In addition to certain relationships, a certain proportion of pastoral support can seem similar to this, as well.
Ten Reasons To Get Married And Have Kids Young (via Stephen Miller)
Stephen Miller offers ten reasons why marrying and starting a family young is a good idea.
I found many of these reflect my personal experience.
And no, he’s not suggesting it should be mandatory.
Here are the headlines, go to his blog as he explains most of these with a little more nuance.
- Because you get to grow up together AND grow old together.
- Because you are fighting for holiness.
- Because you will never really find the right person and if you do, you’re probably not the right person for them – at least for long. I don’t mean this to sound fatalistic and this doesn’t mean just marry the next person you date because you’re not gonna find “the one.”
- Because you’re never really going to be ready. You will always want to make more money, do more things, and go more places.
- Because few things can sanctify you like a spouse and children.
- Because having kids is better than having dogs.
- Because having kids doesn’t mean life as you know it is over. When you get married and have kids young, you are a lot less likely to make your entire life about your kids.
- Because when you’re young, you have more stamina and vitality.
- Because you don’t want to be confused for the grandparents at your kids’ graduation, but it might be nice to be confused for the parents at your grandkids’ graduation.
- Because having kids young means they graduate and are out of the house when you’re still young.
Football Tips – NRL Round 11 / AFL Round 9 2013
Well.
That was… interesting.
Black armband round for tipping.
Especially (surprise, surprise) in the rugby league.
The only result I was really unhappy with was North Melbourne losing after the siren to West Coast.
That would have been a handy pick-up.
Apparently the newspapers whose tips I’m keeping track of allocate a point for draws, so if that isn’t how you work, deduct one from my scores for both codes.
If I ever get far enough ahead I might take one off myself somewhere down the line.
NRL (last round: 4/8; season tally: 55/80)
North Queensland
Brisbane
Saint George/Illawarra
Melbourne
Manly
Newcastle
Gold Coast
South Sydney
AFL (last round 6/9; season tally: 56/72)
Sydney
Geelong
West Coast
Saint Kilda
Carlton
Essendon
Hawthorn
North Melbourne
Fremantle
A Story About Lavish Generosity
A story about lavish generosity.
ht: Z
So my mom and I have been working the same waitress job for 5-6 years now. She had been waitressing years before, but this is recently. Anyway, about… 15 minutes ago this guy she waited on left and told her to take care. Just that. Prior to this she had talked to him about Italy. Her people are from Florence, this and that, and she said she’s never been. She’s got 8 years of art education and she’s working a waitress job. It’s pretty… Sad and disappointing, I guess. Her and my father divorced 6 years ago and she hasn’t had a real job ever. Just been stuck in a small town she’s not from. This man who we have never seen before tipped her 1000 dollars for a trip to Italy. Walked out, not another word. …you know. Just when I start to lose faith in humanity….Hm.
source
A One Dollar Cheque Every Week For Eighteen Years
A drunk driver kills an eighteen year old woman.
His punishment?
As part of the settlement with the woman’s parents, Kevin Tunell had to pay $936 by sending them a cheque for $1, made out to their deceased daughter, Susan Herzog, every week for eighteen years, the duration of their daughter’s life.
Sound easy?
It proved to be anything but.
Go and read about it as Clint Archer unfolds the story, provides some observations, and even includes an update including more detail from Kevin Tunell himself at Cripplegate.
If I Have A Guardian Angel…
This was a topic of conversation last week.
source
Meanwhile, In Another Denomination…
This is another one to file under the ‘You all think I’m making this up’ illustrations of what passes for Bible interpretation and preaching from around the world.
HT to Michael Bird for this excerpt from a sermon preached by the leader of the Episcopal (Anglican) denomination in the USA.
I can’t make this sort of material up. I’m not that creative.
Over to Mike…
The Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church, Rt. Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, preached a sermon in Venezuela about seeing the glory of others. In the course of her sermon, she says what I [Bird] think is the strangest and stupidest thing I have ever heard/read for a sermon. In her sermon, she recalls Acts 16 and the story about the demon-possessed slave girl who prophesied. This is what Jefferts Schori has to say:
There are some remarkable examples of that kind of blindness in the readings we heard this morning, and slavery is wrapped up in a lot of it. Paul is annoyed at the slave girl who keeps pursuing him, telling the world that he and his companions are slaves of God. She is quite right. She’s telling the same truth Paul and others claim for themselves. But Paul is annoyed, perhaps for being put in his place, and he responds by depriving her of her gift of spiritual awareness. Paul can’t abide something he won’t see as beautiful or holy, so he tries to destroy it. It gets him thrown in prison. That’s pretty much where he’s put himself by his own refusal to recognize that she, too, shares in God’s nature, just as much as he does – maybe more so! The amazing thing is that during that long night in jail he remembers that he might find God there – so he and his cellmates spend the night praying and singing hymns.
