I am sad to say that I wasted two years of my life pursing a degree in secular psychology. STUPID...There is no other word to describe the waste of time and money that pursuit was. I have decided to share some of my "knowledge" with you all and then you can decide what the real truth is. Here goes::

As I type this, I am sitting at a desk in my brother's home in Richmond, KY.  The window beside me reveals the rolling bluegrass countryside and several horses are feeding nearby.  A light drizzle is falling from the sky.  A warm cup of coffee spews its steamy aroma towards my nose.  I have a belly full of food from yesterday, as well as my bowl of Honey Bunches of Oats this morning.  I do not hear any bombs going off, no small arms fire, no artillery,no warplanes overhead.  My wife and children are safe and sound enjoying cousins and sisters and nephews and nieces.  Later today we will all link up to eat lunch with my mom, sister, brother-in-law and their children.

We Americans continue to be spoiled by God's goodness.  His kindnesses to us are immeasurable.  Even the most miserable among us is pretty well off compared to so much of the world.  And while I do not particularly like our current national leadership, nor approve of the direction our nation is headed, still here I sit in the lap of luxury enjoying a day of peace, quiet, rest and study in God's Holy Word.  I am so thankful.

But I suspect I am not thankful enough.

How could I be?

So, let me offer a simple prayer today:

O Lord, our God, our Help in Ages Past, today I come to You in and through the finished work of Your Son and our Savior, Jesus the Messiah.  I come to You today simply to say, "Thank You."  I thank You for the gift of eternal life in Jesus, and for sealing and guaranteeing that life to me by the indwelling presence of Your Holy Spirit.  I thank You that I am not in hell today; for that is precisely what I have earned before You.  I thank You Lord Jesus for taking my hell upon yourself on the Cross.  What a Savior You are!  Thank You, God, for the gift of my wife.  Her love for me shows off Your love; for she loves me with a determination that defies what I deserve.  Help me treasure her more, lead her more, and care for her more like You do, Lord Jesus.  Thank You for the gift of my two daughters.  Their beauty makes my heart flutter, and I am so happy in them.  Please keep their hearts in Your hands and make them women who delight in King Jesus above all.  Lord, thank You for placing me into a new family of brothers and sisters and sons and daughters.  I could live a thousand lifetimes and not do one thing to deserve to be the Pastor of Corydon Baptist Church.  It is all of Your grace, O sovereign God.  My joy in these precious people grows day by day.  Jesus, please be the Chief Shepherd of us all, so we can experience the fullness of joy that comes by abiding in You.  Use us as the family of God in Christ to show off Your glory in the Gospel.  May we never take one another for granted as we make our pilgrimmage here below.  Lord, thank You for pilgrims of the past, who traveled roads far rougher than ours, to ensure we could live in a place of Gospel Peace.  So many gave so much more than we.  We thank You for them, and praise Your holy name.  Lord, thank You for the Church of the world suffering greatly for Your sake.  Draw close to them and make Your name great among the nations through them.  Thank You, Lord for those sacrificing their comforts now for our political freedom.  Please bless them and give them courage in the battle.  O Lord, I could thank You for a million years and not scratch the surface of Your mercies.  They are indeed new every morning to me.  I love you, Lord.  I want to love You more.  I trust You Lord.  I want to trust You more.  Make me a grateful man, for the Fame of Jesus' Name, amen.           

