Month: October 2011

Shining as Lights, Part 3

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The next thing that is important to notice about Paul’s admonition to shine as lights in the world is that he follows his statement that believers are, to the twisted and perverse generation (unbelievers), “lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life….” What is the word of life? It is the truth of Jesus Christ, the gospel message, the Scriptures. A necessary part of shining as lights in the world is holding firmly to the truth of the Bible.

There are many people in the world who read the Bible but who have no idea what it means and have no conviction that it is anything other than great literature. I can still remember a class I was going to take in college, a New Testament course. The professor of the class made it very clear on the first day of class that he did not believe that Paul wrote all of the New Testament books that the Bible says he wrote, that the Bible is not true or inspired by God, and that we would be examining the New Testament with that background. I did not take the course; I dropped it immediately and took an intro course in African history instead. But that professor was a perfect example of the innumerable people in the world who know the Bible in an academic sense, who can carry on lengthy conversations about it and can dissect it in dozens of different ways, but who have no relationship with the God of the Bible and have no understanding of what they are reading. These people are like the Ethiopian eunuch who was reading Isaiah; prior to Philip arriving in obedience to the Lord’s instruction and explaining what it meant to the eunuch he had no idea what he was reading. These people profess to be wise, and from a purely academic and intellectual knowledge standpoint are wise, but their understanding has been darkened and they are, in fact, fools (Romans 1:22).

The first step to holding fast to the word of life is understanding what it means. Just like the eunuch needed Philip, we all need someone to come along side and explain what the Scriptures mean to us until we are able to graduate from the spiritual milk and chew on the meat of the Word ourselves. Students need a guide, a teacher, to explain to them the truth of God’s word. Parents have that responsibility, pastors and Sunday school teachers do, but so do the teachers in the Christian school. In truly Christian education every class in every subject is taught with biblical integration. There is no separation of Bible and history, math, science and English in a curricular program with a biblical worldview. Our relationship with Christ is not a Sunday-only thing. It is day by day, moment by moment, and should influence every area of our lives. This is the kind of instruction that students require in order to learn what it means to hold fast to the word of life. How does the Bible apply to friendships, decision making, relationships with parents, academic integrity, benevolence, service to others, and on and on. Only when students learn that the teachings and the truths of the Bible are pertinent and applicable and relevant to the situations they will find themselves in every day and the decisions that they will have to make, and only when the submit their will and natural tendency to the guiding of the Spirit and the teaching of the Word will they be able to shine as lights in the world.

Shining as Lights, Part 2

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Yesterday I explained how simply not grumbling, complaining and questioning is a way to shine as a light in a dark world since such behavior is so contrary to what the world finds normal and expected.

Immediately after the instruction not to grumble or question Paul says that believers are to behave that way in order to be blameless and innocent. Of course believers do not lose their sin nature and we do not stop sinning after being born again. However, our sin nature should be continually put to death through daily decisions to live a God-honoring life. This requires moment-by-moment decisions; it is not something that happens once and is done.

The point that Paul is making, I believe, is that if we grumble and complain–in other words, if we act just like the word–there will be no effectiveness to our testimony or our witness. When we act like the world we are providing grounds for unbelievers to “blame” us. They can rightly point to our behavior and identify the contradiction between what we are saying with our mouths and how we are living our lives. There will be a disconnect between our talk and our walk. And as we all know, people pay much more attention to, and are much more impacted by, what we do than what we say.

Will we ever be innocent? Of course not. Not during this life time. But we should live our lives in such a way that when unbelievers are looking for glaring contradictions in our lives between our talk and our walk they will not be able to legitimately identify any. This means, of course, that when we do mess up (and we will) that we confess our shortcomings. We need to take ownership of our mistakes, apologize to those we wrong, and acknowledge when we fall short. This is almost unheard of in the world, too, because this behavior is also contrary to sin nature.

Paul goes on to say that we are to be blameless and innocent “in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation.” As wicked as our world is today, it was just as wicked when Paul was writing to the church in Philippi. While I may be in the minority, I have never been a believer in the idea that it is much harder to grow up today than ever before or much harder to live for the Lord now than it used to be. Have there been times in our nation’s history when God-honoring behavior was more the norm and more culturally expected that it is now? Yes, probably so. But the same possibilities for sin existed then that exist now, albeit in different forms. Ever since Eve, and then Adam, ate of the fruit in the garden, every generation has been “crooked and perverse.” When we read about Noah we read that the behavior of man was so wicked and evil that God regretted having made man. It was so bad that He decided to wipe out all but eight people on the earth and start all over.

