On the topic of homeschooling

I've been thinking about the video I posted below ("The Homeschool Song"), and I've realized that it has stirred up two different responses in me. And since I'm at a lack of things to post, I figured I'd share my thoughts.

The first response is obvious; I find it absolutely hilarious. It accurately depicts what people think of when they hear "homeschool." One of my friends (who was also homeschooled) and I were talking about this after class one day. She commented that while there are homeschoolers who fit that stereotype, it's only like 20% or so. But because they are so outside of the "normal" society, that's all people see.

The second response I usually have comes later, as I'm really thinking about the "stereotyped" homeschoolers. When I stop and think about it, I wonder why people would live like that. Not "only wear certain clothes," or have tons of kids, or school a certain way; I couldn't care less what you wear or how you teach your kids; and I too want to have a big family some day. No, I mean living so far away from the rest of the world that they are in essence hiding. Hiding from the government, hiding from the world, hiding from the Call God has placed on every Christian. Living out on some nowhere farm and always staying at home; never interacting with those outside of your family; never sending your kids into the world as witnesses for Jesus; only befriending those who live exactly like you. It's like modern-day Pharisees, and it saddens me. Now, I know I'm probably stepping on some toes here, but please don't misunderstand me. I'm not saying that any of these things is wrong; I know full-well that God has called people to farm, or to raise their children a certain way, whatever. What I do think is wrong is when that's all you do. So many times I've heard homeschool parents say something to the extent of "Oh, I'm so glad we got out of the city and are away from all the bad stuff in the world." Again, I know that God calls many people to live in the country or on a farm. BUT, He did NOT call them to hide from the world. He calls us to go into all the world. You would not believe how many homeschool kids have told me (or my brothers) "You guys need to get out of the city and move to a farm. Get away from all the junk and 'bad' influences of the city." Uh, excuse me? Leave my mission field? Um, no! Should I say it stronger? ABSOLUTELY NOT! Leave the very people God has called us to minister to? Dream on! Let the lost continue to live in utter darkness and hopelessness while I hide? As if! Can I get my point across any other way?

Again, I don't think living out in the country and stuff is wrong. I have many friends whose families live on working farms, or live out in the country, homeschool, whatever. The thing is, these friends are also very active in promoting the gospel of Jesus Christ. They support missions, pray for our nation's leaders, are strong witnesses for Jesus, are involved in the fight against abortion, etc. Their parents are teaching the kids to be lights in the midst of darkness, which is awesome. So like I've said, it's not living out on a farm that I think is wrong; it's when people use it as an excuse to avoid going outside of their comfort zone and into all that Jesus could do through them.

Stereotypes

I love this video. It so perfectly captures the stereotype of homeschoolers. And it's HILARIOUS!

Why?

My Chemistry class has been quite the adventure. Of course, the textbook and my instructor are both very evolution-based; but despite that, the more I learn about how the world works on a microscopic level, the more I stand in awe of my God. And the other day I had a conversation with Him that left me smiling.

One of my practice problems for a chapter was to estimate how many atoms are in the entire universe. Now, believe me, the numbers they gave me to work with were huge. But the thing that really caught my attention was when the book said "Because the planets constitute less than 1% of the atoms in the universe, they can be ignored." Now, just think about that for a minute. ALL of the planets are so small that they are completely ignored when calculating the mass of the universe. Think about how big our planet seems to be to us, and how much bigger other planets are compared to earth. And yet they still don't count! Now think about how much bigger our God is compared to His creation. It'll blow your mind if you think about it long enough. After a few moments of silence after realizing how incomparably insignificant we are in relation to our great Creator, this is where our conversation went.

Me: If You're so much bigger than we can comprehend, why do You even care?

God: Why do you care about others?

Me: Huh?

God: When I created you, I created you in My image. I gave you a heart fashioned after My heart. I care for the same reason you love those around you.

Me: Oh.

God: So, why do you care?

Me: (pause) Um, I dunno. I just do.

God: You can't explain it?

Me: I guess not.

God: If you can't even comprehend why you love others, why should I explain why I love you?

Me: *smile* 'Cause I'd never understand it anyway.

God: Right.

Lighter post

Okay, so as I've been looking back on my previous posts, I've realized that for those who mainly keep up with our family through the blog, it probably looks like I've absolutely been hating school, and it's a complete waste of time, and why am I paying for something when it's so awful? Right? Well, not exactly. I guess I should set that straight.

Let me start out by saying that yes, I do get frustrated, and yes, sometimes I do think it's a waste of time; though you probably already knew that, considering some of the stuff I've written. :) BUT, it has not been as bad as I've been making it look. For one thing, I've met some great friends, and have been having fun getting to know others better than I used to. I have a couple of classmates that I see every single day, so that's been really nice. Also, I know some of you have heard this from me before, but I've been getting involved with Chi Alpha, and it's been amazing. Chi Alpha is a college-age oriented ministry by First Assembly and is fantastic. The kids are so deeply in love with their Savior that it is super-motivating for me. It's been a long time since I've seen kids my own age dive into worship for their King, and it's awesome to be able to spend time in His presence with other believers--especially other college students! The worship week after week is amazing; and the preaching is great too. The place packs out every week, and each week we see more and more college students turning to Jesus. On that note, I will say that while I do sometimes question the accuracy of the number of people who actually become Christians, I think it is definitely more accurate on the college campus. These kids know full well what taking the name of Jesus will do; the price they will pay, both in the classroom and with their friends. It's not anything close to what people in some countries go through, but it's still a price they must be willing to pay.