On Friday night I had the great pleasure and privilege of attending a play at LHCC. I was able to see the Crone kids and Julia Griffin shine on stage in amazing ways and I loved every minute of it...I was as proud as a peacock of them all. :))) The play was about the Velveteen Rabbit and his desire to be real...what was the only thing that could work to make him real....sacrificially loving his owner. At the end of the play, I heard a beautiful voice flowing over the audience from the back singing, "Love, Love, Love,". I could not believe that voice was coming from Miss Julia Griffin...i wanted to stand up and say, "That is my niece." I was so proud of her. She continued to stage where she finished her song and explained to the rabbit that he was real because he had truly loved another. She then waved her wand and the rabbit grew legs and feet and was real...all because of love. During Pastor Keith's sermon this past Sunday, I found myself thinking of her little song (which she wrote herself) and wondering if we really understand love the way Jesus lived it and taught it and expects us too. I wondered that about myself and have been in prayer since I left service Sunday. I heard Pastor Keith say that we need to smash our own self Kingdoms and care about others' lives during the week. This caused me to see things about myself that I was sad about. I started with thinking about how I love my family...so many times when I could be with my husband...I find myself on my cell phone or my computer. Many times even if sitting with him, i am a thousand miles away in my thoughts and not loving him at all. I thought about my girls and my new son. How many times have I wished and cried for "me time" and allowed the wonder of being a momma go far away from me. How many times have i had opportunity to serve my girls and griped from the inside out because my life was so boring and mundane. And then I thought of my church family...do I smash my little kingdoms each week and reach outside of myself to serve them?  Can I honestly say that I do that with joy and expectation of blessing? Do I hurt when they hurt and laugh when they laugh? Do I even know when they hurt? Are the only sorrows and tribulations and hardships that I know of connected to my little kingdom---my life, my family, my bills?? Do I rush at the opportunity to clean bathrooms for those who are in need or is there more important ministry for a person like me? Do I care if the shut-ins ever get visited or do I expect those lesser than me to do that duty? And then I thought of the world outside of that? How many times a week do I offer Jesus to a world that is dying or do I just think somebody else can deal with that mess? Do I look for hungry people with intent to help or accuse them or misspending food stamp money and consider them less than worthy of help? Do I care that single mommas are exhausted and tired and need help or do I just figure they made their bed and they can sleep in it? You can imagine that these questions have caused me some pain in myself. I am wrestling with them and wrestling with some of the answers. I have found that in many areas, I have no conviction. I can answer resounding yeses to them...in other areas, I am sadly, brokenly lacking. But Romans 8 offers me hope;; "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." He saved me and his grace changes me. This message has caused me to think about my love for others...it has caused me sorrow and pain but it has worked to sanctify me and to say to me that it IS love that makes me real. It is love that marks me as a Christian...it is love that says to the world I am a disciple of Jesus. It is love that moves outside of me and my little kingdoms and reaches to a sad, broken, lonely world around me. I am praying for God to change me and to create in me his heart for people...his heart for others...to MAKE ME REAL IN THE AREA OF LOVE TO OTHERS. Praise God for change that is driven by grace and love from a very real, very personal Savior. Dear Jesus, I yearn to be real.

Today while folding laundry...massive joy swept through me....no keep reading....I was not just folding any laundry...I was folding my husband's workshirts. He wears plain old white button down shirts and while folding them I was so thankful I could not stand it. I have been folding that man's laundry for 28 years...what happened today? Hindsight happened. For most of those 28 years, I have folded his clothes grumbling and fussing because I wash...I fold and most of the time I put away...I am an expert grumbler in the area of laundry....until recently. At 48 years old and looking on the other side of my marriage...wondering how many more precious years I will get to enjoy with my husband...God has changed my heart. I have served my husband over these last years because I "had to" and completely missed the joy of " I get to". I have become so aware of how short time is...it is a vapor...every opportunity to love on Cliff..to serve him...to.honor him...to respect him...is so precious to me. Hindsight has made me sad in many ways...i cannot retrieve my grumbly attitude...I cannot respect where I disrespected...BUT I can thank God for changing my heart and creating in me a wisdom for loving my husband differently in the next 60 years :))). And i can share with my precious younger sisters in Christ...married and unmarried what hindsight has taught me. All seasons are but a short time...every opportunity to love your husband...to enjoy and serve him...is precious. It goes fast sisters. I pray that you live in freedom to love your husbands at young ages in such a way that your hindsight is sweet. Praise God for no condemnation and changes from glory to glory...

I have a 12 year old daughter who seemingly became a woman (physically) overnight.  God has blessed her with amazing beauty (after all, she looks like a female version of me).  OK, so that was my sick attempt at humor!  But seriously, now that young womanhood is present in my home, "who is sufficient for these things"?

Apparently not me.

