Thank you for your kind words! I hadn't realized until talking with our pastor that I had been missing out on some incredible blessings. I think we sometimes fear that giving in to our senses might make us gluttonous or unappreciative. But if we focus on why we love what enters our senses, we can keep our focus on God.

Yes, yes, yes. I commented on this on Facebook yesterday as well. What a couple of friends said was that the problem isn't that prayer is "banned" but that teachers can't or won't teach morality. Yet one of my adolescent friends said (and my 9-year-old, who goes to school in the same town, confirmed) that students are taught the Golden Rule from day one. My son said that the school motto at his building is for students to be "respectful, caring, life-long learners." What these other parents wanted, as it turned out, was for teachers to tell students that they shouldn't watch inappropriate movies/television and shouldn't play inappropriate games. They want teachers to raise the students, not teach them. These friends also tried to say that this country used to be "God-centered." When were we ever that? When we butchered the natives, hung people for witchcraft, enslaved Africans, marginalized immigrants, and put Japanese Americans in internment camps? Those things all happened during supposedly "godly" times in this country, but I fail to see godliness in those actions. My husband is also a teacher, and I can confirm that he does, indeed, pray during the school day. He has also *gasp* talked to students about God when they have asked him direct questions. He has yet to be fired for either of those things.

You just proved my point, as well as the point that the commenter above you made. I'm sure you honestly believe you've seen "too many" low-income people with gadgets. Good thing you know them all personally and can ask them how they were acquired and what they plan to do with them, as well as where their money came from. After all, if they're poor, they are obviously receiving benefits and not working, right? And if they're poor, they obviously also don't deserve gadgets, no matter how they got them, right? It's refreshing to see that there are still people in this world who know best how to gauge whether or not someone "deserves" help. Good thing we have you to point out who should be helped and who shouldn't.

Daisy, I look forward to hearing more from you! I really like the title of that chapter. Sometimes, churches can be an awful lot like the Bermuda Triangle! I will be sure to check out your web site. I don't find anything you've said to be presumptuous. I want to encourage you by saying that I think it's brave and bold (in a good way) to make those connections and requests! We're told so often that "good" Christian women don't promote themselves. Well, you know what? It's not sinful to say, "I did something I'd like to share with the world." Good for you! :)

Thanks for your kind words! We made a list of churches we wanted to visit. The first Sunday we set aside, our son asked for a particular church, so that's where we went. We haven't visited any others yet. We want to give it some time, see what happens. So far, we do like this church, even though it's very different from any other that we've attended.