Two years teaching life skills to families whose children were at IMMINENT risk of being removed, may have ruined my ability to sit with problems…When things need to change so that families can keep their children, there is an intensity that is needed…Empathy/sympathy now comes with a healthy dose of reality, and problem solving… Spending hours teaching parents how to re-frame the stories in their heads from toxic to healthy has become the default for how I approach almost any situation. My ability to accurately asses a situation and separate the truth from the ‘bunk’ is finely tuned… After some encouragement from a friend to start a podcast where I can provide my words of wisdom (read informed opinions) regarding a range of topics I decided to go slow… While I am not at all ready for a podcast both in courage or equipment, I do think that I would like to test the idea out here at Careless in the Care of God… SO, I am asking for your questions… Questions that you think someone with a social work background might be able to shed some light upon…I have extensive training in parenting, REBT, Motivational Interviewing, how to communicate with others… Seriously…throw some questions at me, …Read more
I try to see things the way God sees them. As a mere human, there’s very little chance in that. Since I’m created in His image, I like to think I share some of the same frustrations. I’m a father to three children. My daughter, twenty-one, is living with her fiancé. More than once, I’ve made mention my disapproval of their living arrangement. Never using a condemning tone, I’ve suggesting they make their relationship Biblically official if they are going to continue down this path together. I have the proverbial plank in my own eye. She is in college and he works for a government contractor making decent wages. I visit their home on occasion, noting the newest video game and the ever growing wine cork collection. Inevitably, every six to eight weeks, I’ll get a phone call or a text; one of the vehicles needs a repair, or there’s a needed trip to the doctor, or they’re short by a few hundred on the house payment. I silently sigh with minor frustration and transfer the money to cover the emergency into their account. I’ll never say no. As much as I love my children, it’s but a grain of …Read more
When I found out that April was doing a series on Matthew 6:26 and was looking for guest posters I figured that this was a good time as any to take my maiden voyage into the blog world. So here it goes: The first thing I did was to check my American Patriots Bible (NKJV) to see if there was any special note about the verse there wasn’t. What I found interesting is that the heading right before the series of verses says: Do not Worry. Seeing that made me look at the verse in a totally different way. It made me realize that our heavenly Father will take care of us if we let him. I am a walking example of that principle. August 2008 I had a ruptured aneurysm and so things happened that when added up all together meant that God was watching over me. For instance the surgeon who was one of the best in his field happened to be on call. So many other things happened along the way with my recovery that all add up to my premise that God was watching over me that night. From what I understand I should not …Read more
“Five seagulls are sitting on a dock. One of them decides to fly away. How many seagulls are left?” “Well…four.” “No,” Jones responded. “There are still five. Deciding to fly away and ACTUALLY flying away are two very different things.” “Listen carefully to me. Despite popular belief to the contrary, there is absolutely no power in intention. The seagull may intend to fly away, may decide to do so, may talk with the other seagulls about how wonderful it is to fly, but until the seagull flaps his wings and takes to the air, he is still on the dock. There’s no difference between that gull and all the others. Likewise, there is no difference in the person who intends to do things differently and the one who never thinks about it in the first place. Have you ever considered how often we judge ourselves by our intentions while we judge others by their actions? Yet intention without action is an insult to those who expect the best from you. ‘I intended to bring you flowers, but I didn’t.’ ‘I meant to finish this work on time.’ ‘I was going to be there for your birthday…’” -The Noticer by: Andy …Read more