Back to what this means in terms of training students, though, it means that teachers and staff members at the school must model for the students the kind of life that Scripture calls believers to live. Teachers must not grumble or question, even when they want to. Teaching is tough. Anyone who has ever worked with children for any length of time (their own or someone else’s) knows that eventually the patience of even the most calm and easy going person will be tried. How do we act then? Teachers and staff members must also model acknowledging wrongs and asking for forgiveness. There was a time when it was considered a huge sign of weakness for an adult to apologize to or admit a mistake to a child. In some circles that is still true. But what Paul is instructing us to do is, of course, contrary to human wisdom. When a teacher loses his or her cool in the classroom, or in any other way demonstrates behavior not consistent with Paul’s exhortation to be blameless and innocent, appropriate actions must be taken.

Next, teachers and staff members must expect this kind of behavior from the students in the school. Teachers must teach students how to behave in this manner, through words and actions, and then provide opportunity for them to do so. That means teaching students how to identify a wrong, how to acknowledge it, and how to seek forgiveness for it–from the offended person(s) and from the Lord.

Training students to shine as lights in our world goes beyond what I have described here. It includes preparing students to present an effective defense of the Bible, to proactively witness to the unbelievers around them, and to actively oppose evil in our world. But these things come later. The foundation to those things is personal choices and actions. So training students to shine as lights in our world begins right in the school with the relationships between students and teachers.

Shining as Lights, Part 1

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I have always thought that a lighthouse is a particularly appropriate metaphor for the Christian life and the responsibility that Christians have to shine as lights in this world. I am currently privileged to serve as Superintendent of Sunshine Bible Academy, and the same metaphor could be used substituting sunlight for the beacon of a lighthouse. The passage of Scripture that is the basis for this metaphor is Philippians 2:14-16, which reads as follows:

“Do all things without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.” (ESV)

First of all, the very idea of light should be addressed. Light is the opposite of darkness, and there is no lack of darkness in our world. In physical darkness there is an absence of light. Rarely if ever have most people experienced complete darkness because there is often some light, however small, coming from something. In our homes these days, unless the electricity is out, there is often plenty of light even when all of the lights are turned off. We have digital clocks, which are themselves lights, on microwaves, ovens, alarm clocks, and DVD players. We have lights indicating “on” or “off” on all manner of electronics in our homes. If we go outside there are usually street lights, lights from car headlights, and/or light from the moon and stars. We have all of these lights so that we can see–either see where we need to go, see what we are doing, or see what time it is. But the bottom line is that light drives away darkness. When a light is turned on darkness is eliminated within the reach of that light source. Where light is, darkness is not.

It is interesting to think about the fact that when light is not present darkness naturally results. There is nothing that we have to do to create darkness. Once the sun goes down, darkness will result. We do not have to flip any switches, cover any windows or otherwise do anything in order to create darkness. It will come. Darkness is always lurking, ready to spread as the light fades. As light dissipates, darkness is already there. We never have to “turn on the dark.”

I’m talking about physical light, of course, but spiritual light and darkness are the same way. As a result of sin and the depravity of man we live in a world filled with spiritual darkness. We do not need to do anything to cause that darkness to be present or to spread. To paraphrase Mark Twain, the only thing necessary for darkness to dominate the world is for those who have the light to do nothing.

Looking back at our verses, grumbling, complaining and questioning are the natural outgrowths of man’s sin nature. We do not have to do anything for those to be present. When things are not going our way, when nothing is working out the way we want it to, when we need to do something we would rather not do…grumbling and questioning will happen without any effort required on our part at all. That’s because we are self-centered, and naturally express our dissatisfaction when things aren’t going our way. To not grumble and question then requires action on our part. It requires us to turn on the light of dying to self, putting our desires and preferences aside and doing what needs to be done without whining about it. Doing that is part of shining as lights in our world. Only one part, to be sure, but a definite starting point.

We will continue to look into this next time….

