17:18

Sometimes the best things you take home from a conference come from the conference bookstore. When I was in Minnesota for the Powerful Life of the Praying Pastor conference, they gave us coupons for their bookstore, which I happily used. As I browsed through the available books, I found some unusual journals. I've been using my journal to walk through the Bible, chapter by chapter, but these journals are a little different.

They are called 17:18, taken from Deuteronomy 17:18 - which is talking about rules for the king of Israel.

When he takes the throne of his kingdom, he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law, taken from that of the Levitical priests.

So the journal is laid out like this: on the right page, there is space for me to re-write the scripture, verse by verse. On the left page is space for notes. There are a few leading questions, but not many. It's mostly just blank.

Though the Deuteronomy instructions were meant for the king, I think they are good instructions for any Christian. Writing the scriptures out is a good exercise for retention and understanding. I just started my first journal yesterday (in Colossians, the book my Bible study is going through), and I'm looking forward to continuing it!

*Disclaimer: I bought these journals with my continuing education money. Though I got a $5 off coupon from the conference, the 17:18 makers didn't give me anything for this review. It was just a product I felt drawn to and have been enjoying.

Foster Thoughts

I have to start with a confession. When we started foster parenting, I really thought every Christian should do it. After all, the Bible tells us to take care of widows and orphans, and there are plenty of orphans who need homes, and I heard other preachers say things like "if one member of every church in America just took in one orphan, the problem would be erased" and I (pretty judgmentally) thought every Christian should do it.

No more.

I still think every Christian needs to be about caring for orphans and widows (otherwise, please go ahead and tear James 1:27 out of your Bibles and/or admit that you don't consider the Bible authoritative), but I don't think everyone is called to be a foster parent.

The county offers good training, but it falls painfully short of what is actually needed training for what happens when you open your home to a child. In fact, it doesn't prepare you for the hardest parts: what happens when the county lies to you again and again? What happens when a child is damaged far beyond his young years simply because he was left in a toxic situation (or returned to a toxic situation from a foster home)? What happens when a child knows much more than he or she should? How do you guard your heart against the moment when the county moves the baby you daily commuted to and from the hospital to visit, stayed up with at night, changed countless diapers, and fell in love with? How do you know what services are available to foster parents when nobody seems to know (and none of the services are linked, and none of them communicate with one another - and communication within the agency is terrible as well)? And the realization that the foster parent has no say in the most basic of decisions (a foster parent is not even allowed to give a foster child a haircut without agency approval - so when there's a life-or-death surgery, you'd better have an emergency phone number handy - they're probably not going to have one on their answering machine).

This isn't to say that we're done foster parenting. Quite the contrary. Because Jesus calls his followers to deny ourselves, and that pretty much defines parenthood (I don't care if you're a birth parent, an adoptive parent, or a foster parent; parenting is all about self-denial) and if you haven't learned humility, foster parenting is a quick study on it. I feel for the county agency, always strapped for money, and for the caseworkers, daily forced to make difficult decisions, never having full information, and having unbelievable caseloads.

If you are called to be a foster parent, get as much education as possible, and get in there and love some kids. If you're not called to it, don't. But that's no excuse - find out some way to care for orphans and widows. They need it, and God calls it true religion that God loves.

Minneapolis

This town is really cool. No, though the temperatures are really cold, that wasn't what I was talking about. I'm talking about how well this city does at snow removal. Not only did I see plows on the streets and those brush-things that drive up and down, brushing the snow off the sidewalks, but there were entire crews hand-shoveling sidewalks. They even went so far as to clear off the running/biking path along the Mississippi River.

I thought I was crazy to be out for a run in the temperatures we are having here, but I found that I wasn't the only one. I saw several runners out (more in the snow Monday evening than in the frigid, though sunny, noon-day Tuesday), braving the weather for a run. Though I can understand why; the alternative is the dreadmill for half the year. And there were plenty of bicyclists who brave the weather year-round. But I never had to be outside if I didn't want to. The hotel is connected to the convention center via walkway. There is a pool and a pretty nice-sized fitness room in the hotel and there are multiple eateries in the hotel and the convention center (though you end up paying for the convenience).

But if you do go out, bus stops are lighted and heated. And they come complete with signs telling you when to expect your bus. And the trail along the Mississippi River seems to go on forever. This is one cool town.