The John Palm Show

When does a father’s Blessing cease to matter?

It isn’t a new question. It isn’t an original question. But it’s a question that sears its way through generations, that brands every new Esau throughout time.

Books have been structured around it, some of them holy (Genesis).

The cry is ancient, anguished, wounded:

Bless me — me also, Oh my father!

Now it happened, as soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had scarcely gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting.

He also had made savory food, and brought it to his father, and said to his father, “Let my father arise and eat of his son’s game, that your soul may bless me.”

And his father Isaac said to him, “Who are you?”

So he said, “I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.”

Then Isaac trembled exceedingly, and said, “Who? Where is the one who hunted game and brought it to me? I ate all of it before you came, and I have blessed him — and indeed he shall be blessed.”

When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with an exceedingly great and bitter cry, and said to his father, “Bless me — me also, O my father!”

But he said, “Your brother came with deceit and has taken away your blessing.”

And Esau said, “Is he not rightly named Jacob? For he has supplanted me these two times. He took away my birthright, and now look, he has taken away my blessing!”

And he said, “Have you not reserved a blessing for me?”

Then Isaac answered and said to Esau, “Indeed I have made him your master, and all his brethren I have given to him as servants; with grain and wine I have sustained him. What shall I do now for you, my son?”

And Esau said to his father, “Have you only one blessing, my father? Bless me — me also, O my father!”

And Esau lifted up his voice and wept.

Here is a list of books on blessing your children.

The Blessing

365 Prophetic Promises & Blessings for Your Children

Blessing Your Children: How You Can Love the Kids in Your Life

LIFE CHANGING WORDS (LIFE CHANGING WORDS)

Children’s Book of Bedtime Blessings

Links to sites about blessing:

Bless Your Children - Focus on the Family - Web Site

10 Ways to Bless Your Children - Part I - God Hungry.org - Blog

10 Ways to Bless Your Children - Part II - God Hungry.org - Blog

Leave a Legacy - Bless Your Children - Confessions of a Bad Christian Blog - Blog

Nice Little Web Site: Father’s Blessing

Foundations of a Father’s Blessing - Good small group lesson

Bless you.

Idea: Father’s Bless Your Children

A Father’s Blessing Devotional

READ: 1 Peter 3:8-12

Be tenderhearted, be courteous; not returning evil for evil . . . , but on the contrary blessing. —1 Peter 3:8-9

A man who was grieving the death of his father said, “I am crying not only for my father, but for me. His death means that I’ll never hear the words I always wanted to hear from him: that he was proud of me, proud of the family I’ve raised and the life I’ve lived.”
Instead of repeating his father’s mistake, the man later gave his own son the words of encouragement he himself had never heard, saying he was proud of him and the life he had made.

Too often, tension between fathers and children are left unresolved. Old wounds remain unhealed. We are unwilling to forgive the angry words and hurts from the past. But for the sake of ourselves and our families, we need to do what we can to dismantle the walls of separation between us.

How can we begin? The Bible’s command for all our relationships is: “Love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous, not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing . . . . Turn away from evil and do good; . . . seek peace and pursue it” (1 Peter 3:8-9,11).

Let’s determine by God’s grace to break the cycle of anger and give our children what they long to hear from us—words of blessing and love.
 —David C. McCasland

Our children need to know we care,
That when they need us we’ll be there;
For deep within they need to hear
That they are loved by someone dear. —D. De Haan

The best thing you spend on your children is your time.

<Devotional from Our Daily Bread>

Bless the children in your Church

Remember, in these posts we are throwing the Church 3 pitches. So far the count is 2 and 0 (that’s 2 strikes for you non-baseball types).

Here’s the 3rd pitch…

Blessing Children

The blessing is a powerful concept. Really it’s not just a concept, it’s truth. Abraham was blessed by God so that he could be a blessing to others. There’s a very strong idea of generational blessing woven throughout scripture.

• Abraham’s life was changed by a blessing.
• Jacob went to great lengths to steal a blessing.
• Jesus blessed children because “such is the kingdom of God”.
• And He even said those that offend (curse) the children should have something tied around their neck and thrown into the sea. (Matthew 18:6)

Buy - The Blessingby John Trent and Gary Smalley

Let’s begin with the opposite of blessing - a curse. Here is the definition of a curse:

A curse is the effective action of some power, distinguished solely by the quality of adversity that it brings.

