The Journal Star ran an article the other day pointing out the dangers STDs pose to the sexually active among us. The statistics are pretty dreary.
More than half of all people will have an STD at some point in their lifetime.
Estimates show as many as one in four Americans has genital herpes.
Each year, almost 3 million new cases of chlamydia are diagnosed, many in adolescents and young adults.
The article did point out that "The only sure way to avoid STDs is to abstain from any sexual contact or be in a long-term, mutually monogamous relationship with a partner who has been tested and is known to not have an STD." Thurman Hoskins Jr, of the Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department, contradicted this point, however, stating that "If you're having sex, you're at risk."
Really? I know a lot of people who are having sex that aren't at risk. They're called married people. I know a lot of money, energy, and controversy have been spent debating what is known as "Abstinence Only" sex ed. While I agree with the content, I think the label is a bit misleading. If you're trying to prevent the spread of STDs, abstinence is one way to go, but so is monogamy. If a person has sex with only one person, and that person only has sex with them (as in marriage), viola! No risk of STDs!
In fact, consider this. You want to rid the world of STDs forever? There is a way, but it doesn't come in pill form. If we could somehow produce a single generation of 100% monogamous people, then STDs would die out with the generation preceding our puritanical prudes. That's it. Of course, this would take an incredible amount of self-control and restraint. But, it would work.
I guess the thing that bothers me more than anything about articles like this is the hopeless tone they take. The foundational premise is that kids are going to be kids, and it's no use telling anyone not to have sex. Balderdash. We spend millions on TV ads telling kids not to smoke. We hire celebrities to tell them not to drink, start forest fires, or ride in a car without a seat-belt. Why can't we tell them to not have sex with anyone but their spouse?
Alas, I suppose that would be us forcing our beliefs on them, which is the only *sin* we are allowed to condemn these days.
"Look. War is about breaking things and killing people."1
—
Heard while Pete tried to dig to the bottom of a box filled with characters and "playsets" from the movie Cars, after he pulled out Flo's V8 Cafe playset:
"Hoooooooo-weeeeeee Cwaaaaap!"
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Heard while watching sleeping through Elf, when Buddy the Elf (Will Ferrell) is speaking to a "fake" department store Santa:
If your reasons for not believing in Santa Claus are physics related, you may want to rethink your position. Larry Silverberg, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at North Carolina State University (NCSU), explains how Santa gets it done. From the article:
Silverberg is not so naïve as to think that Santa and his reindeer can travel approximately 200 million square miles – making stops in some 80 million homes – in one night. Instead, he posits that Santa uses his knowledge of the space/time continuum to form what Silverberg calls “relativity clouds.”
“Based on his advanced knowledge of the theory of relativity, Santa recognizes that time can be stretched like a rubber band, that space can be squeezed like an orange and that light can be bent,” Silverberg says. “Relativity clouds are controllable domains – rips in time – that allow him months to deliver presents while only a few minutes pass on Earth. The presents are truly delivered in a wink of an eye.”
According to Silverberg, "Children shouldn’t put too much credence in the opinions of those who say it’s not possible to deliver presents all over the world in one night. It is possible, and it’s based on plausible science."
If you object on other grounds, well, that's your business.
This fall, for the first time I can remember, my wife and I completely forgot about the daylight savings time change. We showed up at church in time for Sunday School, which starts at 9:45. Little did we know, since our clocks did not "fall back" an hour we were actually about a half-hour "late" for the 8:15 service. Once we realized our mistake, we snuck into church as the offering plates made their pilgrimage through the last row. We sung the doxology and then pulled out our Bibles in preparation for the sermon. The sermon was, I suppose, just as "good" as any other week, but for some reason I felt very disengaged as Stu preached from the Word. Having given this some thought, I realized what the problem was.
Most Sundays we hear God's "Call to Worship," we worship through singing, we worship through corporate and personal confession of our sins, we worship by hearing the assurance of pardon, and we worship through giving. Only after all of this preparation do we worship through the ministry of the Word. Because we showed up late, we jumped straight into the sermon without any preparation of our hearts or minds for hearing the Word of God. It did not "return void," but we were ill prepared to receive it.
I fear that many of us (myself included) approach Christmas this same way. Our culture has conditioned us for convenience and "just in time" shopping, eating, recreation, and everything else. Continue reading this post »
I'm the kind of guy who laughs menacingly as I delete e-mails that instruct me to send them to three people in the next 10 minutes to prove that I love Jesus. I get a sadistic kick out of going to Snopes.com and bursting the bubble of the poor guy who thought warning us all about an upcoming virus (invariably called "luv bug" or "sweet Jesus" or "hello world") was a matter of life and death. I actually time myself on how quickly I can block a sender who has forwarded a "meme" to me, asking me to fill in my favorite class in high school, my shoe size, and the Disney movie I love the most.