Anyway, so yeah, Chi Alpha's been great. The biggest thing for me, though, is a change in viewpoint that God has completed in me. During the summer, I was kinda dreading college, because although I knew beyond a shadow of doubt that's what He had called me to do, I didn't want to deal with the battle that I knew would take place. But since the school year started, the Lord has changed my thinking to come from His viewpoint; that is, seeing the campus as a mission field. Many years ago, God called me to be a missionary and a nurse. Well, here I am fulfilling one part in that plan, so why can't I begin to fulfill the other part? Who says I have to go overseas, or graduate college, before lighting my world for Him? When Jesus said "Go," He didn't say "Go into foreign countries," and He didn't say "Get a good education and lots of training and then go;" no, He said "Go into all the world." And right now, my world is my campus; therefore my mission field is my campus. It's been a long and sometimes hard process, but God is faithful. He has already given me chances to be a witness for Him, most of which I've taken. Yeah, there have been times that I've totally blown it. I'm not saying I'm perfect; but "He who began a good work in (me) will carry it on to the day of completion."

I'll leave you with one final thought that I hope encourages you the way it does me.

"God doesn't require perfect preaching; He requires a perfect heart. If you don't have a perfect heart, He'll make it perfect; just yield it to Him."
~Bruce Harpel

Don't we wish!

Where will you stand?

"Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!"
~Patrick Henry

Multi-Piano

For the second time, Carl participated in the Multi-Piano Festival, which was held this past weekend. Basically what it is is twelve kids (six duets) playing the same duets at the same time, with a conductor keeping them together (you hope). Carl and I both participated in it two years ago, and we had an awesome time. The worst part was the auditions, because you pretty much have to be perfect to get in. And once you're in, you have to be really tough to stick it out. Mr. Cole, our conductor, is the nicest man you'll ever meet; except when he's directing this! Then, to a lot of people, he gets way over the top extreme. He has no problem yelling at you and making you play your part over and over in front of everyone until you get it right (to be fair, I should say that he tones it down for the younger kids, thankfully). For a lot of kids, the thought of that alone is enough to keep them from ever trying out or performing--with good reason. But Carl and I have played team sports forever, so we're used to being singled out and yelled at for messing up. (Never mind the fact that we're both pretty thick-skinned to begin with.) We also love performing, and that outweighs any negatives about working with Mr. Cole. So we stuck it out, learned SOOOO much from it, and got to show off in historic Fargo Theatre in the process! :) This year, though, obviously I couldn't play with Carl, so he auditioned by himself. He got in (in the most advanced group; like we did last time), and they performed SUPER well. I really enjoyed listening to all the performances, and Carl did a fantastic job.
So here are a few pictures from the day. Carl's in the red shirt on one of the back pianos. (And I will point out that he was the ONLY guy in his group--and there weren't any guys in the group before him, either. Way to stick it out, Carl!)

Happy birthday Dad!

It's my dad's ?? birthday today!! I hope you have an awesome day Dad!
I love you!

Today also would have been my grandpa's birthday. It was ten years ago this summer that he went home to the Lord, and I miss him more with every passing year. I love you Grandpa, and I can't wait to see you again!

Ticked off

I'll try to post a full update fairly soon, but in the meantime, I have some steam to blow off. Be thankful you can't see me right now, 'cause there are probably flames shooting out of my eyes.

I guess I'll start by saying that I have been super frustrated with my English class from day one. During the class time, do you think we spend most of the time writing or learning proper writing form or anything like that? No, we spend it writing down "how we FEEL" about whatever the topic is. It's like being in a stinkin' counseling session. Or we'll spend half the time "brainstorming," which really means that the kids toss out ideas for whatever the instructor wants us to think about, and then she says "yeah, that's good." I'm sorry (okay, maybe not), but isn't the instructor supposed to be the one TEACHING????? (On this note, I'll point out that my instructor and my textbook use absolutely horrible grammar all the time.)
Another thing that's frustrating for me is the kind of GARBAGE they're forcing down my throat. I've posted about it before, but it's the absolute worst in English. We have to read articles that are totally pro-homosexual, feminist, relativist, and the like. Okay, I should clarify something here. It's not the fact that we have to read this stuff that gets me upset. It's the fact that homosexuals can write papers totally bashing Christians and the Bible, but if I so much as said one little thing that even hinted against homosexuality, I'd literally be kicked out of the university because of a "hate crime." I'm all for free speech, BUT IT HAS TO GO BOTH WAYS OR IT'S NOT FREE SPEECH!!!! Like I said, I've known this to be the case for a long time, but it doesn't make it any less annoying.
The thing that's got me ticked tonight, though, is something I read in my textbook. It's talking about reasons to be suspicious of sources, and this is what it said:
"Either/or choices . . . Be deeply suspicious whenever you encounter some version of the 'either . . . or' collocation. Writers writing about issues as being black-and-white will typically present one side as completely wrong."
As if it's a bad thing.
DUH!!!!! WAKE UP PEOPLE!!! MURDER IS ALWAYS WRONG; COMMUNISM IS ALWAYS WRONG; STEALING IS ALWAYS WRONG; WRONG IS WRONG NO MATTER WHAT!!! Just because someone said truth is relative doesn't mean they're right. If they are right in saying that truth is relative, then that statement is relative and not always true in every situation. And we could go 'round and 'round with that argument. My point is that some things are just wrong, no matter what your opinion is.

Anyway, that's all for now. Hope I didn't get anyone too riled up. :)