I love it when people predict that Alabama will beat Auburn!

Where is your Cell Phone

The following stat reminds me of Margaret who goes to bed with her cell phone. Rebekah has Lynn cell phone most of the time. She stayed at the lake last weekend rather than coming with me as she had planned because she could not take Lynn's cell phone with her. I am still trying to figure all of this out and what is good and what is obsession with being available. It is a need to feel important that someone is thinking of you so they call you?

{I know there is safety issues especially for girls but this goes way beyond that!}

If Mom's are lonely

More from my reading - this makes me think that if Christians are making friends, our friends will come to know the one a friend "closer that a brother".

Moms are More Lonely These Days

With the frenzied pace of today's moms, many women find friendships and relationships often fall to the wayside. With just 19% living in the community where they grew up, moms desperately seek new connections and they struggle: 58% report experiencing loneliness in the past month, and 4 out of 5 need more friends in their lives.

Engage Moms, 10/21/09

Singleness and the poor economy

This strike closer to home as Oliver is soon to graduate college and shortly after that Margaret too.

Cohabitation - Living together without the benefit of Marriage

Thought you might want to read about a rapidly increasing portion of our society. Ken

EdStetzer.com

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Cohabitation Study Posted: 10 Nov 2009 02:58 AM PST Remember that Bon Jovi song from the late 80s, "Living in Sin?" Well, I'm guessing half of you do. It's about "love" justifying living together as a married couple, without a marriage covenant. The song shouts, "I call it love, they call it living in sin!" Remember? Rock ballad, black and white video? Anyway, people are still talking about it and more people are living together today than they were back in the 1980s. At LifeWay Research, we wanted to know more. In June of 2008 (and September 2007), we conducted related surveys (thankfully, not about Bon Jovi) for a recent book on parenting, The Parent Adventure: Preparing Your Children For a Lifetime With God, by Selma & Rodney Wilson and Scott McConnell. In our study, we found that 6% of all parents with children under 18 years of age in their home are living with a partner to whom they are not married. To give this some context, we first determined that 69% of all parents are married and 31% are single. We asked these single parents the following question: Which of the following best describes you today? you are the only adult in your household (18% of all parents; 58% of single parents) you live with another adult family member (6% of all parents; 21% of single parents) you live with a room mate with whom you are not involved in a relationship (1% of all parents; 2% of single parents) you live with a partner with whom you are involved in a relationship" (6% of all parents; 19% of single parents) The 2008 survey was conducted among a representative sample of 1,077 American adults who have children under 18 years old in their household. A demographically balanced online panel was used for the interviewing and we have 95% confidence that the sampling error for the total sample does not exceed +3.0%. One other study in which we asked a similar question to determine current living situation was a study conducted in April-May 2007 among young adults ages 18-30 who had attended a Protestant church regularly (twice a month or more) for at least a year in high school. We asked all respondents: Please indicate your current living situation. I live with my parents (20%) I live with my spouse (44%) I live with my partner/ significant other (13%) I live with roomate(s) (11%) I live alone (9%) Other (3%) One of the key findings from this study reported in a story last year was that 70% of these young adults ages 23-30 had stopped attending church regularly for at least a year between ages 18 and 22. When we break out the question above by these "dropouts" compared to those who "stayed in church" during these years, we found a statistically significant difference in the percentage who were currently cohabiting. In short, among young adults who had attended a Protestant church regularly in high school, cohabitation is almost twice as likely among those who stop attending church regularly between ages 18 and 22 compared to those who stay in church. 15% of "dropouts" live with a partner or significant other 8% of those who "stayed in church" live with a partner or significant other Dropouts = adults ages 18-30 who had attended a Protestant church regularly for at least a year in high school but stopped attending regularly for at least a year between ages 18 and 22. Stayed in church = adults ages 18-30 who had attended a Protestant church regularly for at least a year in high school and continued attending regularly between ages 18 and 22. This study was conducted among a representative sample of 1,023 young adults ages 18-30 who had attended a Protestant church regularly (twice a month or more) for at least a year in high school. A demographically balanced online panel was used for the interviewing and we have 95% confidence that the sampling error for the total sample does not exceed +3.1%. It is probably not a surprise that those who are cohabiting are also more likely to be dropouts, but it does speak to some of the challenges in reaching adults in our culture. I'm interested in how you deal with people living together? How do you reach them, answer their questions, and minister to them?

When Things Speed Up, Leaders Should Slow Down

Found this is my reading and like it.

Leadership development consultant Brad Lomenick suggests that when facing times of great intensity and pressure, leaders should:

1. Always over-communicate.
2. Be methodical and calm, not intense and short.
3. List out priorities, so as to not be overwhelmed by the small things that seem to be incredibly urgent, but really aren’t.
4. Seek out quiet moments for prayer, reflection and thinking. During times of pressure, that is when we need those quiet moments the most.
5. Resist the urge to let things slide or just settle for something average because of the pressure to get it done. Keep your standards and levels of excellence at their highest—don’t compromise.

Brad Lomenick, On the Journey

Price wars on Books - Don't tell my wife!

From my reading:

Book Price War Might Benefit Pastors

Heaven knows pastors love to read, and a price war between book retailers might just be a blessing to them. Walmart.com has dropped the price on their top 10 pre-order titles to $10, including free shipping. Also they are offering their top 200 books at discounts of 50% or more in a program called America’s Reading List. A day later, Amazon matched Wal-Mart’s pricing, and both sites have dropped those 10 promotional titles to just $9. It remains to be seen what this will do to already-beleaguered chain and independent book stores, but pastors might take advantage of the low pricing in the meantime.

Publisher’s Lunch 10/16/09