More and More Compromise

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Ken Ham, President of Answers in Genesis, and Greg Hall, together with Britt Beemer of America’s Research Group, recently published a book entitled Already Compromised. In this book the authors highlight a number of compromises on the biblical account in Genesis that are increasingly prevalent in the church. Ham describes these compromises as “attempts to add secular ideas of evolution and/or long ages into the Bible. This wave of compromise is hitting the church with even greater force today.”

Some of the examples of compromise positions being taught by church leaders and academics include these: that Adam is a metaphor for Israel, not a real person; that Genesis 1 is not a literal account of the origin of the universe but about the creation of a cosmic temple; that God took a couple of animals, gave them animal amnesia for millions of years and turned them into Adam and Eve, etc. (Ken Ham has examined such “compromised ” and erroneous approaches to the Bible in his own blog, too).

As part of the research for the book, faculty members at Christian colleges were surveyed to find out what they believe–and therefore teach their students–about biblical accuracy and the Genesis account. Without going into detail (I would encourage you to read the book!) nearly 78% of the faculty members in the religion departments of the surveyed schools hold to an old earth position, with another 7% holding to neither young nor old earth positions. That means only 15% of the religion department faculty at Christian colleges in the United States hold to the biblically-accurate young-earth position! Surprisingly (in my mind) there is a considerably higher percentage of science department faculty holding the young earth position, but that number is still only 57%.

I have written already about the importance of a biblical worldview, and I trust that these figures will serve to reinforce that for you. What I want to re-emphasize here, though, is the utmost importance of a biblical worldview. By that, of course, I mean one that is consistent with the teaching of Scripture and that holds firmly and uncompromisingly to the position that the Bible is the inerrant, inspired, authoritative, and self-consistent Word of God. Unfortunately it is not enough to simply accept a Christian worldview, because there are so many who claim to be Christians, represent themselves as Christians, and represent and/or work for Christian ministries that fail to hold to that standard. How sad for a family to send their child off to a Christian college only to have him or her inundated with anti-biblical instruction!

Instruction that is not consistent with Scripture, and at times is even aggressively opposed to Scripture, is to be expected in public and private non-Christian schools, whether at the elementary, secondary, collegiate or graduate level. But the wolf is still hiding in sheep’s clothes, and Satan is finding his way into churches and Christian schools, colleges and universities to undermine the Genesis account. Be on guard! Do your research, and know what kind of instruction your child will receive! There simply is no room for compromise.

Empty Praise

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In her book America by Heart, Sarah Palin writes about the dangers of empty praise and the “self esteem” movement that has swept the nation by storm. Specifically, she points out how dangerous this is for children:

Sometimes I think we try too hard with kids these days to substitute this inner strength with empty praise. Everyone’s into building their kids’ self-esteem by telling them they’re all “winners,” assuring them that every scribbled picture is a work of art and every chaotic soccer game is a triumph. I understand the good intentions behind this, but I also worry that we’re not giving our kids a chance to discover what they’re made of. Kids know the difference between real praise and empty praise. When we don’t let them fail, when we tell them every average effort is superlative, we’re keeping them from discovering that hidden strength. We may think we’re helping them, but really we’re holding them back.

In fact, we may be creating a generation of entitled little whiners.

Palin goes on to discuss the effect that this kind of upbringing has on young people as they enter the work force (hint: it’s not good) and the dangers that result from parents protecting the egos of their children while denying them the opportunity to experience, and the understanding of the importance of, hard work.

As parents, it’s natural for us to want to protect our kids from the dog-eat-dog competition of life. But do we really have their best interests at heart when we shield their little egos, finish their science projects, and sell all their Girl Scout cookies for them?

I would argue, as Palin does, that we do not have their best interests at heart and that we are, in fact, damaging our children when we fail to be realistic with them. There are many important lessons to be learned from assuming responsibility and working hard…and accepting the consequences for mistakes or failure to follow through on something that we were responsible to do.

The ultimate example of a parent, of course, is our Heavenly Father, and it does not take a scholarly grasp of the Scriptures to understand that God does not promise smooth sailing and a life free of disappointments to His children. On the contrary, He promises that life will have its share of challenges, trials, difficulties and even persecution. God uses these things to work His will in our lives, to shape us into the people that He wants us to be and to equip us for the future He has for us.

