Greetings,
The Washington Post reported today that the Food and Drug Administration has before it a proposal to make Plan B available to anyone who might want to purchase it off the shelf. Plan B, also called the "morning after pill", is a controversial drug that is used to prevent an egg from becoming fertilized but some opponents of the drug are concerned that it might prevent a fertilized egg from implanting itself in the womb. Some believe this akin to abortion.
First of all, let me state that I am pro-life. However, my opposition to making this drug available off the drugstore shelf and not requiring a prescription has nothing to do with my stance on abortion. I am also not naive enough to believe that those who hail this potential step as a win for women and contraception don't have a valid point, they do. There is no doubt that making it easier to obtain Plan B will change perceptions of sex for many woman and men as well. I don't dispute that either. I'll tell you what my problem is with making access to Plan B easier, it's about responsibility.
Now, before some of you start e-mailing your hate mail to me, let me explain my position. Yes, I believe that contraception is a responsible decision. Many couples utilize birth control in a responsible and well thought out manner. I applaud them. But, I am not talking about contraception that is available to people who have taken the time to consider such choices. My fear is that making Plan B readily available will give young teens another opportunity to rationalize unprotected sex opening themselves up to both emotional and physical scars.
I think our country sends the wrong message when we talk about sex especially when it comes to our youth. Instead of parents/teachers/youth leaders teaching our young people that sex is an act of love and great responsibility that comes with consequences we continue to pass that responsibility on to the drug and condom companies. Our societies mentality has become, "Well, their going to do it anyway and we can't stop them so they might as well have protection". It's not the "they might as well have protection" part that drives me crazy. Yes, if two young people are going to engage in sex I would want them to have some type of protection. I am not an idiot! As I said before that's not what bothers me. What bothers me is the apathy that we, as adults, exhibit by believing the lie that "kids are going to have sex and there is nothing we can do to stop it". That, my friends, is pure crap!
When was it that the youth of our country had their ability to choose taken away from them? When was it that our society decided that our kids were too stupid to make good choices? Some where along the line we decided that any effort to instill in our kids knowledge about sex got trumped by hormonal urges. The fact is we gave up on our kids, plain and simple! So, we do what we always do. We refuse to equip them with the tools to make good choices and we make it easier for them to obtain a drug that bails out their bad ones.
Do I think Plan B serves a purpose? Of course I do. The effect of this drug on women of abuse is unimpeachable. But, in this particular prose, I am not talking about women. I am talking about kids! I don't want to get rid of the drug I just don't think it sends the right message when we make it so readily available to any and everyone. We justify it by claiming to be a responsible society but it's just another way of saying we don't trust our kids.
I'm not sticking my head in the sand and claiming that teenage pregnancy and STD's could be eradicated by taking contraceptives off the shelf at Wal-Mart. Again, if two young people have decided to have sex I would be the first one to tell them to use protection but I would also hope that I would take just as much time to encourage a responsible decision making process.
Keep the drug, change the message! If you need it get a prescription and get it. Keeping Plan B off the shelf is not going to make it harder for adults to make sound contraceptive decisions. However, it might make it necessary for our young people to step up and make a responsible decision that they are very capable of making! Let's not let them off the hook in the decision making process. Yes, some of the decisions are going to be bad and some will be good but when we continue to make products available that negate the need for thought we do more damage than help. It's ironic, we claim to be protecting them but I wonder if we're not aiding in their possible destruction.
Until next time,
Pastor Derek
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
The Big Bailout
Greetings,
It seems as if the watchword of the day is "bailout". Everyone and everything is receiving a bailout these days. From Chrysler and Fannie Mae to JP Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo, businesses and banks are deemed "too big to fail". In all honesty I am not really sure what that exactly means. I imagine it probably has something to do with the fact that if these companies came crashing down around their economic heels that national economic disaster is soon to follow. Again, all that might be true, I am not an economist and I don't even play one on TV! What I do know is that our country has spent over 700 billion dollars on over 926 recipients from what we called the TARP bill (Troubled Asset Relief Program) and our country still has a troubled asset relief program.
