A chandelier pours light gently onto the cherry wood table adorned with soup, flowers, stories and friends. I sit at the head, feeling ever so manly, as my wife spoons feeds my little princess. To my right recline my mentor and elder, his wife and his family. I rarely feel this good. I open the Word, and the gilded pages fall to the Beginning. Just then, a visitor interrupts this party. Delusions of grandeur, my faithful pal, takes a seat on my shoulder. I graze through the covenants, the delusions dancing about my mouth. After all, a word misspoken here would be a fate worse than death. In hindsight, no words misspoken, but plenty of apt words unspoken for fear I would not receive the praise I desired.

"What was that, Delusion? What do you say? Make it wooden and lifeless? Make it worthless and meandering?"

How long will the Lord put up with me? I'm a wretch! Who will rescue me from this body of death?

I have a plight before me. I relish the praise of men. I wallow in the realization that I delight as much in the wink and the nod of an older man as much as the Law of the Lord. Lord forgive me of this sinful pride!

I see that my life is a pulpit. Right now my pulpit has been placed before my wife and my children. I could say that my congregation is growing by leaps and bounds, but I would be stretching the truth. My congregation has a great love for their pastor, and their parched souls long to have the water of the Word poured over them. But my love for their praise has created in me a great cowardice. Deep down in me, I know that my wife's loving arms and beautiful words can almost convince me that I have pleased the Lord Himself. If my children throw their arms around me and tell me I am the "best dad in the world", then all is yes and amen in my spirit. But have I preached to them out of the fear of the Lord? Have I taught their souls for the Glory of God as my banner? Have I taken them in love, and placed them on the altar of God, saying, "Do with them as you will?" No, because my desire for their praise has made me a coward. This kind of coward cannot be the rock they need. And they are starving because of my fear and complacency.

In the dark hours of the night, I am haunted by my apathy. My flippancy with the Word of God has found me out. I repent, Oh sovereign Lord. Let your grace flood me again, and wash away my cowardice. Let your healing water devour my home and my family and myself. Let us be lost in your majesty, and rest in the delight of your presence. My your Word dwell in us richly, and my we be truly satisfied in You.

May my pride be dashed to pieces, and your will prevail in my mind! May you crush my bones, and give me no crutch on which to stand. Take my frail and feeble mind and teach it your laws. Take my heart, over which you rule, and soften it's voice. Take my rights and re-write them aright. Forgive me. I am your slave, your servant, closer to dust than to your throne. You alone I can look to for salvation. Save me from my sins and correct this sinner to be what you have called me to be in the place you have called me to for as long as you will have me here. Amen.

Ran across this article, which condemns "Indoctrination, the Movie": Mother Jones

It's come to my attention that this documentary, which is yet to be released, is absolutely bias, wants to sell homeschool curriculum, and wants to convince Christian parents not to send their kids to public school. Well, duh.

I support the folks making the Indoctrination movie because I care about the Church and I care about the fame of the name of Christ!

Check out the Indoctrination trailer here:

Let me just make the statement: Christian parents should not send their kids to public school. Period. End of story.

Just for fun, I decided that this would be a ripe time to talk a little bit about why I think that this sentiment is dead on.

1. Public schools do not allow the gospel to be a part of teaching. As Christians, this should be unacceptable to us. If you consider yourself a Christian, and this is acceptable to you, then shame. You are the light of the world. You are the salt of the earth. The chief end of your entire existence is to glorify God by enjoying Him forever. You are to love the Lord with all of your heart soul mind and strength. Why on this green earth would it be acceptable to you to send your children into a place where they are taught about life around us, but are not able to give glory due to the Lord? Just in the case of science, it is not acceptable to speak of the earth being created by God. In just this rudimentary truth, the proper Lordship over teaching and all things should appropriately be given to the Lord. Are you compromising?

2. Public schools are a cesspool of iniquity. I graduated from public school, and I will never completely recover. I have been washed with low-brow, godless examples for so long, that I still struggle with the effects. I don't want that for my kids. When I see the results of kids who have for multiple generations come from strong Christian homeschooled families, I see what my progeny could become one day. Most of you reading this have never seen it for yourselves, so you either don't have any frame of reference to understand what I am talking about, or you might just think I am exaggerating. Believe me, it exists, and it can be done, if you are faithful to raising your family uncompromisingly with the Holy Scriptures. Are you compromising?

3. Teenagers don't have to go through a "rebellious stage". I know...I didn't think that statement was true either, until I saw it for myself. I'm not saying these kids are perfect, nor have they never rebelled. What I am saying is this: What you think is a rebellious stage is most likely avoidable to the extent that you expect to experience it. Public schooling takes kids for five days a week, throws them together with some decent kids and also of the most rotten hellish children on earth, and if our kids land somewhere in the middle, we can always look at the devilish ones and think we are doing a pretty good job. But all that time could be spent discipling your children in the ways of the Lord through the scripture, as well as academics at home and avoid the garbage they will be exposed to while they are young. Now, I know they are not always going to be sheltered like this, but you don't prepare them for the world by letting them sit in the middle of it, all the while telling yourself that they are some kind of "missionaries" to the public schools. You prepare them for it until they are mature in their faith, then prepare them to raise a family of their own by continuing to be close to the home. Some kids, by the grace of God have made it through public schooling with their faith intact, but it is in spite of the dangers. I'm not willing to take a chance with my little ones. They are too precious. Are you compromising?

4. For the most part public schools will not teach at the level I expect from my children. I expect them to surpass me in knowledge before they leave my home, and they would NEVER get there, even in the gifted programs at public schools. I got some great advice once on how to accomplish this. Teach your kids to love to learn, and then buy the right books. Think about the books you have sitting in your house compared to the video games and movies. Are you compromising?

There are many more reasons I have for my stance here. If you would like to know more, feel free to contact me and I would love to speak to you about it. Also, In case you disagree with me, I don't condemn you. I didn't always think this way. By the grace of God, some materials were made available to me that helped walk me through my doubts and insecurities. You may be asking things like, "How can I homeschool when my wife and I both work? I'm not smart enough to teach my kids, how will they ever learn? What about socialization? What about sports? What are they teaching that is so bad?" I have included some great primers below. I highly recommend them for their readability, integrity and ability to answer some of the common questions you may be asking:

Family Driven Faith by Voddie Baucham

Manliness Collection CD by Doug Phillips

Already Gone: Why your kids will quit the church and what you can do about it by Ken Ham