But, I am not alone.  I distinctly remember one of my favorite preachers, Dr. Voddie Baucham, sharing how his own daughter's sudden entrance into womanhood caught him offguard and forced him to begin changing things he'd never thought of before, like how to hug her now, how she could and could not sit in his lap, and a host of other issues.  Oh the joys and perils of parenthood!  What a sanctifying gift from God these precious children are to us.

Our struggles as parent of a now "tween" are not uncommon.  Several others in the church I serve are neck deep in this swamp, too!  So, I offer some lengthy thoughts that I hope will be used of God to guide us in this adventure.

• First, we need to realize we are parenting in be "tween" times - pun very intended.  In the decades of the early 20th century, rigid, legalistic parenting often aimed at outward behavior and rarely ministered to children's hearts.  Sex and attraction or desire for the opposite gender was not spoken of, and if mentioned, it was declared to be "evil" and "bad."  It was taboo.  Children and parents rarely discussed these things heart to heart.  The tragic result was a generation of "hiders."  Children and teens growing up in the 1920s-50s were going behind parents' backs doing all sorts of sexual mischief.  Don't believe me?  Ask an honest 80 year old.  Children were scared to death to even tell their parents they were attracted to someone.  Those feelings were off limits, forbidden, left undiscussed.  The only problem is that those attractions and desires were STILL PRESENT in the breasts of those kids, and tragically left to their own devices!
• The 1960s generation of young adults finally tired of playing the hiding game, and knee-jerked in the other direction.  Free love and rampant sex in any form you wanted.  This was my parents' generation.  They typically held the reins on their children far too loosely, if they held them at all.  Young men and women were permitted to spend time alone in darkened movie theaters and lots of other places.  Supervision was lacking.  Group dates often morphed into time alone in the car off a back alley.  And we are still reeling from the results of this "laissez-faire" parenting approach, aren't we?  STDs and sexual deviancy are becoming normal?

So, now we are seeing a new crop of Christian parents, of which I am one, hungry to return to bringing up our children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord (Eph 6:4).  God has given us men and women and ministries out the wazoo to help us do family God's way.  Praise God for His kindness and patience and mercy!  But, we must ever be vigiliant, dear friends, of the yo-yo affect.  If we had loose parents, we will typically be overly strict and lean towards legalism.  If we had legalistic parents, we will frequently gravitate to the loose end of the spectrum.  Neither are biblical or good.  Cursed human nature!

So, God is showing me time and again my need for balance.  God's way is perfectly balanced.  Here are some thoughts on parenting Tween the Times:

