Posted by Patrick Corkum on March 31, 2010
I cannot, by any means, do justice to the topic of orphan care in the church in this post. I just want to ask people a couple simple questions:
1) Is it the church’s responsibility to take care of orphans?
2) If yes, who in the church? If no, who should be caring for the 143,000,000 orphans?
3) Is the group that should be taking care of orphans doing a good job with it?
I had the pleasure of checking out the following post: http://danyacoviello.blogspot.com/2010/03/10-ways-to-orphan-orphan-care-in-church.html
Also, check out our website: www.graftedfamilies.com. We have a lot of work to put into it, but it is there.
Posted by Patrick Corkum on March 29, 2010
No school for me this week. So, I decided to take the day off 
and celebrate! I went fishing! Okay, I just really wanted to go fishing since opening day was Saturday and I didn’t get to go over the weekend. Fortunately, PJ had the day off of school today because it is the end of the marking period and he got to come with me. We had a great time! Unfortunately, we didn’t catch any trout 
, but we did catch a whole bunch of catfish. I was amazed at the number of people that were out there fishing today. I know Saturday was opening day and all, but I ran into a lot of people out there today. We went to a small pond first (to make sure we caught something) where they stocked trout last week. When we got there, it was packed! There were about 10 other people fishing in this small pond (smaller than some farm ponds) on a wet day during the middle of the week. I was really hoping to get out with some peace and quiet, but alas, nope! After we left the pond, we went to a river to check it out, but it was rather muddy and not so great. We had a couple bites, but didn’t stay long. While we were fishing in this pool down at the river which is maybe 20 feet wide, a guy decides it would be a great idea to park himself on the other side and fish the same spot. I was a bit annoyed, but made conversation with him (maybe it would drive him away). Instead, he tells me that he was there on Saturday fishing and people were shoulder to shoulder and he was annoyed that people brought their kids (since dads shouldn’t bring their kids on opening day because it is a day for adults to fish), but he bit his tongue. For those of you who aren’t fisherman, that is called irony. For those of you that are, let your blood pressure drop, it’s okay.
Posted by Patrick Corkum on March 27, 2010
In American society, we are bent on being entertained. It seems as if though we won’t do anything if it is not entertaining to us or in some way leads us to entertainment. It seems to be so much the case, that it has found its way into mainstream Christianity as the norm. I am not saying that there is not a place for it, but it seems to have proliferated to all aspects of the church. The church uses entertainment for all kinds of purposes. People don’t seem to want to go to church unless the “entertainment” factor is good. It is almost as if the measure of a church is how good the band is or how well the pastor preaches. In most Protestant churches, kids get seperated from their parents because the entertainment isn’t geared to them in the “main” service, so they are shuffled off to Sunday School. I dare someone to point to a Middle School or High School ministry that doesn’t have entertainment as a primary focus of reaching and keeping kids coming. This seems also to be one of the primary methods of evangelism <a big word for telling non-believers the Good News (gospel)>.
So, here’s my question. <drum roll please>. Are we okay with this? Is this the what Christianity is about? Is it about God entertaining us? Or, rather, is it about the holiness and awesomeness of God? Are we focusing on the right thing (i.e. what we get out of it)? What do you think?
Posted by Patrick Corkum on March 26, 2010
Something that has struck me lately about this country and its culture are the two words liberty and independence. These are two words that have little to do with this culture and country. Let us start with the word liberty. Next week I’ll talk about independence.
Liberty
Our Pledge of Allegiance has the phrase “liberty and justice for all”. Do we truly have liberty? The answer is not a simple one, because it is both yes and no. I am not going to go off on the rant about the liberty to worship as I want (all though I could). Rather, I am more interested in how we do not have the liberty to do certain things that seem a little ridiculous. For instance, I do not have the liberty of putting a shed in my yard, even though it is quite big enough. I could go on and on about the things that I should be allowed to do if I so choose, yet someone (government or other ruling authority) says that I cannot. Unfortunately, people cannot self govern themselves, so we need laws in order to protect people from others.However, that’s where it should stop. Government should not be in the business of protecting us from ourselves. In addition, there needs to be very good cause for laws protecting us from each other. Stupid things like not allowing me to have a shed because people might see it is crossing the line.
What do you think?
Posted by Patrick Corkum on March 25, 2010
Okay, so this may seem like a stretch at first. I mean after all, how could Jack Bauer (you know… from the Fox hit show 24) be anything like Moses. Well, during my class last night (The Pentateuch), I had this thought about how similar they really are. Hear me out:
- Jack: In good with the top-dog (the President)
- Moses: In good with the top-dog (God)
- Jack: Constantly saving the people (the Americans)
- Moses: Constantly saving the people (the Israelites)
- Jack: Does something deserving punishment and receives mercy (you know… like torturing people and going rogue)
- Moses: Does something deserving punishment and receives mercy (goes to get water from a rock, hitting it twice)
- Jack: Bears the burdens of the people to his own peril willingly (you know… always willing to accept the consequences)
- Moses: Bears the burdens of the people to his own peril willingly (remember how he tells God that he might as well not be with him if he is not with the people?)