A blessing is the polar opposite of a curse. Here are some types of blessings:

• Formal Blessing: to consecrate or sanctify by a religious rite; make or pronounce holy. Marriage Ceremony.
• Personal Blessing: to request of God the bestowal of divine favor on: Bless your beautiful family.
• Specific Blessing: to bestow good of any kind upon: May you home be blessed with peace.
• Protection Blessing: to protect or guard from evil (usually used interjectionally): Bless you! Bless your innocent little heart!
• Catholic Blessing: to make the sign of the cross over or upon: The Pope blessed the multitude.

Who wouldn’t want to be blessed? I do! Then why don’t we see more blessing in our Churches?

Reason: The fact is that most men have not been blessed. Not by their pastor. Not by other men. And sadly, not by their fathers.

Why does that matter? Because blessing others is caught not taught. If you have been given a blessing by someone, you know what I mean. A strong hand griping your shoulder. A quiet voice speaking gentle words.

John, you are a good father. Or John, you know you are just the kind of man God wants.

I have received a blessing like this from another man. Not a weak man. Not a wimpy man. But a man that knew the power of a blessing. And let me tell you… the words replayed in my brain for days. I sensed a power upon me. Nothing mystical. Something I will not forget.

Imagine what a blessing like this would mean to a child. The touch. The words. The intent. The blessing. It is strong.

Bless your children. Bless the children in your church body. You begin the process. Force yourself at first. It will get easier. Read a book about blessing here for 8 bucks.

And don’t be afraid to bless other men as well. It may be just what they need. The dividends are immeasurable (and completely tax free).

So you be the judge, my freind. Did the Church strike out? I hope yours didn’t.

May the Church embrace the very personal (read one on one) ministries of:

• Discipleship
• Prayers of Old Saints
• And Blessing the Children

Bless you dear reader. Amen.

<Note: This part 3 of a 3 part post. Go back if you missed parts 1 & 2>

Pray With Old Saints Before They Are Gone

The count is 1 and 0. The Church steps up the plate for the second pitch.

Here it comes…

Prayers of Old Saints

We are a culture that worships youth. And that idolatry of youth has found it’s way into the Church. The Youth group. The Children’s Super-Church. Baby dedicaiton. Oh my, the Pastor’s hair plugs make him look 20 years younger. There’s just something about youth that make us… well… feel so young.

This is unfortunate. For strength, depth and consistancy come from aged wisdom. The school of hard knocks is the best teacher. And the older you are the more knocks you got. Wisdom comes from walking through the “hard knocks” of life with God. Making the horrible mistakes and seeking forgiveness from God and your fellow man. The old saints have walked with God in good times and bad. Through sunshine and rain. With laughter and tears. A long life an create a rich spirituality.

One place this really shows is in prayer. I have sat in awe listening to old saints pray. Not impressed by fancy words, but humbled by:

• A special intimacy with God as an old friend.
• A healthy respect for God as all powerful Creator.
• A sweet adoration of God as lover of men.

Try it sometime. Pray with the old saint sitting next to you in the pew. I challenge you. See and hear for yourself. It will bless you and them. It’s a Win-win.

Should we as a Church sit ourselves at the feet of these saints and just listen to them pray?

Would that teach us more than the most profound sermon?

Would that open our hearts to God more than 37th chorus of “Open The Eyes Of My Heart”?

We may never find out. Strike two.

On to Strike Three: 3 Things The Church Should Do - Blessing Children

Disciple One Person 

Churches today do lots of stuff. But have you noticed these three things missing from the Church today? 

1. Discipleship 
2. Prayers of Old Saints
3. Blessing Children

The Church is up at bat. Will they knock this one out of the park?

Here comes pitch number one…

Discipleship

Why has the Church wiffed on discipleship? Reason: It’s a slow process. And we don’t like slow. Discipleship, when done the way that Jesus did it, starts out very slowly. Jesus started out with 12 guys. Not too impressive for the Son of God. Come on Jesus, you can do better than that. This is like watching paint dry.

