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Mothers: You Are Free

Tami Gomez
3 May 2016
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Being a mom means doing your utmost all the time to make sure that the house is sparkling, the kids are beautiful and well-dressed, there’s a hot meal on the table every night, you have an important career, and, to top it all off, you go to the gym a few times a week to make sure you’re in good shape. At least, that’s what Pinterest, Instagram and Facebook tell us. When you don’t live up to those expectations, it can be discouraging. Believe it or not, you can skip all those things and be a fantastic mother in God’s […]

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Faithful to Forget

Dr. Tommy Boland
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Perhaps the title this month’s article caught your attention as a possible “typo.” You may have thought I meant to write “Faithful to Forgive.” Not so fast! To be sure, our God is absolutely, 100 percent faithful to forgive all of our sins. “If we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.” (1 John 1:9, NLT). Forget and Forgive Now, inasmuch as our God is faithful to forgive, He has also absolutely, 100 percent faithful to forget all of our sins too. “…I will never […]

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Caring for a Depressed Spouse or Family Member

Carone Gordon
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Everyone was deeply hurting. She’d been admitted to the very stigmatized psychiatric ward 21. The doctors were insistent; she couldn’t be left alone. They’d hold her for at least three weeks. She’d not be released without the family putting in place 24/7 care for her. She had a fragile mind from her youth. Suffering from sickle cell anemia, she had a major surgery before she was four years old. There were hardly days she wasn’t sick, and she often needed blood transfusion. Life presented her challenges early. Often she got sick and we went in panic mode thinking this was […]

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The High Price of Freedom

Jerry Newcombe
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Nowhere is it written that America will always remain free. In fact, Thomas Jefferson and other founders warned about threats to our freedom. Jefferson noted that the price of freedom is eternal vigilance. Liberty does not exist in a vacuum. Signs of the erosion of freedom in our time surround us: Political correctness muzzles the free expression of ideas if they contravene liberal orthodoxy. God, the source of freedom, is not allowed in public schools and pity the teacher who references Jesus, even as an historical figure. This is brought home powerfully in the new movie, “God’s Not Dead 2.” […]

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How Does Instinct Affect a Child’s Behavior and Learning

Steve Davis
5 Apr 2016
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Newly hatched sea turtles crawl up through the sand, and run lickety-split straight to the ocean. Their mother is gone; no one taught them to do that; it’s instinct. Newborn baby kangaroos instinctively climb into their mother’s pouch, different species of birds display amazingly diverse nest building habits, and the fighting and courtship behaviors of every living creature is happening all over the planet…by instinct. An instinct is an un-learned behavior, a fixed action pattern (FAP). Someone asked me this month, “How does instinct affect my child’s learning?” Beautiful question! This is at the heart of my doctoral studies (EdS, […]

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Women and Long Term Care

Jeff Masters
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For many people, the words “long term care” bring to mind images of nursing homes, wheelchairs and the incapacitated elderly. But really, long-term care is a wide range of services and other support you may need to get through basic everyday tasks and life as you get older. This service will be one of your biggest expenses in retirement, yet many who are nearing retirement don’t understand the risks and the financial strain it can be to their financial plan and retirement.       How long term care affects women Statistically, women live longer and many are caregivers to […]

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Is Celibacy Relevant Today

Chris Alexander
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When returning to Christ 5 years ago after an extended period of wandering in the wilderness, I found it hard to believe that modern Christians were embracing a standard of celibacy. For the young adults taking the purity pledge, this seemed like a good idea — but for people my age? At the time I was 45 and divorced. Celibacy seemed like an antiquated idea. Maybe during biblical times this made sense, but today’s a whole other ballpark. Surprisingly, this is the very reason why celibacy is still relevant today. Trust me, I’ve heard and rationalized myself, for an updated […]

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Survivors of Sexual Abuse Find Healing at Trees of Hope

Sasha Richardson
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Based on the statistics, someone you know has probably been sexually abused at some point. It’s difficult to know what to say. “What did you do to make this happen?” “You mean you didn’t tell anybody when it happened? So why tell now?” “I don’t believe you were ever abused.” “Can’t you just let go of it? Nothing is happening to you now.” Offering the right words to say, and so much more, is the mission of Trees of Hope.   Definition, effects & statistics Sexual abuse is any sexual activity (verbal, visual or physical) engaged in without consent that […]

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Adopting from Colombia: The Road to a Forever Home

Melissa Presser
1 Apr 2016
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When Nidia M. Sica, Director of Social Services and International Programs for Adoption by Shepherd Care (ASC) speaks about the agency’s Colombian exchange program, you can’t help but feel God’s love. Adoptions by Shepherd Care which began in 1980 has expanded its reach and God’s calling to care for the orphan by bringing children from Colombia right here to the United States for a one of a kind Summer Program which allows families to meet the children and the children to meet potential adoptive families. “The program is especially focused on Colombia because of the social crisis which is currently […]

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Consequences of Porn on Our Culture

Richard Marks
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A recent study by The Barna Group titled, “The Porn Phenomenon: A Comprehensive New Survey on Americans and Pornography” was released recently and it revealed what is stated to be a “cavalier” attitude towards pornography and pornography use particularly among teens and young adults.  I would not disagree with these findings based on my years of pastoral work and my marriage and family therapy work with couples and families.  We could argue all day about the merits and findings of such a study, who is to blame, etc. but I would rather think that in the end of those discussions, […]

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