• Attraction or desire for opposite gender is not evil or sinful in and of itself.  God put those desires in us!  Young women are supposed to be attracted to young men by God's good design.  Trying to squelch the desire itself is not biblical.  Only the Holy Spirit can change the desires of our hearts.  And, why would God kill the desire in a woman for a man unless He was granting her the gift of singleness (1 Cor 7:32-35).  Again, opposite gender attraction is by Divine design!  Making a discussion of such attractions / feelings / desires off limits or unacceptable is not biblical parenting.  Biblical parenting always aims at the heart.  Read Proverbs and note all the references to the "heart."  We may achieve outward conformity in our children as it relates to their time spent around the opposite gender, but we do not have the power to kill sexual desire or even innocent attraction in them.
• For example, the desire for food is God-given and good.  We do not forbid our kids to discuss or feel attracted to food!  Why?  Because that desire was put in our child by God for their good and to ultimately bring Himself glory as they eat with thankful hearts to the Lord our Provider (1 Tim 4:3-5).  But, desire for food can morph into sin, right?  We call it gluttony.  So, what do we do as parents?  Cultivate the desire and aim it towards God and away from sin!  Likewise, sexual desire or attraction (opposite gender) is God-given and good, when we place it under the constraints of God and His Word (marriage being the only proper place of release for that desire).  Go ahead and try to convince your teen sex is bad and not to be desired at all.  I assure you that tactic will not change a thing going on in your teen's heart, and your teen already knows better, too!  So, we had better beg God for grace to help our children think highly enough of sex to aim their desires and attractions towards God and away from sin.  As Dr. Baucham said in a conference last year, "Our problem is that we do not think enough of sex."  Notice he did not say we do not think of sex enough!  His point is biblical and valid for us, believing parents.  We need to be asking God to help us imbue our teens with a godward view of sex in all of its exhiliration because it is designed by God in the covenant of marriage to make us long for the unspeakable thrill of one day seeing our Bridegroom face-to-face!  Ephesians 5:22-33 makes this point emphatically!
• So, our aim as Christian parents, then, is to help our tweens and teens understand their hearts (desires, attractions, thoughts) in gospel-centered ways.  We train them to examine their hearts and place all their desires before the scrutiny of God and His Word (Psalm 139).  We keep open dialogue with our children in all matters of their hearts, including sexual temptations and attractions.  How else will we train them to submit their hearts to Holy Spirit God if we do not invite and enocurage them to freely talk to us about what is happening in their hearts?  The Song of Solomon has the refrain, "Do not awaken or arouse love before its time."  It does not tell the unmarried maidens to squelch their attractions towards men, but rather not to put themselves in positions where that beast of lust or even romantic love is likely to consume them.  Nor does it condemn a desire for a man to marry.  The whole Book is actually one big celebration of romantic, sexual attraction and love done God's way!  Our job as parents is to help teach and train and supervise our children in how to not awaken (notice they're there, just sleeping) those desires in such a way that they fester into lust, which surely "gives birth to sin" (James 1:15).  We do this by teaching a robust doctrine of sanctification (Rom 6-8).  We do this by closely watching interactions with opposite gender - correcting, guiding, ever communicating, probing the heart, showing children how to discern strong, healthy spirituality in others, helping them plunge their thought life under the purity of the Spirit and the Word.  Simply put, this task cannot be done by cutting girls off from boys, but neither should it be done by haphazardly allowing "alone time" or even unsupervised mixed group interactions.  It's the challenge of BALANCE.
• Paul told young Pastor Timothy to treat and view the young women in his congregation "as sisters, in all purity."  Again, we note Paul expected the young man to pastor and relate to and interact with the young women.  He was not to avoid them.  Yet, he must relate to them purely as sisters.  Biological brothers and sisters play together.  They poke fun at one another.  They hug and show affection.  They may even sometimes pick on one another in semi-physical ways.  Nobody accuses those siblings of impurity!  I think we too often miss Paul's analogy here because we are scared to death of our children running off and doing things with boyfriends or girlfriends that we did in our loosely, under-supervised days.  But this analogy Paul employs is critical, isn't it?  How should young men and women relate in the Church?  As BROTHERS AND SISTERS IN PURITY.  So again, how are my daughters going to learn to do this biblically if nearly all of their time is spent only with same gender?
• As a parent with a biblical understanding of sin, the human heart (desires, thoughts) and the power of Christ, I must find the balance between squashing physical attraction and feeding it / leaving it unguarded so that it grows up into lust.  A teen man or woman displaying no physical desire or attraction for the oppostie gender would not seem to be biblically healthy, unless that person is being given the gift of singleness by God in order to devote his or her life to service.   I think we need to keep these things in perspective from time to time.  If my teen is not showing any interest in opposite gender, why is that?  We should be asking ourselves these questions, and guiding our teens to enter that discussion with us under the absolute authority of God's Word.

Those who know me and read this blog know that I am committed to doing the whole courtship "vetting" of a potential husband in a fairly radical way.  My wife and I have taught our girls to renounce cultural dating and they both seem joyful at knowing when the times comes (and it won't be anytime soon), we will be directly helping them get linked up with God's man for them.  We absolutely forbid our daughters to spend time alone with any boy, but we do not want to parent out of fear (doesn't come from God) and shelter them too harshly from mixed group relationships that our Sovereign God will use to further sanctify them and make them godly women.  I have written extensively on this previously, so no need to rehash here.  It just occurs to me that right now my daughter is in the Tween time.  A young woman beginning to experience the God-given interest in the male made in God's image just like her.  Yet, she knows that a boyfriend is not in her future, not anything remotely resembling dating or even courtship anytime soon.  This is a critical time for us as Mom and Dad to cultivate all that honors God in her and help her learn how to repent of and trash all that rises in her heart that threatens her love and devotion to her Forever Husband, Jesus.  This is a time for us to slowly widen some boundaries so she can learn how to view and relate to young Christian men as true brothers, even while keeping a hawk-eye on how we see her responding to these new found interests and desires (and the attention young men seem all too eager to give her).  We do not ask or expect that you agree with every single method we choose, but we do think we must ALL strive by God's grace to help one another down this path, under the authority of God's Word, for His glory alone, and the genuine good of our children.