If I had to “bullet point” the missteps in Jesus’ minstry they would be as follows:

• Wasting time answering obvious questions.
• No nice place to unwind. No place to lay your head.
• Going from house to house. Very inefficient.
• No buildings. Where is the legacy?
• No programs with catchy names.
• No book tour. Publicity nightmare.
• And all the while, walking everywhere you go.

How are you going to change the whole world with that strategy? It just doesn’t make a lick of sense.

Jesus went against conventional wisdom. There’s definately a pattern of this in His life and ministyr. Jesus turned common sense upside down all the time.

• The meek will inherit the earth.
• Those who lose their life will gain life.
• On and on. See chart below for more:

                                                                           –Chart from A Portrait of Jesus web site. 

The same is true with His method of discipleship. One person at a time or spending lots of time with a handfull of people. It doesn’t fit with our “Getting Things Done” way of thinking.

So who cares if it’s slow. As long as it’s God’s way. And if it doesn’t make sense that’s our clue it’s the right way.

Either way… that’s strike one.

One to Strike Two: 3 Things The Church Should Do - Prayers of Old Saints

<This is part 2 of a 2 part post (begin with part 1)>

Read More Books 

We began part 1 of this post with a quote from motivational speaker Charles “Tremendous” Jones that goes like this:

You will be the same person in five years as you are today except for the people you meet and the books you read. 1

Now, let’s look at the second underlined point above.

Books You Read

Consider the ripple effect of meeting people and reading books. It is incalculable. Take a look at this illustration (colors added for emphasis):

A book by Richard Sibbes, one of the choicest of the Puritan writers, was read by Richard Baxter, who was greatly blessed by it.

Baxter then wrote his Call to the Unconverted which deeply influenced Philip Doddridge, who in turn wrote The Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul.

This brought the young William Wilberforce, subsequent English statesman and foe of slavery, to serious thoughts of eternity.

Wilberforce wrote his Practical Book of Christianity which fired the soul of Leigh Richmond.

Richmond, in turn, wrote The Dairyman’s Daughter, a book that brought thousands to the Lord, helping Thomas Chalmers the great preacher, among others. 2

Yes, there is power in the written word. But you can’t just read any old thing. You must  read well. That means have some focus. Make a list. And remember, a good book list includes some classics. We call them books by dead guys.

Here’s how John Piper describes the notion of reading older works:

He (C. S. Lewis) has made me wary of chronological snobbery. That is, he has shown me that “newness” is no virtue and “oldness” is no fault. Truth and beauty and goodness are not determined by when they exist. Nothing is inferior for being old and nothing is valuable for being modern. This has freed me from the tyranny of novelty and opened for me the wisdom of the ages. He said one: every third book you read should be from outside your own (provincial) century.

If you need some good dead authors (and some living as well) here are some starting point links:

John Piper - Books that have influence him most.

Layman’s Reading List (lots of dead guy authors)

Reformed Theoligical Seminary reading list (big list!)

Chuck Colson minstry has a good book list.

John Mark Reynolds compiled a list of thirty books that every college student should read. Since John Mark is the founder of the Torrey Honors Institute at Biola University its not surprising to see that his list contains many of the standard works common to a “great books” programs.

Justin Taylor’s list (John Piper’s right hand man).

Conclusion: Who will you be in 5 years? If you believe it has something to do with the people you meet and the books you read, then do something. Meet more people. Engage with them. Get involved in their lives. Then, when your tired of those people kick back with a book. Relax and enjoy.

Wow. That sounds like a lovely cycle. Busy with people’s lives then resting with a good read. Sound like something God might have invented.

___________________________________

2 ”Every Christian a Publisher,” p. 18.
This reading is found in A Godward Life, Book One (Multnomah, 1997), pp. 58-59.

<This is part 1 of a 2 part post>

Meet More People

Motivational speaker and humorist Charles “Tremendous” Jones has a famous quote that goes like this:

You will be the same person in five years as you are today except for the people you meet and the books you read. 1

Let’s look at the first underlined point above.

People You Meet

People shape us. People influence us. People either make us better or make us worse. We are made to need others. And other need us as well. People are the single most powerful influence on your life. So here’s my: Step By Step Guide To Meeting People.

