Friday Tidings

Arguably, it was one of my most embarrassing moments in all of my seventeen years. Thankfully, I was 3000 miles from home and my dad would keep it secret. The whole trip to Florida was his idea. We’d be traveling up and down the coast, but the ultimate treat was ending up at Disney World! Our day at the Magic Kingdom started early. After we parked our rental car, I was so excited that I ran ahead of my dad. He was laughing at my exuberance and waved me on. I was barely inside the huge gates, when two uniformed guards came up on either side of me. The female guard asked if I’d come alone. No, I explained my father was coming just behind me. The guards waited for him to walk up to us. The problem was my cut-off shorts. The shorts themselves weren’t too short, but the 2” cuts on the sides exposed too much of my legs. The male guard, who looked as old as my grandpa, said that at my age I needed to set an example. Did I realize how often younger g...

Parenting today must be daunting. Children have computers for toys. They’re accustomed to spectacular motion picture graphics; dozens of entertainment options, and many have after-school programs keeping them busy until their parents pick them up after work. I’m not sure I’d do so well as a modern mom. Today’s parents must monitor online time, downtime, school time, and save precious hours for family time. With more kids having their own phones, email, and social media accounts, parents can literally lose their child in a virtual world. Hormonally driven puberty pressures assail kids, but now there are over two-dozen STDs instead of just two or three. Add in racy TV shows, sexy ads, computer porn, sexual predators, and the slippery slope of peer pressure and it can be overwhelming. Addictions to video games, drugs, and porn—begin younger then ever. By the teen years, parenting has been ratcheted up to intimidating levels. Wrong turns can be devastating...

While the two vitriolic sides in the immigration debate continue to battle over amnesty and sealing the porous Mexican border, there is a third side that DC politicians should check out. They’ll need to visit rural Walla Walla County in the “other” Washington.  With over 6000 acres of fruit orchards, farmer Ralph Broetje has a WWJD (What Would Jesus Do) immigration mindset—he knows that when Christian faith and business are combined on a single mission, God shows up. In the 1980’s when Latino workers came looking for work at his orchard, Ralph Broetje didn’t just hire them; he got to know them.  When the season was over, he and his family followed them back to Mexico to find out where they lived and what challenges they faced.  That trip changed the lives of the Broetje family and in the thirty years since, it has changed the lives of hundreds of Latino farm workers—as well as thousands of impoverished lives in other cou...

As we put away the fireworks and fold the flags, let’s continue to honor the sacrifice of those who fought for our freedom while cherishing those who are preserving our freedom. And most importantly, may we remember to honor God, who bestowed our freedom from our very beginning. We probably all agree that our nation faces enormous financial, political, and spiritual  challenges. But when war, disaster, or  desperation strikes,  Americans rise.  Remember America the Beautiful ?  The final two verses still resonate as deeply today as they did in 1913. O beautiful for heroes proved  In liberating strife,
 Who more than self their country loved, 
 And mercy more than life. America! America! May God thy gold refine
 Till all success be nobleness,
 And ev'ry gain divine! O Beautiful for patriot dream
 That sees beyond the years
 Thine alabaster cities gleam,
 Undimmed ...