Okay… am I really that crazy? Jack Bauer is really just like Moses!
Posted by Patrick Corkum on March 24, 2010
PJ was 3 at the time. He was so scared to let me cut his hair. Now, I had been cutting my own hair with electric clippers for many years by then (saving hundreds of dollars). It’s a pretty easy haircut, I cut everything the same length and just buzz most of it off. It’s not like you can mess it up and if something went wrong, I would just shave it all off. So, in an effort to rid my son of the fear of getting his hair cut, I made a proposition to him: you cut my hair with the clippers and then I will cut yours. See, I figured if he did this, he would realize that it is not dangerous and that he would come out unscathed, especially if I came out unscathed. So, this is what what did, I got rid of my shirt (hair can be hard to get out of clothes), I sat on a midget sized chair and let my 3 year old cut my hair. It worked too, when he was done, he sat down and I cut his hair. Now, did he do a great job? NO! He missed most of the hair and it was as messed up as it could be. But almost every time either of us have gotten a haircut over the past 4 years, the other one has cut it. He considers it something that is “special” between the two of us. So, last night, he cut my hair again and I shaved my head afterwards (he is getting much better though). I asked him if he was still going to cut my hair when he was 10 and he replied, “I’m going to cut it when I’m 20.” Now, I hope that doesn’t happen, but in the meantime, I found a really cool way to connect with my son that few others have and I am going to enjoy every second of it. Try connecting with your kids in clever ways, it is the kind of thing that they will never forget.
(Like the sunburn on my neck?)
Posted by Patrick Corkum on March 23, 2010
So today, I get up the energy to go for a run. This seems to only happen on Tuesdays for some odd reason. I have NO idea why. Maybe today it was because it took me twice as long as expected to get downtown for my first Technet meeting (ARGH! #&%*&$#%*&#) So, as usual, I decide to challenge myself. Please keep in mind that I haven’t run since last Tuesday, walked the Tuesday before and hadn’t done much of anything else in the past 8 months. We have a state park that is 1.02 miles down the street from us. And when I say down, I am not referring to just south, I am referring to D O W N!!!! This of course fits my personality spot on – jump in the deep end with no life preserver so that you have no choice whether or not to finish. So, I start off and cruise down hill at a moderate speed, makin sure to not tire myself too much early on. Well, I get down the hill to the park at 1.02 miles and enter the driveway. Well, the driveway goes down a little and then up. At about .001 miles into the up, I am pooped! (my youngest son told me when I got home that I am not poop, I am daddy). But, I convince myself that it is all in my head and that I can continue. Besides, I don’t want to go back up the BIG hill right now anyway. So, I decided to do a little trail run on the muddy trail (okay, it wasn’t muddy at all). All the while, I am thinking to myself… if I get to a muddy part, I’ll have a great excuse for stopping and walking a little so as to not fall. This plan worked out perfectly! I got a little downhill in and walked the VERY MUDDY uphill . After all, I wouldn’t want to risk falling and breaking my leg or anything like that. All the uphills were muddy, forcing me to walk to avoid slipping and falling and breaking a leg. So, after shortening my trail loop, I get a rough estimate that if I return home now, it will be pretty close to a 5K total. This is perfect, I will get to see if I can beat my high-school best 5K time of 17:52 (really). I leave the park and charge back up the monster hill to the top. <I am at this point thinking how stupid my idea was to run downhill 1.02 miles to the bottom of the hill FIRST.> So, I start up that hill, having been running for 26 minutes already in a hope that I will beat my best-time ever. Up the hill I go, running walking at what felt like light snail speed. As two women, who were walking, passed me, I reflected and wondered as to why I was attempting to run. Then finally, I arrive at home, beating my best time with a time of 41:15!
Posted by Patrick Corkum on March 22, 2010
So, I am studying Greek in school right now. Koine Greek, that is. It is important to note the difference because it is not Classical Greek nor is it Modern Greek. Koine Greek is the Greek that the New Testament is written it. There are many interesting things about learning this Greek. First, we don’t compose it. This makes it difficult because we are not trying to create or converse in it, just read it. This is a rather fascinating way to learn a language. This kinda leads into the second aspect that is so interesting which is that I have learned a TON about English in this class. I think that I have learned more about the English language over the past two semesters while learning Greek than I did throughout my undergrad years. Anyway…. I would strongly suggest that if you really want to understand scripture, read it in the language that it was written in. Learn Koine Greek today!