culture

Father’s Eyes

/ landoncollard / 6 Comments

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How do I describe what I see when I look at this picture?

Beauty? Absolutely. Joy? For sure. Love? Friendship? Connection? Simplicity? Peace? Yes! All of that.

But for me, there’s so much more. I see my daughter who is turning into an amazing young woman right before my eyes. At once, I’m filled with pride, excitement and unbelievable satisfaction. I’m torn between the joy of the moment, the memory of what used to be and the immediate future of what’s to come. I have visions of the little girl who used to stare Button, our beautiful boxer, in the eyes when she stood up. And now, take a look, she has to get on her knees to get a hug from her buddy. Seeing this, I realize that when we have traveled the same distance again, I will be staring directly into the eyes of a grown young woman.

And I wonder…

What will I see then? More than that – what will you see then? Will you see beauty? Joy? Love? Friendship? Connection? Simplicity? Peace?

Will you see what God made her to be? Will you value her as he does? Will you fight for her freedom? Will you love her sacrificially?

When teaching us how to relate to each other, Jesus said: “So, in everything, do to others what you would have them do unto you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 7:12.) So I can’t help but ask, how are we doing concerning the daughters of our world? On a scale of 1-10, how would you grade out on your treatment of beautiful young women in our culture?

Jesus would and has given everything for them. How about you?

 

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Preserved vs. Repressed Sexuality

/ landoncollard / 2 Comments

Sex plays such a dominate role in our culture. It drives our advertising and our entertainment. Whether it’s overt or subtle, it seems to be everywhere.

Question: How do we deal with this as followers of Jesus? How do we participate in this sex saturated culture and yet live differently? What boundaries do we place in our lives?

And possibly even more important…how do we guide our children and our single adults through this extremely difficult maze? This is a question we really need to spend some time on. What we teach here really matters. It will influence not only their actions but their hearts. It could directly impact whether they receive the gift of sex truly as a gift or as something else entirely.

Last week, I ran across a tremendous post about this. It directly addresses how so much of our Christian community has dealt with sexuality and the potential struggles we create within the hearts of our children and single adults. Take a look, it’ll be well worth your time!

Preserved vs. Repressed Sexuality.