If the God of the universe, who could literally eliminate all obstacles in our lives and shield us from any heartache or disappointment has not only declined to do so but in fact promised just the opposite, can we really think we are being effective, God-honoring parents if we attempt to do so for our children?

Of course parents need to protect their children from unnecessary hardship and unfair treatment, but parents also need to let their children accept responsibility for their own actions and even, on occasion, go through the effort involved in working through their own problems. Parents should not do homework for their children, but they should be available to help their children if necessary. And if the homework does not get turned in, parents should support whatever consequences occur as a result, not try to excuse away the problem and facilitate the avoidance of consequences. If a child violates a school rule–from chewing gum to cheating on a test–the parents should support the consequences that result, whether a verbal reprimand, an after-school detention, or a zero on the test. The worst thing a parent could do is attack the school, verbally undermine the teacher or the school leadership, and be heard by their children making excuses for why their child wasn’t really cheating, or didn’t really mean it or know what he was doing if he did. Parents should defend their children to the nth degree, should support them to the utmost, encourage them early and often, and should be there for them regardless of what happens…but they should not, ever, under any circumstances, be the instrument of empty praise or the agent of avoidance for the justifiable and deserved consequences of actions (or inactions) of their children.

Purely Secular Subjects?

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Earlier this month the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in “Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Et Al.” This case involves religious school employment and the matter of a ministerial exception, who is covered by it, and so on. While the decision issued by the Court will potentially have implications for Christian schools, the case itself is not what I am interested in writing about today. Rather, I am interested in some of the discussion during the oral arguments.

In the process of questioning one of the attorneys, Chief Justice John Roberts asked a question that began this way: “Well, let’s say it’s a teacher who teaches only purely secular subjects….” Now, I am not going to criticize the Chief Justice. My understanding is that he is a devout Catholic, and I suspect that on a personal level he may agree with me when I say that my contention is that there is no such thing as a “purely secular subject.” Mr. Roberts was involved in the process of parsing intricate legal arguments in an effort to determine whether or not someone who is a minister is or is not entitled to certain protections or statuses under the law when his or her primary job responsibilities to do not involve matters of a specifically-ministerial nature. And as I said, that issue is beyond the scope of what I am interested in for the purposes of this discussion (and, I suspect, beyond the scope of what you are interested in reading about!)

What does interest me is this idea of “purely secular subjects.” It is a position held by many, whether professing Atheists, professing Christians, or professing adherents of any number of religions. Unfortunately, it is a position held by many churches and Christian schools, too. There are far too many “Christian” schools that start the day (or even each class) with prayer, include a chapel service for students and probably a Bible class, but go about the rest of their academic instruction and curriculum development as if English, math, history, science, physical education, art and music are “purely secular subjects.” There are some Christian textbook publishers who seem to hold to this position, as well. Their books contain no recognizable difference from those written by secular publishers and used by public schools or, at most, have an occasional Bible verse printed along the bottom of a workbook page.

The reality is, there is no such thing as a secular subject. The dictionary (dictionary.com) defines secular as “of or pertaining to worldly things or to things that are not regarded as religious, spiritual, or sacred; temporal.” The definition even includes a specific reference to schools and education and says that secular means “concerned with nonreligious subjects.” Someone who is a follower of Christ, someone with a biblical worldview, will reject the argument that there can be any subject that is purely temporal and unconnected to God. The fact that a specific area of study may be pertaining to “worldly things,” by which the definition means things that are of this world and in this world, does not mean that said subject is completely disconnected from things that are not temporal or “of this world.”

Colossians 2:8 says “See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ” (ESV). If we allow ourselves to be sucked into the argument that there are subject areas that are “purely secular” we are throwing open the door to the influences of empty deceit and worldly philosophy in accordance with human tradition. When we do that we are allowing ourselves to be pressed into the mold of the world. Paul, however, instructs believers this way: “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, ESV). We can only transform our minds by approaching every subject from a scriptural position, interpreting all subject matter and academic instruction through the lens of God’s truth. Whether we’re talking about reading a piece of literature, evaluating a painting, or studying the events of history, there simply is no such thing as a purely secular subject. You either recognize God’s presence and involvement or you deny it. Either way, though, it’s “religious.”

