Several things on my heart, but...

My kids are all sick, so I can't write all that I had hoped to today.

There were 2 main things that struck me today. The first is from my Bible study this morning. I just started Becoming a Woman of Faith by Cynthia Heald and it was interesting the connection that the passages I was to read helped me realize. The passages were from the Gospels and were about how Peter saw Jesus walking on the water and walked out to him, but then doubted when the wind came up, the second was about Thomas refusing to believe Jesus was alive unless he saw Him himself, and the third was when Jesus was in the boat sleeping and the disciples woke him because of the storm. The question about the passages was what did the disciples do and what was the consequence/result of that. I struggled with the consequence part, but then I realized as I reflected on the third passage that the disciples were putting their trust in Jesus--who they could see and not God. So, they cried out to Jesus to save them instead of having faith that God would. And Jesus speaks to Thomas about how those who believe but have not seen will be blessed.

I realized that perhaps the disciples in each story were putting faith in what they could see rather than what they could not. I kept thinking about this. In their case, it was putting their faith in Jesus who they could see, rather than God the father--who they could not. In my case, I can put my faith in myself who I can see rather than God's faithfulness. Often, I rely on myself rather than trusting God. It can be easier to trust myself or others that I can see rather than God who I cannot. This was eyeopening to me this morning when I realized what the disciples had done and what it means to have faith.

Cynthia Heald includes several quotes which were wonderful and one of the other readings was Psalm 77 (I think) in which Asaph cries out to the Lord in his distress and then remembers and contemplates God's faithfulness in the past and all that He had done. It is by focusing on the truth of our convictions and the things we know to be true that we dispel doubt.

The second thing I've been thinking about today has been a much sadder part of life... This part is a bit of sensitive matter.

I reviewed a book for Amazon yesterday called Great Answers to Difficult Questions about Sex http://www.amazon.com/Great-Answers-Difficult-Questions-About/dp/1849058040/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1262138760&sr=8-1 I write my reviews as Anne from Baltimore. If you have time, would you read my review and affirm what I wrote if you agree with me? The more I thought about this book, the more it concerned me and the things that are taught in this book.

People ask me a lot why we homeschool and one of the reasons is what is taught in the schools. This book brought all of that back to me. The book didn't take a stand in any way that kids shouldn't have sex--simply that they can once they hit puberty. I would understand if this was a science book, but it isn't valueless. There are morals being advocated in this book.

There was something I read in a great book by Dr. Paul McHugh in his book called The Mind Has Mountains. He was relating the story of a doctor who discussed with him his job--which was to take out perfectly good body parts that people didn't want because they wanted to be the other sex. The doctor told Dr. McHugh something that I have come to feel is more and more wise--that "Just because we can do something (in this case medically) doesn't mean we should".

I think that definitely applies to a lot of things talked about in this book.

For example, just because 11 year olds can have sex, doesn't mean they should.
Just because two five year old boys want to undress and play doctor doesn't mean they should.
Just because a 7 year old girl wants to touch her doll inappropriately doesn't mean she should.
I could go on, but I don't think I need to. I think that pretty much gives you the idea of the perspective of the author of this book.

What makes me most concerned about all of this is that at first I read it and it didn't seem so bad. But, then as I mulled it over, it was like big red flashing warning lights started going off. I thought about the authors definition that good touches are touches you like and bad touches are ones you don't and realized that that's a dangerous definition--especially putting those in light of the stories from the book that I just mentioned.

Well, it is time to go to bed. I have 3 sick kids and I'm low on sleep, but these things were burdening my heart.