Maybe you have this all figured out?  And no doubt many of you are excelling me in these matters.  I welcome your godly counsel and wisdom.  And I need your prayers.  God help me.  God help us. 

There once was a lady named Lori who loved her husband more than the water in the ocean. He is Captain America....The Hulk...and Faithful from Pilgrims Progess all rolled into one. He has steadfastly loved and protected his family with great joy. Lori has counted on his strength and faithfulness for 28 years....he has never failed her.....but tonight Captain America has become human. Cliff has an infection that is doing all it can to weaken his giant body and destroy his strength. I have found myself shaking on the inside this weekend and really really angry...how in my world could my rock...my strong....fully capable husband be this sick? I spent some time raging at God...then doing some bargaining....then feeling great despair and then finally acknowledging God's full authority to do what he wishes...when he wishes...to who he wishes...and by faith believing his plan is good and perfect. So...we have 72 hours to wait...we can choose to spend that 72 hours wondering or worrying...or We can choose to wait in worship....to wait in humble service to others....to wait in expectation of God's amazing plan. I am reminded of Matthew 6....do not worry about tomorrow....his grace is sufficient for today. So..We choose to wait in worship..in service and in expectation of God's perfect plan. So....Lori is enjoying an evening of peace with her husband...and looking forward to many more adventures with her very own Hulk.

As I write this, our nation is voting for its next President.  No doubt some of you reading this will be up late tonight to hear the results.  Others reading this are more like me . . . they will just go to bed like they have every night before.

It's not that I think elections don't matter.  They do!  And it's not that I think politics don't matter.  They do!  And, it's certainly not because I do not care who wins this particular election.  I do!

My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior . . . He has shown strength with His arm; He has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their own hearts; He has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate (Luke 1:46-47, 51-52).

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities.  For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God (Rom 13:1).

So that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Phil 2:10-11).

And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb.  And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.  By its light the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it" (Rev 21:22-24).

These are the reasons I am not sweating any bullets or fretting late tonight.  God will either give us the leaders we deserve, or He will give us mercy.  I am asking Him for mercy, but either way, I bless His Holy Name now and forever!

Isn't it nice to know how this whole thing will really end?  Sleep tight, dear followers of the Lamb.  The Prince of Peace is the King of Glory . . . and He is the Only One whose reign shall never end!

Poor Richard Mourdock, candidate for Senate here in my home state of Indiana.  Poor guy.  He actually had the audacity to assert that God is the sovereign giver of life.

In a debate, a question was asked about abortion in the case of rape.  Mourdock basically said that even in those cases, the life of that child was something God intended.  His opponents immediately began twisting his words to try and make it seem like Mourdock said God endorses rape.  (No surprises there, since nearly all politicians on both sides of the aisle are eager to twist their opponents' words for their own gain.)  Mourdock has since clarified, however, that he did indeed mean only that God is the sovereign giver of life.  Apparently Richard reads His Bible!

Job said of his own personal suffering and calamity, "The hand of the Lord has done this, in whose hand is the life of every living thing" (Job 12:9).

God told His Prophet named Jeremiah, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you" (Jer 1:5).

The Psalmist sang of God, "You formed my inward parts; You wove me together in my mother's womb . . . Your eyes have seen my unformed substance, and in Your book were all written the days that were ordained for me when as yet not one of them was" (Ps 139:13, 16).

James wrote that we should pray, "If the Lord wills, we will live" (Jms 4:15).

Jesus said not a single sparrow falls to the ground apart from the sovereign will and notice of God (Matt 10:29).