But, the other day Jason tagged me for the 6 Things meme. I don't know Jason that well yet, but what I do know is that he is Kirk-Kluver-cool, and then some, which is sayin' something. So, if it's cool enough for Jason, it's cool enough for me.
Six Things (you might not know about me):
I met my wife at summer camp. Eventually that story will make its way on here, but it's kind of a long story so BACK OFF.
I had a mullet in 5th and 6th grades. I maintain it was a mini-mullet, and it even bordered on a rattail at times, but Amanda (see #1 above) is more comfortable just calling it a mullet.
Capital punishment is one of the only political/moral/religious issues I go back and forth on. I'm still not really sure where I stand, which is very unusual for me.
I was one of three captains on the hockey team I played on in high school. I played for the Lincoln Junior Stars, and the team's first season was during my senior year. I also got in the first fight ever in team history, during the second period of the team's first game ever. I was obviously named a captain due to my exceptional leadership skills, levelheadedness, and self-control.
I've been baptized twice (once as an infant and again as an adult), though I've rethought my position recently and am now convinced that the first one "stuck." You might think this invalidates point #3 above, but you're wrong. I may have changed my position back and forth, but I've always been very convinced I was right, no matter which side of the issue I was on.
The first concert I went to sans a parent or any other authority figure featured No Doubt, The Goo Goo Dolls, and Bush, in March of 1996 at Pershing Auditorium. I had been to a Garth Brooks concert with my aunt several years before, but I'd have to say the Bush show was much better, in its own special way.
There you have it. I'm probably supposed to *tag* someone now, but I think I'll abstain. Baby steps. Baby steps.
For just $14.99, you can give a gift that says what Christians everywhere are thinking. Available on quality Hanes Heavyweight t-shirt, you can share the true message of the gospel everywhere you go. Forget the humility stuff. Talk a little trash to athiests, agnostics, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, and any other group that doesn't embrace Jesus as the Messiah.
The shirt is especially effective if paired with a WWJD bracelet.
When Amanda was in college, some of her friends gave her a Christmas CD. Or, in fact, a copy of a Christmas CD. Those were the days before "file sharing" was ruled to be illegal, so I'm sure some sort of grandfather clause exists that would make it tough for the RIAA to prosecute.
The name of the CD is Happy Christmas, and it features artists like The O.C. Supertones, Switchfoot, and Five Iron Frenzy. Many of the songs have a kind of ska or punk sound to them, which makes them interesting.
A fledgling tradition in our household is to throw in the "ska Christmas" CD and jam out as we trim the tree. In my opinion, there isn't a version of Joy to the World out there that beats The Supertone's effort on this disc. This year, in the midst of moving and getting settled into our new house, this tradition was neglected. In a decision I already regret, I stayed out in the garage finishing up a wiring project while Amanda and the kids put the tree up without me. It was one of those "It'll only take another 10 minutes and then I'll be in" kind of projects that ends up lasting two hours more, and when all was said and done there were only two or three ornaments left to put on the tree when I joined in. Like I said, not one of my best ideas ever.
I'll go out on a limb one more time and offer this album for your Christmas season listening pleasure. You can stream the entire album using the player below. No, you can't download the files, and shame on you for even considering it. If you want it for your very own, go buy it.
My personal favorites are tracks 1, 5, 7, and 9. Give it a listen and see what you think.
Is it bread? Is it chocolate? One thing's for sure. It's delicious. Affordable, too. For just $1.75 you can wrap up this little inspirational treat for the people on your list who have a tough time deciding who they love more; Jesus or chocolate. Now, they don't have to choose!
Pete, my 3 year old son, loves coins. He has a Huskers piggy bank, and one of his favorite things to do is to dump it out and then put all of the change back in it. Nothing brightens his day like a handful of pennies and nickels to add to his collection. I'm pretty sure he has a vague idea that you can use change to buy things because he likes to take quarters along to the mall, where they have a train set that will run for a minute or two if you feed it $.50.
Recently, I've been giving Pete a few coins before church, and when the time comes he puts his money into the offering plate. This is all pretty exciting because, like the widow's offering, it is rather costly to Pete. He doesn't have much to give, but he gives it all.
A few Sundays back, after he had parted with three dimes and a penny, I was telling him how proud I was of him. I explained that when we give money to the church we are participating in the work of the church, how his offering will be used toward making things "on earth as it is in heaven," and that the church would use the money for all sorts of wonderful things.
"Like buying doughnuts?"
"Yes, son, like buying doughnuts."
But, all is not lost. Yesterday, while cleaning the house, Amanda came across three quarters (Pete's favorite!). She gave them to him and he scampered off toward his room, where his piggy bank resides. A moment later he returned and gave the money back to his mother, along with a simple explanation. "We need to give this money to Jesus."
Come Sunday, you better believe Pete's daddy is going to get him a handful of doughnuts.
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