Step 1: Become A Person

The Gospel of John starts off with the point that the Word become flesh. I guess God knew the best way to meet people is to be a person. I personally think it was pretty nice of God to make Jesus flesh. Doesn’t that just prove God’s dedication to meeting people where they are.

If you’re serious about meeting people I highly recommend that you first become one. If, by chance, you are not a person (or not currently acting like one) please start here by becoming a person.

Step 2: Get Infused With Love

The next step is to be a nice person. It seems that people like to be around nice people. Wow. Not so profound is it? But it’s not that easy (for me at least) to be a nice person.

Basically, being a nice person means being UNselfish. And being UNselfish requires a whole lot of love. So you just gotta love people. No, it’s not that simple, Mr. Gotta Love People Guy. That UNselfish love doesn’t work that way.

That truly UNselfish love can only come from God. That love comes though worship of God. Resting in God. And setting your mind on God and the good things of God as stated in Philippians 4:8. See my posts under PUSH Discipleship for more resources and neat methods to renew your mind.

Step 3: Sprinkle In Some People

Besides having too little love the biggest barrier to meeting people is mankind’s compultion to build organizations. This compultion to build things instead of people is a major problem. It’s a problem because most organizations insulate us from people. That’s just their nature.

There are 2 exceptions to the above. The organizations that God gives His stamp of approval are: Family and Church. In that order. At least that’s the order He them to us in. Family in Genesis 1 and Church in Matthew 16.

Jesus focused on building people not organizations. Why should we do differently? And as we focus on people… we are blessed. We change for the better. We grow. And that is a truly magical thing.

Next up Part 2: The Books You Read

___________________________________

1 Quote from Life Is Tremendous. Buy: Life Is Tremendous by Charlie “Tremendous” Jones

Unplug And Read To Your Kids

Classic 20th-century children’s books from WORLD Magazine’s 2000 lists

Brown, Margaret Wise

The Runaway Bunny
The persistent bunny mother acts as does God in Psalm 139. Kids will like comparing the illustrations to those in Goodnight Moon.
 

Butterworth, Nick and Inkpen, Mick

Lost Sheep
One of a series of four books based on parables from the Bible. A joyous combination of text and illustration.
 

Crews, Donald

Freight Train Board Book (Caldecott Collection)
A wonderful read-aloud story about a train. The writing displays great train rhythms that kids love.
 

de Paola, Tomie

The Knight and the Dragon
An inexperienced knight and dragon make preparations for their first battle.
 

Freeman, Don

Bearymore (Picture Puffin Books)
A circus bear has to learn a new trick or be out of a job.
 

Goscinny and Uderzo

Asterix the Gaul (Asterix)
First in the series about a Gaulish village’s comedic fight against Roman tyranny.
 

Hall, Donald

Ox-Cart Man
In the fall a farmer takes his crop to market. He sells everything, even the ox that pulled his cart, and walks home with seeds, tools, and presents to begin the process all over again.
 

Hunt, Angela Elwell

The Tale of Three Trees: A Traditional Folktale
Three young trees’ dreams of future greatness are fulfilled in surprising ways.
 

Johnson, Crockett

Harold and the Purple Crayon 50th Anniversary Edition (Purple Crayon Books)
A boy creates his world with his trusty purple crayon, saving himself with a stroke of his imagination from many catastrophes.
 

Kraus, Robert

Come Out and Play, Little Mouse
Robert Kraus is better known for Leo the Late Bloomer, but we enjoy this little mouse’s attitude. He likes cheese. Is that a crime?
 

Krauss, Ruth

The Carrot Seed Board Book
Charming drawings by Crockett Johnson illustrate this simple story of a seed that grows into an enormous carrot.
 

Leaf, Munro

The Story of Ferdinand
Ferdinand would rather smell the flowers than fight in a ring, but on the day the bullfighters come to find the toughest bull, placid Ferdinand has just been stung by a bee.
 

Nash, Ogden

The Tale of Custard the Dragon
While Belinda, Ink, and Blink brag about their bravery in this story-poem, it falls to Custard, a “realio trulio cowardly dragon,” to defeat the pirate.
 

Peet, Bill

Cowardly Clyde
A cowardly war horse overcomes his fear to save himself and Sir Galavant from the ogre.
 

Plath, Sylvia

The Bed Book
For kids tired of their “nice little, tucked in tight little, turn-out the light little beds,” here’s a whirlwind poem about more exciting places to lay their heads.
 