Close-mindedness

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One of the leading academics in the United States is Stanley Fish, who also writes an online column for the New York Times. In a recent interview Mr. Fish stated that he believes that no one can operate without faith, which he defines as “not specifically religious but as a set of assumptions which structure your consciousness and allow you to see what it is that you see, then you realize that it is impossible not to have your consciousness structured by a set of assumptions.” That is a bit hard to follow at first reading, but Fish goes on to elaborate as follows: “This is another way of saying that there’s no such thing as an open mind, and that’s a good thing. If you had an open mind, a mind not structured by presuppositions, it would have the characteristics of a sieve. Everything would just fall right through it. So I am an advocate of close-mindedness.”

Fish is right, of course; no one has a completely open mind, because we all have beliefs, convictions, ideas and preferences that frame our view of the world and how we perceive what goes on around us. That is the very definition of a worldview. The important thing is what shapes and influences and informs our worldview. Fish does not go so far as to specify what he believes that should be, and in fact declined when asked to describe his own faith. I will not be so timid, however. I believe, and unashamedly so, that one’s worldview must be informed by the Scriptures. Anything other than that will result in a flawed and necessarily self-centered worldview.

Why necessarily self-centered? Because if one’s worldview is not shaped by Scripture, and the conviction that there is one true God (and only one!) and that He created the universe and everything in it, then there are no absolutes and there is no higher power. Perhaps you have heard some people say that the only absolute is that there are no absolutes? Besides being self-contradicting that is one of the most ridiculous positions anyone could take (and if you would like to explore that discussion sometime, just let me know…I’d be happy to spend as much time as you like talking about that!) But anyone who tries to live their life by such a belief will necessarily pick and choose which things he or she believes and holds to based on what is most appealing, reasonable, convenient, and/or important to him or her. The most important part of that sentence, though, is the last four words: “to him or her.” When absolute truth is abandoned and everything becomes subjective, it necessarily becomes self-centered. I don’t mean to sound harsh or judgmental, there is simply no other basis on which someone will make a decision or establish a belief.

If you doubt that, try asking someone who does not have a biblical worldview or hold to absolute truth why he or she believes something. Anything…it really doesn’t matter. Just ask someone who fits that description why they believe as they do or practice what they do or live the way they do and the answer will almost certainly start with, “Because I…”. Whatever comes next is irrelevant; the point has been made. The filter, the basis, the foundation, the starting point will always be “I.”

When one acknowledges God and acknowledges that He is supreme and sovereign there is no longer an “I” in the picture. Someone who has a biblical worldview and answers the question posed in the previous paragraph will answer “because God…” or “because the Bible….” If “I” is in the answer at all it will likely be to say “because I believe the Bible.”

So next time someone tells you that you need to have an open mind, tell them “no thanks” and seize the opportunity to explain to them that they don’t have an open mind either. It’s simply a matter of what our close-mindedness is based on.

Conference Time

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Last Friday was parent-teacher conferences at school.

As I was thinking about the conferences I got to thinking about what it would be like if God summoned us for a conference to review our progress. What if when we got home today we found a letter from the Almighty, informing us that we were to report for a face-to-face meeting in heaven’s conference room next Tuesday afternoon so that we could discuss with the Lord how well we have been doing (or not doing!) in our Christian walk.

What would we hear at such a meeting? Would there be things that the Lord could point to that we are doing well? I would hope so. Would there be some areas where we have made real improvement? Again, I would certainly hope so. Would there also be some areas where we are struggling? Areas where we are not doing well at all? In fact, some areas where, by all accounts, we just do not even seem to care whether we are doing what we are supposed to or not? I am afraid that the answer is yes. I know it is for me, and if you are honest with yourself I am sure that the answer is yes for you, too.

One of the points of parent-teacher conferences is for parents, and students, to find out where improvement needs to be made. The conference really only has any meaning, though, if the areas identified as needing improvement are addressed and the parents and their students take steps to insure that improvement is made before the next grade report. Few things are more frustrating for teachers than students (and/or their parents) who seem to pay no heed to the warnings and guidance offered during conferences.

More than likely neither you nor I will get that summons to a heavenly conference. Truth be told, though, we have the opportunity for such conferences every day. The book of James tells us that the Word of God is like a mirror. James also says that we are to be doers of the Word and not hearers only. When we read the Word, or hear it taught, we will, I trust, be reminded of areas where we are doing well in our Christian walk. But we will also most certainly have revealed to use areas where we need to improve. When we ignore the need to improve in those areas, James says, we are like someone looking at himself in the mirror and then going on his way, not bothering to address the flaws that the mirror revealed. Put another way, we are like someone who attended a parent-teacher conference and paid no attention to the areas identified as needing improvement.