All of that is disturbing enough but that is not what gets my mind turning inside my skull. The question that rattles around inside my head is.."With all of the turmoil brewing inside of our country, does the United States of America need a bailout?" I am not talking about the companies of the United States. I am talking about the United States itself. Just as we looked at the banks and car companies some three years ago and realized that their success directly impacted the success of the American people, can't we look at he United States today and make the same correlation? If the men and women of this great nation are going to strive in their daily lives they are going to have to do it in a nation that is striving. We are standing on a precipice that is fixing our gazing into an abyss of nothing short of pure disaster. Financial ruin, crime, drugs, and despair fill the streets of our cities and it is only getting worse. The stakes for us are too high! We are too big to fail! We need a bailout!
On the surface this statement could seem hypocritical. Sure, Derek, Fannie Mae doesn't deserve it but you do?! In a word, yes! I think we, as a people, don't deserve a bailout but we get one. When God created the earth He stepped back for a moment and declared it good. He then watched as His creation took His gift of free choice and turned their lives into a bastion of idol worship to man made gods. God soon became so disappointed with us that He decided we needed a, wait for it,.....BAILOUT!
That's right! In simple terms, the flood of Noah was nothing more than a bailout, a do-over, a start over and let's get it right this time. God had seen the wickedness and sin of the world and He knew that He needed to wipe the slate clean. The world got a bailout. Now, unfortunately for the people of the times, they didn't get a chance to be a part of the bailout because they perished in the flood. But even in those days I believe that God knew something...His world was too big of an idea to fail!
Today, the same idea is true. The bailout principle exists except I wouldn't really call it a bailout. Today each one of us has the opportunity to begin our lives anew, to start over, to begin again. Do we get to erase all of our debts? Financially, no, sinfully, yes. Can forgiveness be found? Perhaps not in the eyes of man but, more importantly, in the eyes of a Savior. You see, God's bailout is not a quick fix for a temporary problem. God's bailout is an eternal forgiveness for a life of sin. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life" John 3:16.
God is telling us..."my child, you are too big to fail!" "My plan is too big to fail!" "I have a plan that cannot fail!" If you are looking for a better way, that way is Jesus Christ. You are too big to FAIL!
Blessings,
Derek
It seems as if the watchword of the day is "bailout". Everyone and everything is receiving a bailout these days. From Chrysler and Fannie Mae to JP Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo, businesses and banks are deemed "too big to fail". In all honesty I am not really sure what that exactly means. I imagine it probably has something to do with the fact that if these companies came crashing down around their economic heels that national economic disaster is soon to follow. Again, all that might be true, I am not an economist and I don't even play one on TV! What I do know is that our country has spent over 700 billion dollars on over 926 recipients from what we called the TARP bill (Troubled Asset Relief Program) and our country still has a troubled asset relief program.
All of that is disturbing enough but that is not what gets my mind turning inside my skull. The question that rattles around inside my head is.."With all of the turmoil brewing inside of our country, does the United States of America need a bailout?" I am not talking about the companies of the United States. I am talking about the United States itself. Just as we looked at the banks and car companies some three years ago and realized that their success directly impacted the success of the American people, can't we look at he United States today and make the same correlation? If the men and women of this great nation are going to strive in their daily lives they are going to have to do it in a nation that is striving. We are standing on a precipice that is fixing our gazing into an abyss of nothing short of pure disaster. Financial ruin, crime, drugs, and despair fill the streets of our cities and it is only getting worse. The stakes for us are too high! We are too big to fail! We need a bailout!
On the surface this statement could seem hypocritical. Sure, Derek, Fannie Mae doesn't deserve it but you do?! In a word, yes! I think we, as a people, don't deserve a bailout but we get one. When God created the earth He stepped back for a moment and declared it good. He then watched as His creation took His gift of free choice and turned their lives into a bastion of idol worship to man made gods. God soon became so disappointed with us that He decided we needed a, wait for it,.....BAILOUT!