Polacco, Patricia

Just Plain Fancy (Dell Picture Yearling)
The Amish dress plain to please God. But what happens when two little Amish children find they have hatched a colorful peacock alongside their chicken?
 

Rayner, Mary

MR. AND MRS. PIG’S EVENING OUT (Mr & Mrs Pigs Evening Out)
Garth Pig and his siblings outwit a wolf disguised as a babysitter.
 

Rylant, Cynthia

The Relatives Came
A story of family love beautifully illustrated by Stephen Gammell, with lots of great detail, like the Granny sucking her thumb while she sleeps.
 

Scarry, Richard

Cars and Trucks and Things That Go (Giant Little Golden Book)
This book is full of cool vehicles. Children like looking for Goldbug, who is hiding on every page.
 

Sendak, Maurice

Chicken Soup with Rice: A Book of Months
Everyone knows Where the Wild Things Are, but our favorite Sendak book is a little volume with a poem for each month: “In January it’s so nice, while slipping on the sliding ice, to sip hot chicken soup with rice. Sipping once, sipping twice, sipping chicken soup with rice.”
 

Seuss, Dr.

Horton Hatches the Egg (Classic Seuss)
Maizie the lazy bird would rather play than waste her time sitting on an egg, so it falls to elephant Horton to do her job.
 

Shulevitz, Uri

Oh What a Noise!
Another fun read-aloud full of city noises that build to a crescendo.
 

Stieg, William  

Yellow & Pink
Two marionettes ponder how they came to be. A clever argument for creation.
 

Tripp, Wallace

Granfa’ Grig Had a Pig and Other Rhymes Without Reason
A collection of Mother Goose rhymes brought to life with sly humor by Wallace Tripp.
 

Atwater, Richard

Mr. Popper’s Penguins
Mr. Popper is a housepainter who dreams of high adventure in the Arctic. Some of those dreams come true with the arrival of a strange package containing the first of many penguins.
 

Bond, Michael

Paddington Bear
A small bear from Peru finds a home and causes lots of mischief in London.
 

Dahl, Roald

The BFG
An orphan girl kidnapped by a giant finds he is the friendly exception among large and truly filthsome creatures.
 

DeVries, Anne

Journey Through the Night
A four-volume series about the Dutch resistance from a Christian perspective. For older kids. Out of print and hard to find.
 

Dygard, Thomas J.

Halfback Tough
A young thug has his life turned around by football.
 

Hergé

Tintin in America (The Adventures of Tintin)
Funny cartoon-style adventures starring the Belgian boy journalist Tintin and his dog Snowy.
 

Herriot, James

All Creatures Great and Small
Humorous and warm-hearted tales of a country veterinarian in Yorkshire.
 

Jacques, Brian

Redwall (Redwall, Book 1)
An abbey full of mice fights against a vicious rat and his vermin horde. First of a series.
 

Kjelgaard, Jim

Wild Trek
Kjelgaard wrote a series of dog books that are favorites among children who like animal stories. Here, a trapper and his dog set out to rescue a scientist and bush pilot trapped in a virgin wilderness.
 

Lewis, C.S.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (The Chronicles of Narnia)
The classic Christian allegory about four children who find themselves in a parallel kingdom ruled over by the lion Aslan. First in the must-read Narnia series.
 

Lindgren, Astrid

The Adventures of Pippi Longstocking
Wacky stories of irrepressible Pippi who lives by herself while her sea-captain father is out at sea.
 

MacDonald, Betty

Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle
An old woman knows just the right sort of “medicine” to cure the bad habits of little boys and girls.
 

Montgomery, Lucy Maud

The Complete Anne of Green Gables Boxed Set (Anne of Green Gables, Anne of Avonlea, Anne of the Island, Anne of Windy Poplars, Anne’s House of Dreams, … Rainbow Valley, Rilla of Ingleside)
The first in a delightful series about the orphan who comes to live with an elderly couple on Prince Edward Island.
 

North, Sterling

Rascal
The gentle story of a boy and his raccoon.
 

O’Dell, Scott

Island of the Blue Dolphins
Scott O’Dell’s keen eye for detail and historical accuracy made him one of the best writers of historical adventures for young people. In this volume a young Indian girl is stranded on an island.
 

