paulmoreland.com

Archive for the ‘Family’ Category

Fathering, intransitive verb : to care for or look after someone as a father might.  It is, after all, a simple word, but not so simple to define.  To some, the word “fathering” is merely the act of inseminating a woman, as in “he fathered her child and then left for greener pastures.”  But to beget a child, to my way of thinking, is not truly fathering the child.  Any male can beget offspring, a true man fathers a child.  When I use the term I mean that a true man invests in the long term life of the child by providing for the child’s needs.  Not just providing “three squares and a roof” but rather providing a framework within which the child can grow and mature and gain their independence in a healthy way. Read the rest of this entry »

There is no way I can write a comprehensive overview on the individual ideas concerning love that each and every person on the face of the earth would say “Yep, that’s exactly the way I see it.” However, I shall endeavor to point you towards a few thoughts that are worthy of consideration as we grapple with the differences between the ways in which the sexes view that elusive concept we call “love”.

I recall all the hype over “unisex” back when I was a child and a youth.  In fact, here in Colombia some hair dressers still include “unisex” in their advertisements.  But the concept of both sexes being identical has always rung hollow to me.  As one of five children, three guys and two girls, growing up even someone as dense as my self could see that the guys and the girls had different outlooks on life that were greater than the different outlooks amongst members of the same sex.  When my observations were made amongst my cousins and friends the same matter came to light – guys and girls thing differently. Read the rest of this entry »

Here is an excerpt from some recent correspondence between a friend of mine and myself.

Can you explain to me how a spouse can “just stop loving” their spouse. I am mad and it is not me that is dealing with this. It reminds me of my mom telling me she didn’t love dad anymore. My response was “to bad”. Now that I think of it, not the best response. But I really don’t understand how you just stop loving someone, a spouse isn’t just someone though.

My initial response is as follows: Read the rest of this entry »

When someone falls, you can kick them while they’re down or you can give them a hand to get back on their feet. Some folks will try to drag you down to their level, some will ignore your offered assistance, others will let you help them back up. You won’t know who’s who until you try.

In the middle of all the commercialism, it’s easy to overlook the babe in the manger – not to mention the fact that this babe came to be the Lamb on the Cross, the Redeemer risen from the grave, the Councilor in your life and the King returning in the clouds.

Jesus – the reason for the season.

Baking ANYTHING is very low on the typical Colombian list of home made culinary activities.  Yes, there are a huge number of bakeries, 99.99% of which specialize in what I call “SENA bread” – they all use the same recipes that their baker learned at SENA.  A “pan de leche” or “chicharón” or “roscón” is about the same no matter WHERE you buy it.

Here in Pereira recently there has been a huge outbreak in the number of bakeries – they all look about the same and they all were built in the past few months.  I suspect that one of these days we’ll see a number of them sealed by the government due to money laundering charges.  Either that or the population will explode – in size, not numbers.

Getting back to typical Colombian home cooking.  It’s mostly stove top based.  Read the rest of this entry »

The following is in response to an inquiry from a friend who was wondering about long distance relationships.  A lot of it has to do with relationships in general.  So, for what it’s worth, here it is.

First, for a relationship to be a long term success it has to have a firm foundation. Just like building a house. No good foundation – it’s gonna fall. This means that we need to think outside our current societal “box” so to speak. Our culture over the past decades has emphasized some of the worst foundations for long term relationships possible. Some of them are as follows. Read the rest of this entry »

Recently a friend posted on Facebook the following question: If a man cannot stay sexually pure while he is single, why would God trust him with someone the Lord really loved? This question generated quite a bit of discussion and a few responses of my own.  What follows are the responses I made to the initial question but edited and expanded for the purpose of my blog.  I don’t include that written by others, other than the original question.

Knowing my friend and his desire to honor God I knew that the original question is a rhetorical one.  So in my first response I summed it up as follows:  In other words, if you want a special someone for a wife (or husband) – be a special someone. God takes sexual purity seriously, so should we.

What follows are the rest of my contribution to this thread as well as further amplification and clarification of the theme. Read the rest of this entry »

Yesterday I found an article linked from a friend’s Facebook status.  It was entitled “Where Are All The Men?” I found the subject matter interesting and “clicked through”. It starts out talking about a Facebook page called “Praying People” and the fact that about 81% of the “fans” of that page are female.  From there the author goes on to remark on the disparate numbers of women vs men in the church.  This is a phenomenon I’ve noticed in churches, although not in the ones where we minister.  Back about 1997 I took part in a city wide gathering of church leaders. When the deacons were asked to stand there were three men standing amoungst the  crowd of women.  Those three were men from our congregation, the rest of the city’s deacons (at that particular meeting) were all women. Read the rest of this entry »

Boys live only for themselves; men fully enjoy life’s pleasure but also live for a higher purpose. Boys try to find themselves in what they buy; men find themselves in what they do. Boys base their identity on what they consume; men base their identity on what they create. Growing up doesn’t have to mean donning a gray flannel suit. It really means taking an active role in the world instead of a passive one. Making an impact. And creating your world instead of consuming it.–Brett McKay

Wow! I just got that from a friend on Facebook.  Good stuff there, and a lot to reflect on.  Really, there is a LOT of difference between men and boys – and little has to do with age.  Read the rest of this entry »