FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (April 22) - Police are looking for a pregnant woman they say tried to rob a North Carolina bank at gunpoint but left empty-handed after answering her cell phone. Fayetteville police spokeswoman Teresa Chance said Wednesday the woman had a handgun and demanded money when she entered a Carter Bank & Trust branch at 9:43 a.m. Tuesday. But she got distracted when her cell phone rang. Police said she began talking to the caller and left the bank without taking any money. No one was hurt."
Hmmmm...talk about getting distracted! Talk about losing focus! Good grief. I can't help but wonder what the conversation on the phone was about? Was it a friend calling to talk her out of the robbery?Did she receive some bad news or good news that caused her to reevaluate what she was doing? Did she turn to go out to the car to look for something that was brought up in the phone call and "wake up," so to speak, when she got outside? Did she just get caught up in a conversation and forget what she had been doing? Whatever caused it...the phone call distracted her and a robbery was prevented. That was good.
But what about when we get distracted and it's not good? What about when we are in the process of raising our kids, or pursuing an education to better address what God has called us to do, or tenaciously engaged in a task for the betterment of God's Kingdom...and we get distracted? Oh...it could be that we become enamored with a hobby, or get caught up in gossip, or maybe we mire ourselves in complaints about something we don't like, or maybe we just stop doing what God wants in order to do what we want for awhile. Whatever the cause...we become distracted, unfocused and – tragically – ineffective. When that happens...there is a loss. Not only for us, but also for those we are failing to adequately engage in the gospel.
Jesus needs you...He needs me...by choice. He has chosen to use us to be couriers of the gospel. He has purposely left the challenge of reaching our neighborhood, our city, and our world to us...and He needs us to be focused.
Oh...count on it...Satan will be "calling" you in one form or another. But it won't be to avert a theft...it will be to create one. He wants to steal you...to steal me...to steal as many as he can from being and doing what God desires. On what are you focused? Is Christ in that picture? Are you in a position to be used effectively for Christ?
"But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." Philippians 3:13, 14
I can't believe it!! Read this..."Most kids complain bitterly when they are grounded. Some will sneak out, while others will settle for slamming doors and announcing that they hate the person making the rules. But sometimes, kids get creative when they're punished: A 6th grader in Quebec sued her dad because she felt that his punishment was too harsh. The 12-year-old girl's parents are divorced; in the spring of 2008, the girl's mom gave her permission to go on a class trip to Quebec City in June. But the middle-schooler lived with her father, and after she disobeyed daddy's orders to stay off the Internet, he told her she couldn't go. So what did she do? She took him to court. Of course. A lower court ruled in favor of the girl, who went on the embattled class trip. Her father appealed -- on principle -- and, amazingly, the girl won again. The father's attorney, Kim Beaudoin, says that her client is "flabbergasted" and they are considering another appeal, this time to Canada's Supreme Court. But, the attorney adds, the father has no regrets about the court proceedings. "Either way, he doesn't have authority over this child anymore. She sued him because she doesn't respect his rules," Beaudoin said. "It's very hard to raise a child who is the boss."
I hardly know what to say. Unfortunately, precedent rules in our nation's courts, so we may begin to see the United States follow suit, with kids taking their parents to court because they don't like how they are being disciplined. Really...people should not put all of their efforts into addressing climate control, education and political correctness, and instead start to think about how to ratchet up their common sense. That seems to be evaporating faster than water in a tin cup on a hot beach.
But...should we be surprised that any court system would be undiscerning about issues of discipline and right and wrong when moral standards are as certain in today's society as a GM employee's future retirement fund? People are stumbling through life, flopping from one decision to another based on their desires and emotions, rather than on truth and principles of right and wrong. We have seen fundamental family values usurped by a "justice" system and many have surrendered our society's foundation to "political correctness" (talk about an oxymoron). I don't know whether to be stunned, angry, disillusioned or heartbroken. Perhaps all of those.
It should be noted that none of this is news to God. The ineptness of humanity has been gaining steam since Adam and Eve ate that fruit dish served up by Satan. Sin will never develop wisdom. Disobedience to Christ will never foster understanding. Human arrogance will never make the lens of day-to-day living any clearer. If you doubt that...just listen to the news and be prepared to scrap the disbelief from your brain as it collects like barnacles on a ship.
But...the good news is that God has addressed this and offers help and hope. That's what Easter is all about. Jesus Christ came to address sin, conquer sin, and offer life, peace, forgiveness and wisdom to all who desire it. Christ rose up from the grave, He rose above those who thought they could "discipline" the Messiah. He rose above the systems of humanity and demonstrated the power of God. The resurrection is the doorway to eternity. It is the opening to a holy reality. It is the pardon the world has waited for...and still stands as a valid gift from God.
He is risen! He is risen indeed! Are you experiencing the resurrection of Christ in your own life?
"Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?" John 11:25-26
The birth of octuplets has been running front and center in news broadcasts for the past 10 days. The woman who gave birth January 26 to these little ones, Nadya Suleman, has been the target of a great deal of criticism since these babies made their way into the world outside their mother's womb. Suleman already has six other children. According to an exclusive story from usmagazine.com, Suleman's mother said Suleman was an only child who yearned for siblings when she was younger. Perhaps she may be trying to make up for a lack of brothers and sisters by making sure that her children have plenty of siblings to go around.
I have listened with interest to those who have railed against this woman for giving birth to octuplets. She is a single mother who had six embryos implanted (two of which transitioned into twins), leading to the multiple births. Reports that the babies were conceived through in vitro fertilization has sparked a debate over the ethics of such treatments and the ethics of having that number of children through that process. Doctors usually use from two to four embryos in fertility treatments (as not all eggs will survive, typically), not as many as six. Doctors at Kaiser say Suleman's eight babies so far are making good progress.
I have noted that liberals and conservatives alike have united on this issue and have made critical judgements on this single mom. Now...this column certainly won't address all the issues with this, but let me pose some questions.
1. For those who are "pro-choice" - Why is it ok for a mother to choose to kill her baby in the womb, but not ok for a mother to choose to have multiple children? What does a mother really have the "choice" to do? Are they really not "pro-choice?" Would it be more accurate to say they are simply in favor of the right to kill unborn children?
2. For those who are "Pro-life" - Why is it ok to choose life for a baby...as long as it meets what you believe to be a responsible number of lives? Should we become like China and begin to regulate the number of births we allow in each family?
3. For all - Who or what determines a responsible number of children? For some, one may be too many...for another, fourteen may not be enough.
What does encourages me about the focal point of the news coverage on this matter is this...apparently life does matter. Receiving love does matter. Being responsible does matter. Looking down the road and examining our future does matter.
How responsible are we being with the lives that God has given us...our own lives...our children's...our spouse's...our friendships...our influence? God has gifted us with life and we have a responsibility to nurture, develop, exercise and give of our lives to the glory of God. We are not to live for self, but rather for Christ. To squander our lives is to squander what God has designed to be a holy image of Himself.
Again...I ask...what are you doing with life?
"For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light." Colossians 1:9-12
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