Paterson, Katherine

The Great Gilly Hopkins
This is a fine novel about a tough little girl in foster care and the kind, Christian foster mom who gets through to her. Caution: Gilly’s language is profane in spots.
 

Pinkwater, Daniel

Fat Men From Space
The spacemen in this book look amazingly like Pinkwater: overweight, wearing plaid sports coats and horn-rimmed glasses, and scarfing down burgers.
 

Prins, Piet

Wambu: The Chieftain’s Son
A young aborigine escapes from headhunters and finds his way to civilization. Along the way he meets up with Dutch missionaries.
 

Rawls, Wilson

Where the Red Fern Grows
A story of a boy and his dogs, and their summer together in the Arkansas Ozarks.
 

Taylor, Mildred

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
The story of a black family in Depression-era Mississippi, with an emphasis on the role played by the church in the family’s life.
 

Taylor, Sydney

All-of-a-kind Family
Delightful tales of an observant Jewish family in New York City in the early 1900s.
 

Tolkien, J.R.R.

The Hobbit
Another must-read: Bilbo Baggins, set in his ways, surprises even himself by going on an adventure with dwarves to combat a dragon. Older children move on from here to the superb Lord of the Rings trilogy, but (with occasional skipping where the action slows down) the three books also make excellent bedtime reading extended over many weeks.
 

Voigt, Cynthia

Homecoming (The Tillerman Series #1)
First in a fine series about the Tillermans and their friends in a small town on the Chesapeake Bay.
 

White, E.B.

Charlotte’s Web (Trophy Newbery)
The famous story of Wilbur the pig and how his life is saved by Charlotte, a spider who is both a good friend and a good writer.
 

Wilder, Laura Ingalls

Little House on the Prairie Boxed Set ((9 Books) Little House On the Prairie; Farmer Boy; On the Banks of Plum Creek; the Long Winter; These Happy Golden Years; the First Four Years; By the Shores of Silver Lake; Little House In the Big Woods; Little Town On the Prairie)
Both boys and girls like these stories of pioneer living.
 

Yates, Elizabeth

Amos Fortune, Free Man (Newbery Library, Puffin)
Amos, an African prince, was captured and sold into slavery in the United States. He works to buy his freedom powered by his Christian faith.

Visit World Magazine  – Weekly News | Christian Views

This list is from World Magazine - July 1, 2000 Issue. This in NOT my list. This is their list. I did not create this list. They did. All rights belong to them. Amen.

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Romans 12:2

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Philippians 4:8

Enough said. Here is the list:

1. Sons of Korah (Buy) - Great band that sings the Psalms word for word. The Psalms where meant for music. It not only sounds great but it is directly feeding your brain with the Word. Buy all their CD’s. They are well worth it.
2. Listener’s Audio Bible by Max McLean (Buy) - 4 MP3 CD’s contain the entire Bible read to you by Max McLean. He has the “gift” of a reading voice. Buy it. Rip it to iTunes. Sync your iPod. Buy it now here> The Listener’s NIV MP3 Audio Bible by Max McLean
3. Our Daily Bread Podcast (Subscribe Free) - One of the most popular devotional booklets ever by RBC Ministries. Follow the step by step instructions on this page.
4. Desiring God (Subscribe Free) - John Piper’s site is brimming with resources. Don’t get overwhelmed. Us my link to get to the Podcasts. Stick to the short ones unless you’ve got a lot of time to listen. 4 Audio Podcasts. 3 Video Podcasts.
5. Christian Audio (Subscribe Free) - Scroll down on the Podcasts page. Subscribe to “Devotional Classics” Podcast.
6. Psalms In Bluegrass and Folk Style (Buy) - Charles Pettee and FolkPsalms is a bluegrass / folk band that has done 2 albums of just Psalms. Sample here.
7. Calling All The Nations (Buy)- Singer/songwriter Thomas Dickerson’s CD. The lyrics are pure and based on God’s word and his personal testimony. Take a listen for free here.
8. Mixx Mixshow Podcast (Subscribe Free) - A mix of hip hop praise and worship music. Mixed by a DJ. Might be to “out there” for you conservatives.
9. Choir At Geneva College (Buy) - Sing the Psalms in traditional chorus style. Very worshipful and traditional feel. Excellent quality. Sample here.
10. What would you add? Please share your ideas for iPod content that Focuses Your Mind on God…

THEN: Pee Wee Herman gets caught with his pants down. His career goes down the toilet. Parents wouldn’t stand for it. There was outrage. Even if his network “backed” him and kept him on the show, we would never have let our children watch.

