolled down her car window Wednesday and shouted, "Good for you! You should put the kids outside!"
Cat Barnard said she and her husband would . . .
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Last Updated on Monday, 15 May 2006 20:36 |
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Getting Past the Resurrection |
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Written by Rev. Spence Laycock
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Saturday, 06 May 2006 16:00 |
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How forgetful are you? Have you ever forgotten birthdays, doctors appointments, the keys that smiled at you from the ignition of a locked car. I remember hearing a story about a fellow whose wife called out to him as he was leaving for work, "Honey, don't forget what day this is?" It drove him nuts all day, he knew it wasn't his wedding anniversary but he wasn't sure about birthdays, or their kids birthdays. To be safe he bought flowers and took her out to dinner only to hear her say, "Sweetheart this has been the best Ground Hog Day ever!" It's easy to forget, even to forget the presence of people. When we came back from the South Pacific we went to Colin and Joanne's house to pick up our little dog that they had been taking care of for the past year. There was great celebration at seeing the pet again and we were really thankful for all they had done. We took the dog home and were no sooner in the door when the phone rang, we'd left one of our daughters at their house. That's one kind of 'forgetting' but there is another kind, the kind of forgetting that fails to put together facts that you've already known in order to take the next step. The first is more like an oversight, the second is more like negligence. Forgetting to avoid temptation and it leads to alcohol consumption that puts everyone at risk as you drive home, that would be an example. Forgetting to follow directions and it leads to a dangerous infection or forgetting the promise of another and experiencing the . . .
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Written by Rev. Spence Laycock
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Saturday, 29 April 2006 18:53 |
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It was during the dark winter of 1864, Petersburg , Virginia , the Confederate army of Robert E. Lee faced the Union divisions of General Ulysses S. Grant. The war was now three and a half years old and the glorious charge had long since given way to the muck and mud of trench warfare. Late one evening one of Lee's generals, Major General George Pickett, received word that his wife had given birth to a beautiful baby boy. Up and down the line the Southerners began building huge bonfires in celebration of the event. These fires did not go unnoticed in the Northern camps and soon a nervous General Grant sent out a reconnaissance patrol to see what was going on. The scouts returned with the message that Pickett had had a son and these were celebration fires. It happened that Grant and Pickett had been contemporaries at West Point and knew one another well, so to honor the occasion Grant, too, ordered that bonfires should be built. What a peculiar night it was. For miles on both sides of the battle line flames lit up the sky in a celebration of life. No shots fired. No cursing back and forth. No war fought. Only bonfires of light proclaiming good news. Good Friday is like that, in the midst of the despair of sin God has caused a great burning light to pierce the darkness and proclaim a celebration of life. The amazing thing is that it not even the life of His Son that He celebrates on Good Friday, it is not some sort of memorial service for Jesus by which we remember His good deeds. No, the celebration of Good Friday that God has in mind is the celebration of your life, the coming into being of your life, the expectation He has of . . .
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Last Updated on Saturday, 29 April 2006 19:10 |
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Location, Location, Location |
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Written by Rev. Spence Laycock
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Wednesday, 26 April 2006 19:04 |
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It would seem that the more important the message the greater the means of advertising it. When the Second World War ended, allied bombers dropped millions upon millions of leaflets into cities, jungles and war zones proclaiming that a peace had been reached and that the war was over. In a similar yet greater way God declared His peace plan to the world on a day which we still call, ‘Palm Sunday’. It was referred to as the Triumphal Entry of Christ into Jerusalem , the beginning of the Passion Week, yet in reality it was perhaps the greatest case of mistaken identity in the history of mankind. Though the crowds perceived this as the forerunner to an actual triumph of power, nothing could have been further from the truth. They surrounded Jesus that day hailing Him as the new political hero, a national Messiah. Within just a few days they would be calling for the crucifixion of this Jesus, so it was not the triumphal entry they thought it was, and yet… it was very much a triumphal entry in God’s eyes. This was a day that He had planned for since before the world was created. It was on His calendar, it was foreordained, appointed in time to take place and it’s significance was enormous. In the words of a real estate agent it was all about Location, Location, Location. When an agent says that they mean that the setting of a house on a particular street is often more important than if it has new rugs or fresh paint. The location is the . . .
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Written by Dr. Harold McNabb
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Monday, 24 April 2006 04:20 |
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Fear is a crippling emotion.
When Hannibal attacked Rome, he brought African elephants to accompany his infantry. He hoped the sight of the monsters would spread fear and panic through the Roman legions as well as being an effective fighting animal. He almost succeeded.
On September 21, 2005, the landing gear of JetBlue flight 292 malfunctioned during takeoff, resulting in the wheels under the nose becoming jammed to the side. Local media picked up the story, and millions of viewers across the country tuned in to watch the unfolding drama of the crippled aircraft—including the 145 people on the plane!
Passengers watched a live satellite feed from their seats as the plane circled over southern California, burning off its load of fuel. Actress Taryn Manning, one of the passengers, told the Associated Press: "A lot of the women of course were crying. There was a gentleman across the way who was writing in his journal and crying, and seeing that isn't easy."
Fortunately, the ensuing emergency landing was a success, and all of the passengers survived. One of them, Alexandra Jacobs, made a fascinating observation: "We couldn't believe the irony that we might be watching our own demise on television. That seemed a little bit post-post-modern."1
We experience fear in many ways. There is the emotion that comes from . . .
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