I just finished the book April 1865 - The Month That Saved America. I highly recommend it. If you like history, (I personally love it), you will like this book. If you are not a big fan of history you will still like it. It covers a period of time, (a month, as if you could not figure that out), that a head spinning number of things took place that literally made the difference between the United States surviving or dying. Check it out. 

Makes we want to read more Civil War history.

 

If you are reading this you probably already know that this is the title of a Casting Crowns song. Not only do I like the lyrics to this song I love the video some very creative person made of it with Lego people. However, behind all the humor in the video lies a very serious message. In our churches today are we happy plastic people? Do we let others see the real us? In most cases the answer is no. Now this is not an invitation to bare our sinful selves to everybody in the pews next to us each Sunday morning. It is however an attempt to get us to be real to somebody in our lives. Accountability is more than a nice idea. It is absolutly vital to the well lived christian life. We do not have the power to live the Christ-like life by ourselves. It requires the power of the Holy Spirit and I am conviced that he frequently works through others. Others that are not afraid (and have our permission) to confront us when we are wrong. To lovingly tell us when we are headed down the wrong path. To pray with and for us, regularly. Am I this type of friend for someone in my life? Is someone this type of friend to me? If the answer is no pray that God will bring somebody like this into your life.

I recently read an article encouraging us as parents to spend time with our older children in the activities they enjoy. The kicker is that these activities may not be anything that we personally would spend much time at. We need to remember that as our children get closer to that age of independence, and their interests become their own, if we are going to spend time with them we may need to adapt in a few areas. This may mean learning to like some things we are not accustomed to, or learning a new technology, like Xanga. After all, with the limited amount of time we have with our children still at home it is time well spent.