We could continue this exercise for a long, long time!  The Word of God is clear that God is indeed the One and Only Giver of Life.  No person has ever been conceived apart from the life-giving power of God.  There are no "accidental" babies or people.  This does not mean that God endorses every single circumstance surrounding every single human conception / birth.  But what it does mean is that God's gift of life is just that - a gift to be treasured regardless of the circumstances of conception (of which the baby is innocent, by the way).

Psalm 127 exclaims, "Children are a gift of the Lord!"  It does not say that some children are gifts from God, while others are not.  Nor does it say only children conceived under perfect and ideal circumstances are a gift from God.  Nor does it say only children who are conceived by parents who can "afford" to have them are a gift.  Nor does it say only children who are "wanted" by their birth parents are a gift.  Nor does it say only children who are perfectly healthy are gifts from God.  IT SAYS CHILDREN ARE A GIFT OF THE LORD.  PERIOD.

Now, this may not, indeed most likely will not get anyone elected to political office in our evil day and age.  But it has always been and shall always be the truth!  It does not matter whether Mitt Romney says he does not endorse this theology.  It does not matter if our President continues to cry out that women have a "right" to murder a baby simply because of the sin of the baby's parents.  God has spoken.  He is the Giver of Life.  Only He has sovereign rights over life.

His sovereignty repels sinners until out of that same kingly power God chooses to give those sinners new hearts.  Then, all of a sudden, nothing is sweeter to those sinners' ears than the sound of the Lion of Judah roaring and calling them to Himself by name!

"They will walk after the Lord.  He will roar like a lion; Indeed He will roar and His children will come trembling from the west" (Hosea 11:10).

"Even so, come quickly Lord Jesus" (Rev 22:20).

25 years ago today....the heavens shook....the wind swirled...and Amy Elizabeth Beard was born. She was awesome cute....fat cheeks...her cheeks were so fat they caused her eyes to squish all up. She was happy all the time...and she was the most mischievious child I had ever met. I am sure this is because I did not know her dad as a child. Amy was the middle of three girls...Ashley first...Amy...and then my Becca. We have lived more life since the entrance of our daughters than I can post in a blog...we have laughed our heads off at their antics..cried with them over hurts...and waited at bedsides for doctors reports. We have played...worked and worshipped together...we have crashed...burned and shared amazing victory together. Together has been our motto...if we had a family crest it would contain 4 Beard women grinning and 1 Beard man looking harrassed as he keeps watch..always together. But recently that has changed. My beautiful Amy will hear her first happy birthday this year in her own home from her new husband. She married in July...wonderful man who loves Jesus and is crazy bout my Amy...all good. Well I have just recently decided that I am going to survive this great betrayal of my sweet daughter...leaving her momma after years of devotion..my word...where would she get a notion like that. She has insisted on leaving and cleaving too..what in tarnation? But with a kick in the seat from my precious Savior and some very pointed looks from my husband...I have graciously allowed my new son to live...and to love my daughter with minimal interference from me....whew...survived that...checking my armor...all in place...still believing...still receiving from Jesus... What a great giver of daughters I am...moving on...then just recently here comes my Becca....Becca is our baby...not yet 21...she is amazing...stubborn...fiercely loyal (in fact she is fierce period) ...a sold out radical Jesus freak....and she is fairly certain that her daddy wears a super hero costume under his clothes. So...here she comes to me...her devoted momma of 20 years and she is talking about the possibility of overseas missions. We spoke with a missionary tonight and her dad about her experience. As I hung the phone up...I heard my head screaming in eight different directions...joy...pride...sorrow...grief...fear...how to process it all...so I called her daddy...he can fix it...after all he's been fixing her broken stuff for years...I waited for him to say she is not going ...it is not safe...she is not ready...what he said was..."momma...we have to trust God...he will get her through and us too."  What good advice...very Biblical...ARE YOU KIDDING ME CLIFF....THIS IS MY DAUGHTER AND I WILL NOT GIVE HER UP!  Well, I have been reminded again tonight that they are not mine....Amy has followed God's path...it led her from us...Becca is praying about a direction that will lead her from us.