Revealing the Artificial Standard

Our culture puts a great deal pressure on the external appearance as revealed through the media (magazines, websites, etc.). As a result there is a great deal of comparison taking place by young ladies as to what they ought to look like, and young men who often get caught up in comparisons. We need to understand that there is a tremendous amount of image "enhancement" which is being done. An artificial standard has been created which is impossible to achieve.

It is for us to be reminded that what we see is most often not the real thing. We used to hear that "pictures don't lie." Now they can. This is also a good opportunity to have a discussion with your daughter or son about artificial standards. The Scripture is right when it says that "charm is deceitful and beauty is vain" (Proverbs 31:30) but the quality of character which comes from a growing walk with Christ, is something that doesn't fade, but in fact, can become even more attractive as we mature in years.

HERE is a link to be able to click on "Before" and "After" to see the immediate affects of photo retouching.

HERE is a link to a youtube video which includes a professional photographer revealing that it is almost unheard of to release a photo that has not been retouched.

Pastor Tom Nelson tells his story of Clinical Depression

Pastor Tom Nelson tells his story of experiencing clinical depression. He talks about what got him there, what he had to do to begin healing, and steps to take to keep from getting into clinical depression. This is a very insightful and helpful story.

You can watch the video (here) or download the mp3 (here).

If you have been through clinical depression, and would be willing to talk to someone going through it, please contact me. If you think that you are going through clinical depression and want to talk to someone who has been in that "black hole" (as Tom Nelson calls it) and gotten out, I will try to link you up.

Choose Life!

In our recent financial struggles as a nation, it is often easy to forget that there are other battles being fought, even more important than the financial issues that we face. One of these is the dignity of life and that each life is valuable because he or she was created in the image of God and only God has the prerogative to determine life's extent. This is another issue that needs to be discussed in the home to understand the Biblical perspective on life. The illustration below comes from a Christian Doctor and what he experienced recently in his work.

Exhibit 2: It is late, nearly 9 P.M., seeing a final consult at the end of a punishing call day, in the ICU. The patient, chronologically young yet physiologically Methuselan, lies in his bed, oxygen mask affixed to his face by heavy straps, bleeding, as he has for months, from a tumor in his kidney. He would not survive surgery, nor even radiological intervention to stem the hemorrhage by strangling its arterial lifeline. He is, furthermore, in the parlance of modern medicine, “non-compliant”: refusing treatments and diagnostic studies; rude and abusive to nurses and physicians alike; demanding to go home though unlikely to survive there for any significant length of time.

The nurse — young, competent, smart, hard-working, the very best of the modern nursing profession — apprises me of his situation, closing with this knockout punch: “You know, we just passed that initiative — you know, the suicide one. He’d be an excellent candidate.”

She wasn’t joking.

Taken a bit off guard, I responded that it is most unwise to give physicians the power to kill you, for we will become very good at it, and impossible to stop once we are.

You can read the rest of the article by going here and moving down to "Exhibit 2".

PS - here is an interesting read referred to by the doctor mentioned above, and in great contrast, thanks for the nurses here at Valley Grace who seek to make a difference in patient's lives. This is also a reminder that all of us are "casting a shadow" (I think that might preach!) on people with whom we come into contact each day. Thanks for being the shadow of Christ!