The Real Problem is Mental Health Resources

Posted: 20 Dec 2012 07:49 AM PST

Thinking the Unthinkable

This is a post by a mother who has a son like Adam Lanza.

In the wake of another horrific national tragedy, it’s easy to talk about guns. But it’s time to talk about mental illness.

Three days before 20 year-old Adam Lanza killed his mother, then opened fire on a classroom full of Connecticut kindergartners, my 13-year old son Michael (name changed) missed his…

The Heart Part 2a

“I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts (Jer.31:33).”

We can’t separate the mind from the heart and the spirit. We have to see them working together. Each has a function. One leads the way to the other. The mind gathers the ideas, the heart processes them and the spirit puts them to work. The mind is a reaper that pulls in thoughts and concepts then reasons them to see which are most believable. The heart sifts them based on their…

“If your heart is not in it it’s not going to work.” That’s not only a fact. It’s the plain truth. That’s the ‘heart’ of the matter, the way things are when it comes being human. We are what our heart allows us to be. We can rely on any number of belief systems, have tremendous reasoning ability and justify any action but when you are walking through ‘the valley of decision’ it is the heart that makes the difference.

If we look at the common uses of the word ‘heart’ we can see, even…

Now we begin a three part expansion on the image of God that each of us is, mind, heart and spirit.  Part 1 will deal with the mind, Part 2 with the heart and Part 3 with the spirit. 

But first It must be stated that the image of God in us is tarnished.  Sin has gripped the human race and its mental, physical and spiritual processes so that we are born separated from God.  Everything has to be learned brand new by each person born into this world.  No one inherits maturity,…

When I watched the last Olympic gymnastics competition the event that had me most on edge was the balance beam. Consider how one slight slip can result not just in lower point scores but in actual injury. It’s the kind of an event that makes you cringe with half closed eyes hoping against hope that nothing bad will happen. But think of the balance that is demanded flip after flip and spin after spin.

Now take that picture and compare it to our being an image of God living on an unseen…

What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you wake up in the morning? For each of us it is going to be different. The fact that we have a mind is common to us all. It is what we do with it that makes the difference and what makes us unique individuals. It is the mind that processes experience and it is in the mind that we choose what we want to think about.

The question for each of us is “What instigates our thoughts?” If we really evaluate how we think we will find that…

One of the obstacles to being a first responder is self-denial. That is we use the technique of denial as a way to escape or justify our thoughts, our emotions and our actions. What are the things we try and keep in the dark, the things we fear will be known about us, the way we really think and feel, about ourselves, about others and life in general? What are our real inner struggles, wishes, dreams and fantasies? What about our doubts, insecurities and failures?

Then that kind of…

Being a disciple of Jesus is being a first responder. How you became a disciple was a first response to the Spirit of God knocking on the door of your heart as you were weighing Jesus and His claims. Your first response was opening that door. With each person the way we open is different but it was a first as it is with everyone who says yes to Him. With each succeeding moment your view of the world was a completely new challenge where every next moment demanded a first…

An explosion rips through a building. There is screaming as hundreds head for exits and flee in all directions while at the same time scores of uniformed police and firemen run into the midst of the chaos. These are the first responders. However there were some who stayed to pull the injured from the wreckage before help arrived. They were more concerned with the people they saw hurting and needing immediate care. If we would, just for a moment, shift this scene into the spiritual dimension…

Jesus was the ‘First Responder’ when it came to bringing reality to man’s unreality. So we want to investigate just what it means for us to be ‘first responders’ like Him. First we need to realize He has given us the equipment to be first responders. When we decided to let Him be the One who runs our life He bonded us to Him by His Holy Spirit. Second, we need to realize that He is always present in our hearts. In spite of our sin He is constantly working through His Spirit to keep Him as…

What it Really Means to be a Disciple

John Stott wrote this prophetic insight 17 years ago:

“As we face the end of the second millennium since Christ, the hearts of most people around us are failing them for fear. It is not the lack of natural resources which is the chief problem, however, but the lack of spiritual and moral resources. Thinking people know that the problems facing us---bewildering in their number, magnitude and complexity -- are beyond us. Only a return to the…

“The process of being human in every dimension is invisible. All of this invisibility is spiritual in that it has a moral base from which no one is exempt. Morality is a spiritual structure motivating behavior. Even atheism and agnosticism are belief systems thus making them ‘religious’ by definition and spiritual in nature. They have a form of morality and a strategy to engage their ideas. They believe in not believing or concluding they believe in not knowing. It’s bad to believe and good…

“For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ (1Cor.3:11).)

I still maintain that the real issues in any culture are spiritual which means they can’t be dealt with politically and for the most part are treated superficially by the populace. Yet it is the spirituality of a people that determines their attitudes, their choices and their behavior. And it is spiritual issues that determine how any group of people chooses their leadership, their…

“Blessed is the Nation Whose God is the Lord (Ps.33:12).”

“…the people He chose for His inheritance.”

For the last several postings I have railed at what I believe to be the pre-downfall condition of our society, the collapse of what we know as America. It is not the concept of America. Rather it is the condition of the hearts of the people that dwell within its geography. Their hearts have been seduced by the promise of momentary satisfaction, instant gratification and a new…

Secularism is the hometown of sin. Secularity denies spirituality thus morality is left alone to individuality and emotionality becomes our functionality. Denial is the daily enterprise of fear and pride, the handmaidens of sin. Without a reasoned spiritual base for moral decision making, anarchy and its chaos are the final result. It’s not enough to say that people are good at heart. Heart is where the problem of sin lies. The human mind and heart have denied sin as the perpetrator of our…

Three things stand about this election. First, it revealed a clear distinction between personal faith and institutional religion. Many people believe that just because they are members of some denomination, they are ‘religiously covered.’ What they vote for has little to do with what they say they believe. An interesting report on one of the news stations indicated a majority of Roman Catholics voted politically opposite the beliefs of the leadership of their Church.

Second,…

When it’s a really cold day out and you’ve been skiing hard there is nothing like coming home to a hot bowl of beef stew. The choice cuts of meat, the mix of carrots, celery, onions in a thick tasty gravy buffered with garlic salt and pepper, the aroma filling the kitchen---that’s a memorable moment of satisfaction.

Now shift your historical gaze several thousand years ago to a similar scene,

“Once when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open country, famished.…

It’s God’s Timing, Not Ours

Look at the spiritual context not the world context. It’s what we are praying for in the long haul that counts. The spiritual context is much larger than our personal life on this planet. We are not limited by our political or social context. It’s about the ongoing moral and spiritual war that is being waged on a battlefield you can’t see except with spiritual eyes.

In a recent survey (the name and source eludes my memory) it was reported that if you…

Principles 8

Our Prayers Are Working

Look at the spiritual context not the world context. It’s what we are praying for in the long haul that counts. The spiritual context is much larger than our personal life on this planet. We are not limited by our political or social context. It’s about the ongoing moral and spiritual war that is being waged on a battlefield you can’t see except with spiritual eyes.

In a recent survey (the name and source eludes my memory) it was…

Principles 7

It’s ‘Now’ or Never

In the movie “Gone With the Wind” besides Rhett Butler’s “Frankly my dear,…” line, the most quoted is Scarlett O’Hara’s, “I’ll think about that tomorrow” which defined her role as the queen of obstinate procrastination. For her ‘now’ was the practice of believing she could take charge and control her destiny regardless of circumstance and, with a good night’s sleep, she would have the answer later. In the course of the movie she inherited what…