NOW: High School Musical star gets caught with her pants down. Her career with go through the roof. At least that’s my prediction.

We will see if my prediction comes true.

For your amusement, he article is below (in black) and my comments are in red.

____________________________________ 

Gabriella and Troy coo, they make googly eyes, they barely kiss. They certainly don’t show off nude pictures. Welcome to 2007.

If Disney were to dump Hudgens for another actress, not wanting its name associated with anything not G-rated, it runs the risk of upsetting a formula that has made it millions. Poor Disney.

How would parents explain to the show’s young fans that the old Gabriella had to go? Sound like this is worse than explaining the World Trade Center. It’s not that hard parents. It would go something like this: “Suzy, they replaced the old Gabriella because the actress that played her made some bad decisions.” Or like this: “Here’s a book, Suzy. Turn of the TV and go read it.”

“That’s her private life, not her public life. That picture got leaked by somebody who broke a trust with her,” said Michele Smith of Westborough, Mass., whose eight-year-old daughter Kathryn is a devoted “High School Musical” fan. Private life vs. public life. It’s just a mixed moral message for the tween set (plus parents are letting 6, 7, 8 and 9 year olds watch this). This age group does not have the ability to differentiate the two.

Hudgens shouldn’t have to pay a price for the incident, Smith said, adding she was concerned that Disney’s image might prompt the company to take action against the actress. Message = you don’t need to be responsible for your actions.

Dropping her from future movies or other “High School Musical” projects would not only be unfair to Hudgens but to fans such as Kathryn, Smith said. Like, totally unfair. Stars are above responsibility. See, Suzy, if your a star you don’t have to deal with any of those nasty consequenses.

“If Vanessa is not in the movie, my daughter would not be so excited to see it,” she said.  Oh my, my daughter may even hold her breath like she does when we have broccoli. What will I do then? You want to see my daughter die of no air because Vanessa is not in the movie? Do you?

Smith said she hopes that Kathryn doesn’t hear about the photo but, if she does, she’s prepared to talk about it. She’ll say that it’s something private for Vanessa that shouldn’t have been shared. So, little Kathryn, if you take nudie photos for your boy friend make sure you keep them private. See, you can turn this into a great teaching moment for your daughters.

The best thing for Disney to do is nothing, said Michael Levine, a Hollywood image consultant and author of 18 books. Or they could do nothing AND put me on retainer.

“What they shouldn’t do is make a bigger deal out of it than is necessary,” he said. “The picture is not salacious.” Stop being so old fashioned, parents, full frontal nudity by 18 year old Disney stars is NOT salacious.

Michael Sands, a publicist whose clients have included Britney Spears’ ex-husband Kevin Federline, said Hudgens should be commended for coming forward quickly and saying it was her picture. Ummm, it’s my long lost twin sister. Sounds like post-modern parenting. Look for the silver lining and commend her, and for heavan’s sake don’t let little Johnny suffer any consequenses.

He also advised Disney to stand by her.

“This is a big cash cow for Disney,” Sands said. Bottom line: It’s all about the… cold hard cash.

My call: High School Musical 3 will be the biggest hit of them all. WE have officially become comfortably numb.

Just turn it OFF!

Dead Authors: Multiple Authors

Topic: Mind Renewal

Buy It: The Listener’s Bible - ESV (4 MP3 CDs)

Short Take: The opposite of garbage in — garbage out.

Long Take: I may have the most reprobate mind in the world. Hearing the Bible allows it to soak it into my mind on another level. After sampleing different voices I chose the ESV Bible as read by Max McLean. This guy has a special gift. The gift of a reading voice. The gift of timing (slow reader). The gift of a cool accent. But you can decide that for yourself.

Idea: Tuning out Real World and other miscellaneous garbage and replacing it with some wholesome stuff.

See Also: iPod Content For A God Focused Mind