Utterly Off Topic Wednesday - I Got Slapped In the Face!

Today's special guest blogger is Joe Holman. Joe is a homeschool dad who left a successful pastorate in Virginia, and with his wife, Denise, and their 11 children, followed the Lord's leading to the mission field in Cochabamba, Bolivia. He is a conference speaker and teacher of national pastors and leaders in Bolivia and throughout South America. He is a regular contributor to the Sandy Cove Home School Conference Newsletter, which is where I obtained this article. Make a mental note that Joe and Denise will be speaking at this summer's home school conference. Visit the Sandy Cove website for more information.

I Got Slapped In The Face!

I really did. Only, the dumb part of it is that I slapped myself. Here in Bolivia, bugs are a normal part of life. At any given time, our kids will have about 20 scabs on their bodies from insect bites. Mosquitoes, fleas, and native blood sucking body biting insects are so numerous that I want to claim them as dependents and write them off of my income tax.

Well, I was driving down the road, and a huge fly…the Goliath of Flies…was taunting me and challenging me to a battle. It kept buzzing my face and then landing in striking distance, only to prove that it was much faster than I as it took off milliseconds before I hit it. I could hear it making fun of me in buzzanol (the official language of bugs). It buzzed around my face, and then landed on my nose at a red light. Without thinking I slapped that bug. I mean SLAPPED that bug. I hit it full force with the palm of my hand, or tried to hit it. It flew away and I literally punched myself in the nose! My eyes were watering and my entire forehead and nose were red. My nose wasn’t bleeding, but it was sure hurting.

I started laughing with the bug (I could understand it’s buzzanol and knew it was laughing). How silly. Yet here is what happened. The irritant was greater than my thinking processes. I allowed something as trivial as a bug flying in my truck to refocus my priorities and make me do something that I ended up regretting. As I looked objectively at the situation… I only had to wait seven days at the max and the little bugger would be dead (lifespan of a fly). However, I let this little buzzing noise totally grab my attention and cause me to do something that wasn’t wise and that I regretted…and it did not solve the problem.

How often do we do that in life? God allows irritants in our lives to show us areas where we need to submit to Christ. He uses these so that by our reactions, by our thoughts, by our desires towards them we can see the fruit of our own hearts. The irritant (many times it has the name of one of our children—just being honest here) is a teaching tool that God can use to make me more like Christ. Then in wisdom and with the heart of God, I can respond to the irritant in a way that solves the problem and brings honor to Jesus Christ.

But what do we do? We look at the irritant and it irritates us (go figure). One of the things that I have discovered is that sinners respond sinfully to sin. We also many times respond sinfully—or at best unwisely, to problems that frustrate our desires. So we slap at them. We strike them. We focus on them. We want nothing more than to be rid of them. And we end up….slapping ourselves. We slap ourselves by the way we speak to our loved ones. We slap ourselves by the way we treat those around us. We slap ourselves by the thoughts we think. And we punch ourselves by the way that we ignore the working of God in our lives.

My kids have a game that they play with the little ones. They take their hand and make them slap themselves (very gently) and say, “Stop slapping yourself, stop slapping yourself”.

My lesson from the fly? “Stop slapping yourself”.

With A Hurting Nose,
Joe

En Jesucristo,
Que la gracia del Señor Jesucristo, el amor de Dios y la comunión del Espíritu Santo sean con todos ustedes. (2 Cor. 13;14)

Sandy Cove Homeschoolers Winter Recharge January 2-4, 2009

I don't even know what I can say about Sandy Cove. The facility is beautiful, the staff is efficient and friendly, the peace of God envelops you from the moment you drive onto the property. I have spent many, many happy hours by the Cheapeake Bay in North East, MD, over the last ten years - most of them at the Sandy Cove Homeschool Conference that marks the first week of their Summer Together programs.

Sandy Cove is not as "unplugged" as it was when we first started going there, but there are still no televisions in the rooms (there is a TV room on the first floor). There is a Business Center with five or six computers where you can access the internet, and there is also wireless internet access in the lobby and outside the main dining area and welcome center. There are all kinds of great recreational activities in the summer, and beautiful indoor and outdoor pools. There are plenty of things to do, or NOT do. You are also free to rest and do nothing at all but have fun with your family. It has been a fabulous place to set aside everything and get alone with God and get recharged after a long homeschooling year.

What we appreciate the most are the warm relationships we have developed over the last decade. Going there now is more like a family reunion than a conference. The worship is incredible, as families of every theological and denominational stripe set aside their differences and come together because we love Jesus Christ and our families and are committed to homeschooling. It has too often been the only vacation we took during the year, and it has been a highlight of our summer.

So we were really excited to hear that they Sandy Cove was offering a mini-conference right after New Year's - January 2 -4, 2009 - The Sandy Cove Homeschoolers Winter Recharge. If you are on the East Coast and could use a time of refreshment and renewal before starting up your homeschool in January, there will be workshops and age-integrated, family focused activities.

Sandy Cove's all-inclusive package includes 2 nights lodging, 5 meals (Friday dinner through Sunday breakfast), all activities, fun and sessions.

$145 per person with a maximum family rate of $580. Family Max Rate: If you have over four family members in your room or on your site, they are free. And kids ages 0-3 are free. But don't let finances keep you away. Sandy Cove has a number of scholarships in place and will fund you up to 50% depending on your need and the available donations.

Now is the time to plan ahead - the Homeschool Conference maxed out the facility this summer. There were rooms available, but the children's programs, main auditorium and dining room were bursting at the seams because of our 600+ kids, so they closed enrollment and went to a waiting list. It isn't likely that will happen this time because of the time of year, but you still should check it out now so you won't be disappointed.

A little Homeschool Humor

Seen at the home school conference at Sandy Cove this year. Our Speaker was Todd Wilson of Familyman Ministries and the author of "Help! I'm married to a Homeschooling Mom!" and several books of cartoons that had me wetting my pants.

This is a lot funnier when you are a homeschooler, and you have experienced the pressure not only from the skeptics outside the homeschool community but from the people inside our wonderful community I once heard Mike Farris describe as "homier-than-thou."

You know the ones. Their seven children all have matching perfectly sewn clothes, they make their own bread and they don't own a TV. They may even buy 50 lb. bags of wheat berries from a wholefoods coop and grind their own grain. If they have girls, they are wearing matching jumpers and their hair is perfectly combed.

Compared to these people, my life is more like Everybody Loves Raymond...

Hmm. I have to be careful which show I pick. If I say, "The Simpsons", everyone will think my kids are wild and undisciplined and my husband is a doofus. They might even think I actually WATCH "The Simpsons."

And I certainly can't let anyone know I let my son watch **BLIPPED OUT** (Sorry, I was going to write the name and then changed my mind - the stakes are too high). For that matter, maybe I shouldn't mention any show. Someone might be offended that I watch TV at all.

Then there are those on the Other Side. You know, the ones who think the public schools are too conservative. The Homeschoolers for Obama. (What planet are they on, again?) They will think it is ridiculous that I care whether someone is offended. Oh, wait. Maybe they were offended because they thought I said Obama is on another planet...or maybe...