That's right! In simple terms, the flood of Noah was nothing more than a bailout, a do-over, a start over and let's get it right this time. God had seen the wickedness and sin of the world and He knew that He needed to wipe the slate clean. The world got a bailout. Now, unfortunately for the people of the times, they didn't get a chance to be a part of the bailout because they perished in the flood. But even in those days I believe that God knew something...His world was too big of an idea to fail!
Today, the same idea is true. The bailout principle exists except I wouldn't really call it a bailout. Today each one of us has the opportunity to begin our lives anew, to start over, to begin again. Do we get to erase all of our debts? Financially, no, sinfully, yes. Can forgiveness be found? Perhaps not in the eyes of man but, more importantly, in the eyes of a Savior. You see, God's bailout is not a quick fix for a temporary problem. God's bailout is an eternal forgiveness for a life of sin. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life" John 3:16.
God is telling us..."my child, you are too big to fail!" "My plan is too big to fail!" "I have a plan that cannot fail!" If you are looking for a better way, that way is Jesus Christ. You are too big to FAIL!
Blessings,
Derek
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
You've Got To Get Right Back Up!
Greetings,
I want to take just a moment and share with you a wonderful working of God! It began early this morning as my alarm clock blared out its familiar "chimes" at 4 AM. It wouldn't have been that bad if I had not just closed my eyes a mere two hours ago but there I was dragging myself up off the floor (that's where I was after falling out of the bed) in the wee hours of the morning.
After taking a shower my blood began coursing once more through my veins. My excitement for the business of the day grew as I felt God calling me to "go" and "do". Unfortunately, the taxing effort of pulling my pants up and my shirt on exhausted any of the energy reserves that I had placed in storage for my great day of ministry and I found myself, once again, struggling to pick myself up off the floor. I truly believe it was only by the grace of God that I even had the strength to squeeze the tube of toothpaste hard enough to somehow eject enough toothpaste to make the whole process of brushing my teeth worth my while. But after grabbing my computer bag and touching four of the seven steps of the staircase ( I missed the other three) I found myself, once again, picking myself up from another floor in my house (this one was at the base of my stairs!)
By this time I was seriously questioning whether I had misread God's call to "go" and "do"! Perhaps the real message was "stop" and "don't"!!! Nevertheless, my ride was here, my first counseling session was due in my office in one hour and the world was waiting! As I walked out the door I couldn't help thinking what would be the next thing I would be picking myself up off of. I wouldn't have long to wait!
I made it to Las Animas just fine but that's because I wasn't driving. I did find out that two hours of sleep isn't enough time needed to be able to accurately line up your mouth with that hole on your Styrofoam coffee cup! Thank God the brain surgery killed the pain receptors! But I got to the church and you would have thought that just the mere fact of crossing over the threshold of the church door would have afforded me some sort of sanctuary like the hunchback guy from Notre Dame...well, you would have thought that!
By the way, have you ever tried to put a key in a lock, in the dark, with a bag in one hand, and a cup of coffee in the other? The crazy part was that wasn't the problem. The problem was that I was so out of it I wasn't smart enough to set the bag and the coffee down and turn on the light! So, five minutes and a lot of ego later I finally gave in and did it the easy way! Now safely inside my office I was sure that I was safe from the big, bad, world that God had sent me out into but little did I know that my office was just the next place I would have to pick myself up off the floor! Yep!!!! That's right!!! My feet, my trash can, my chair, my floor, my butt!!!!! I swear by the time the whole ordeal was over I had half a mind just to stay down there and sleep the rest of the day away! But I knew I couldn't. I knew I had a job. I had people to counsel, Bible studies to teach, meetings to attend, and oh yeah......coffee to make!