Simply Not Enough

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In the April 2011 issue of Tabletalk magazine from Ligonier Ministries (www.ligonier.org) there is an interview with R. Albert Mohler, Jr., the president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.  In the interview Dr. Mohler is asked about what the church can do to better prepare its members to meet the cultural challenges of the 21st century.  His answer is excellent, and is just as applicable to the Christian school as to the church.

“For far too long, evangelical churches have simply assumed that it is our task to give our church members a basic level of biblical knowledge, to create opportunities for Christian fellowship, and to encourage parents in the Christian nurture of their children.  But what we have failed to understand is that Christians in the twenty-first century are being thrown into a world in which just a little bit of Bible knowledge is simply not going to be enough.  Simply having positive fellowship and nurturing experiences in the church and in the Christian family will not be enough.  The church must prepare people to be able to think Christianly in a world where the intellectual rules have fundamentally changed.  They are going to have to learn to be faithful in terms of every-day decision making, in terms of profound moral questioning, and in terms of political, economic, and cultural issues.  It is not that the church needs to be constantly talking about the culture; rather, it is that with the cultural challenge around us, we need to talk more and more about the Bible and coming to a deeper understanding of the Scriptures.  The church must equip its members to be deeply biblical so that the theological mode of thinking is something that comes naturally to believers.  Such Christians will be saturated with biblical truth, sustained by the life of the congregation, and encouraged into faithfulness by the communion of the saints.”

What Dr. Mohler describes is exactly what effective Christian educators and Christian schools seek to instill in each of their students.  A biblical worldview is the ability to think Christianly–it is the lens or the filter through which we see and understand everything around us.  Some Christian schools (and some churches) are content to sprinkle their classes (or their services) with a few Bible verses here and there, probably a prayer, and then to spend the rest of their time trying to act like, look like, and be attractive to the world.  The Bible makes it very clear that we are not to be of the world.  A deeper understanding of Scriptures is exactly what is needed if we are to make an impact for Christ.

At Sunshine Bible Academy, and at other Christian schools faithful to God’s design for education, every subject is presented with a biblical worldview.  We do not hide from or ignore the realities of the world around us, but we ensure that our students understand what is taking place in the world by understanding how it fits into God’s plan and/or is a result of man’s fallen nature.  Every subject is interconnected–to each other, and to the Bible.  Yes, there is a Bible class that each student takes, but biblical instruction is not restricted to that class.  When  instructors teach math, science, history, literature, music, physical education and art they do so with a biblical worldview.  Students learn to see the orderliness of God in math, the power, wonder and majesty of God in His creation, the importance of good health in maintaining our bodies for the Lord’s service in physical education, and so on.

Education from a biblical worldview equips students to meet the challenges of the 21st century, both academically and biblically.

The First One

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Greetings!

I am excited to welcome you to my blog!  This will be a place where you can engage with me in an ongoing discussion  about  Christian education, biblical worldview, contemporary events, and more.

This is not my first attempt at blogging, though blogging is something that I never thought I would do.  I first started blogging during my tenure as Executive Director of a children’s home in Virginia.  When we redesigned our web site, our Director of Communications, Krista Back–who is also my friend and an accomplished blogger herself–encouraged me to start blogging through our site.  She said it would increase traffic to the site and help to keep the content relevant.  Whether or not that happened I don’t know, but I found that I did enjoy blogging on occasion.

To be honest, the concept of blogging is a bit overwhelming.  Even though I am relatively young and generally knowledgeable about trends in technology, it still amazes me to think that I can sit at my computer and type out my thoughts on any subject and share them with the entire world.  I’m not sure if that is exhilarating or intimidating.  Probably a little bit of both….

I will not drone on right now and turn this into a lengthy introductory blog, but I will just say this in closing: I have no shortage of opinions and beliefs, and I will do my best to articulate them in clear and unoffensive language while providing the basis for my position.  I invite your interaction in this discussion through your comments and questions, but I ask that you adhere to those same general principles–be polite, and have a basis for what you’re saying.

Let the conversation begin…