Hello everyone. I have officially "upgraded." My new site is HERE.

¡Adios!

I passed!

Wow! What a ride! This past week has had much in store for me. Last weekend (Jan 5 and 6) I was busy accomplishing a 20 + hour "Private Pilot Ground School" course. On January 11 I took the FAA knowledge test on all of the material in the ground school and passed. In a nutshell, I have my "temps" for flying! I'm shooting to solo this summer.

On January 12 we celebrated my 16th birthday with friends and family. We had fun skating, playing Fictionary, eating fajitas, talking on a variety of subjects, and playing Cranium! Thanks for making my birthday special! I was tremendously encouraged.

The story isn't over yet . . . lol. Sorry!

Today I took my driving skills test. A "road of difficulty" throught the "valley of the shadow of death" immediately flashes into some individual's minds. Actually, my test went very well. God gave me peace throughout most of the test. To those who prayed for me, THANK YOU! I know it may seem an overreaction to peg my success to God; however, I do believe he helped me through this event.  

In summary, it has been amazing to see how everything has unfolded this past week. God has blessed me with success in everything I have set my hand to. I am looking forward to see how He will use these successes in future days.

Steven

Ahhh . . . the day has drawn to a close! Daniel, Bethany, and I spent time skating tonight. Yes! Our pond is finally safe to skate on!

Bethany races by!

Everyone LOVES to skate! (Doesn't the light look like Bethany's heart?)

Daniel flashes a smile while streaking by.

We were looking through the NASA photo archives and, sure enough, found a picture of Daniel doing one of his science projects: moon-walking. Dad sure comes up with great science activities (you should have seen the rocket)!

A view of our "gingerbread house" from across the skating rink.

Have a wonderful weekend!

--Steven--

For a new post, I have decided to attach one of my recent The Potter's School Compositions:

"No Child Left Behind": How Can We Ensure This?

Although ignored by most American denominations, the majority of "Christian" youth abandons Christianity in college. Southern Baptists, members of a conservative American denomination, claim 70 to 88 percent of their college-aged youth leave the church. What happened to cause these results? Failure to realize the impact of a secular education upon a child produces this unbelievable exit rate. How should followers of Christ educate their children? By using the axiom, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure," an illustration of the solution becomes apparent. Rather than curing adolescents after high school graduation, parents should prevent spiritual rebellion when beginning the educational process. Compared to public education, biblical homeschooling provides the best "ounce of prevention" scripturally, morally, statistically, and ideologically. 

Scripture places the responsibility of spiritual education upon parents, not upon the government. Deuteronomy 6:6-7 says, "And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up." God commands parents to teach their children about the Lord in every activity of life. Some fathers and mothers successfully impart Christian teaching to their children while utilizing secular schools. However, most parents have a difficult time in spiritually nurturing their children when using a secular educational system. In Matthew 18:6 Christ says, "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea." Ultimately, God holds parents responsible concerning the spiritual edification of their children. Therefore, parents fulfill the mandates of the Scriptures best by home-educating their children.

Sadly, many believers do not search God's Word to determine how to morally educate their children. Instead, most American Christians pick a school according to family tradition and personal preference. This means many Christian children attend public schools. Ideally, Christians should avoid public education. Proverbs 22:6 advises parents to "train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it." Ephesians 6:4 advises, "And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord." Paul indicates the education of a child needs to follow biblical guidelines. However, public schools actively oppose the teaching of any scriptural principles. Secular educational programs place incredible pressure upon Christian students to conform to the world. Immorality, violence, and blasphemy occur blatantly in many secular scholastic programs. Christians must seriously reconsider public education because of its anti-Christian pursuits.

Christians must also reconsider public education in light of statistical data. Research shows that more homeschooled students continue in Christianity than secular students. Alarmed, Pastor Voddie Baucham states 70 to 88 percent of Southern Baptist youth abandon Christianity in college due to a secular education.[1] However, in 2004 the National Home Education Research Institute revealed that around 94 percent of homeschoolers followed their parents' worldview after reaching adulthood.[2] Therefore, if parents provide their child with a home-based Christian education, he or she will probably continue in the faith as an adult. On the other hand, public education opposes Christianity with humanism and evolutionism. Promoting evolution and humanism, secular education produces individuals who question the Bible's validity. In summary, homeschooling produces a greater likelihood of spiritual longevity compared to the results of secular programs.   

Lastly, Christian homeschooling conveys a biblical ideology to students. Why would Christians risk their children's spiritual death by sending them to public school? Many modern believers dismiss religion as merely another school subject. Consequently, students in public schools learn to think according to an evolutionary ideology. This explains why the majority of Christian youth embraces ideas currently emphasized by the world. However, Christian home-educating parents usually emphasize the importance of a scriptural worldview. Therefore, most homeschoolers educate their children at home to train their children biblically. Purposeful homeschool families realize the effort of placing educational guardrails requires less energy than picking up the wreck of a child's spiritual life. Training their children to think biblically, homeschooling parents strive to strengthen the faith of the next generation.      

Even though Christian homeschooling provides an adequate alternative to public education, no scholastic program ensures a child's salvation. God can save a person in any educational system in America. However, because of emphasis on biblical teaching, Christ-honoring home education produces better spiritual results than public education. Following the mandates of Scripture, many Christian homeschool parents strive to impart a biblical worldview to their children at an early age. After reaching adulthood, 94 percent of homeschooled students follow their parents' worldview. Homeschooling parents usually find an early application of "an ounce of prevention" causes their children not to need a "pound of cure" later.

[2] "Home Educated and Now Adults," http://www.nheri.org/content/view/171/47/ October 23, 2007

-Steven-

   I'm Back!!

This past week I went to Wisconsin Basic Encampment for CAP. We were instructed in military bearing, uniform maintenance, drill and ceremonies, and barracks preparation among other things. We also got to shoot M-16s, visit a bombing range, tour a military fire department, and become familiar with military jobs and commands like MAJCOM. Here is a picture of the M-16 firing range--the star marks yours truely:

More pictures to come...

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8/9/07  2300 Zulu Time

Charlie Flight: This is the group of people that I spent my week with. By the end of the week we had hospital corners down to a T, shoes shined, and barracks dusted.

Echo (Echo!) Flight (Flight!): Trevor's flight.

Bravo Flight: Bobby's  flight.