Let me tell you how the story ends. Scripture tells us that God never gives us anything that we can't handle. Well, I believe that's right to a certain extent. You see just before my first counseling session was to start at 6:30 AM I unlocked the church door, went into my office, started the coffee, grabbed my coffee cup, stood in front of the coffee pot, and promptly fell asleep standing up! At least that's how I started out! You see God must have known that I needed just a few more minutes of the old shut eye because when the church door opened and my first counselee came walking in the church my eyes popped wide open. But they weren't staring at the coffee pot... they were staring at the ceiling! So for one last time I picked myself up off the floor for God.
But you see I been doing that for the last eight years! I hope you got a kick out of my long day in the kingdom of God!
Blessings,
Derek
I want to take just a moment and share with you a wonderful working of God! It began early this morning as my alarm clock blared out its familiar "chimes" at 4 AM. It wouldn't have been that bad if I had not just closed my eyes a mere two hours ago but there I was dragging myself up off the floor (that's where I was after falling out of the bed) in the wee hours of the morning.
After taking a shower my blood began coursing once more through my veins. My excitement for the business of the day grew as I felt God calling me to "go" and "do". Unfortunately, the taxing effort of pulling my pants up and my shirt on exhausted any of the energy reserves that I had placed in storage for my great day of ministry and I found myself, once again, struggling to pick myself up off the floor. I truly believe it was only by the grace of God that I even had the strength to squeeze the tube of toothpaste hard enough to somehow eject enough toothpaste to make the whole process of brushing my teeth worth my while. But after grabbing my computer bag and touching four of the seven steps of the staircase ( I missed the other three) I found myself, once again, picking myself up from another floor in my house (this one was at the base of my stairs!)
By this time I was seriously questioning whether I had misread God's call to "go" and "do"! Perhaps the real message was "stop" and "don't"!!! Nevertheless, my ride was here, my first counseling session was due in my office in one hour and the world was waiting! As I walked out the door I couldn't help thinking what would be the next thing I would be picking myself up off of. I wouldn't have long to wait!
I made it to Las Animas just fine but that's because I wasn't driving. I did find out that two hours of sleep isn't enough time needed to be able to accurately line up your mouth with that hole on your Styrofoam coffee cup! Thank God the brain surgery killed the pain receptors! But I got to the church and you would have thought that just the mere fact of crossing over the threshold of the church door would have afforded me some sort of sanctuary like the hunchback guy from Notre Dame...well, you would have thought that!
By the way, have you ever tried to put a key in a lock, in the dark, with a bag in one hand, and a cup of coffee in the other? The crazy part was that wasn't the problem. The problem was that I was so out of it I wasn't smart enough to set the bag and the coffee down and turn on the light! So, five minutes and a lot of ego later I finally gave in and did it the easy way! Now safely inside my office I was sure that I was safe from the big, bad, world that God had sent me out into but little did I know that my office was just the next place I would have to pick myself up off the floor! Yep!!!! That's right!!! My feet, my trash can, my chair, my floor, my butt!!!!! I swear by the time the whole ordeal was over I had half a mind just to stay down there and sleep the rest of the day away! But I knew I couldn't. I knew I had a job. I had people to counsel, Bible studies to teach, meetings to attend, and oh yeah......coffee to make!
Let me tell you how the story ends. Scripture tells us that God never gives us anything that we can't handle. Well, I believe that's right to a certain extent. You see just before my first counseling session was to start at 6:30 AM I unlocked the church door, went into my office, started the coffee, grabbed my coffee cup, stood in front of the coffee pot, and promptly fell asleep standing up! At least that's how I started out! You see God must have known that I needed just a few more minutes of the old shut eye because when the church door opened and my first counselee came walking in the church my eyes popped wide open. But they weren't staring at the coffee pot... they were staring at the ceiling! So for one last time I picked myself up off the floor for God.
But you see I been doing that for the last eight years! I hope you got a kick out of my long day in the kingdom of God!
Blessings,
Derek
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