Apparently President Obama will have an early opportunity to place his stamp on the Supreme Court. Justice David Souter has told the White House he plans to retire at the end of the court’s current session.  Read the full story HERE.   While Souter has proven to be more moderate than some expected, his replacement may be even more liberal.

What are your thoughts on the next Supreme Court Justice?  Does it matter? Is it a big deal or a minor deal? Should Christians react or go with the flow on this one?  Would it make a difference if Christians got involved at all in the process?  Do you even care?

Just curious.

I love politics and government.  I know not everyone does, but I love a good debate, I love discussion, and I love the political process.  We’ve lived through a lot of political and government discussions in our house.  The boys and I enjoy it.  Cheryl, although being a voter and very patriotic (I wouldn’t have married her otherwise….j/k…sorta), she doesn’t like the argument and debate process.   She also doesn’t like boxing.  Whatever!

Our 17 year-old son has been thinking a lot about government recently.  I have enjoyed our conversations as he continues to shape his own political beliefs.  Recently he posted a philosophy of government.  I think he’s pretty dead-on right!

Read it for yourself at http://www.nateedmondson.com then tell me what you think. (Feel free to leave him a comment also.) What role do you think government should play in your life?

Yesterday I shared a post about the consequences of making mistakes after a person ignores repeated advice from others. It was based on a Biblical principle found in Proverbs 29:1. You can read that post HERE.

I guess a follow up post is in order, because some reading yesterday’s post may have already made the mistake of ignoring wisdom and now you are reaping the consequences. What should you do? How do you respond to mistakes already made?

Here are some suggestions:

1. Recognize that you cannot erase them now. (Ecclesiastes 11:3) Quit trying to hide them, and begin to embrace the experience of your past for how the pain can benefit you and others in the future.
2. Receive grace and forgiveness. (Hebrews 4:16) There is nothing in your past God cannot forgive. NOTHING.
3. Stop the bleeding. (Ecclesiastes 10:1) Quit making the same mistakes over and over again. Heed the wisdom of others now before you receive further injury.
4. Decide to be a student of wisdom. (Proverbs 15:22) Start listening to wise advice. Surround yourself with people who will speak truth into your life.
5. Move forward with your life and help others. (2 Timothy 2:2) Don’t allow the past to control your future. Instead, let it help you live better and stronger and then use the gained experience to help others avoid your painful mistakes.

What suggestions do you have for people following a costly failure or mistake?

Yesterday I bragged on President Obama’s leadership trait of admitting mistakes.  The post wasn’t about politics, but instead it was an observation of leadership.  I believe people respect a leader who can admit when they have done something wrong. I even said that as long as he continued to be honest with people, he would remain popular, even when people disagree with his policies.

The President is hurting the credibility of my last post. In order to be fair I have to share the news story I read tonight.  President Obama apparently refuses to take credit for the huge budget deficit he “inherited” even though Congress ultimately approves funding, not the President.  He was in Congress during many of those deficit-building years. So I stand somewhat correcting to my previous post, perhaps the President still has room to grow in the admitting to mistakes in leadership trait.

What do you think?

Now may be our chance. Those of us who thought we would never have the chance to own a dream home may be able to in this economy.  According to a Business Week magazine article, “this year only 17 houses sold in Pebble Beach (the lowest sale was $900,000, and the highest was $3.2 million). Last year at this time, 26 homes had sold, and the highest sale price was $16.25 million.”  Now that they are under the $1 million mark I may reconsider the market.

What about you? Are you ready for a retirement home?

On a related subject, since your money can buy more these days, perhaps you should consider where you want to retire.  Business Week also released the “The World’s Best Places to Live in 2009” article this week.  Surprisingly, or not, no United States city was in the top 25 on the list.  Looking at the list I can’t help but wonder if moral climate played a role in deciding where the “best places” to live are in the world.  Somehow I don’t think so.

Do you agree with this list?

I was reminded of an important principle in life this morning:

Proverbs 29:1 says, “He who is often reproved, yet stiffens his neck, will suddenly be broken beyond healing.”

I have observed this principle at work in so many different ways over my life.

• The girl who everyone says is dating the wrong guy, but she’s “in love” and won’t listen. (She often finds out others were right the hard way. )
• The difficult boss with a reputation for being a tyrant and wonders why he can’t keep employees.
• The pastor who has staff turn over like a revolving door, but blames the issue on everything except his leadership.
• The mother or father who can’t seem to get their kids to obey but refuse to see the value of consistent discipline for their children.
• The young person who ignores all practical suggestions in search of their dream, but after numerous set-backs wishes he or she had followed a parent’s advice.
• The one who reads and even tries every diet plan available, yet never consistently follows through on any of them.
• The person who doesn’t bother to save for the future or spends recklessly, but wonders why they can never get ahead financially.

Granted, we learn best by experience, and many of the mistakes above I have made and learned valuable life lessons from them. We also learn, however, by the wisdom of others and humbling ourselves enough to accept the correction or criticism others offer can often help us avoid costly mistakes. The verse ends with a warning of such, “will suddenly be broken beyond healing”. That part of the principle doesn’t ignore grace or the ability to recover, but it does point out that some mistakes can leave lasting consequences.

So consider this question:

If you keep hearing the same criticism over and over from various sources, could it be time to listen, before it is too late?

What examples have you seen, or lived personally, that illustrates this Biblical principle?

President Obama and I probably disagree on many issues, but one thing I like about him is one part of his leadership style.  He is not afraid to admit a mistake.  That will serve him well and keep his approval rating high, even among people who may disagree with his policies.

Vice-President Biden called the President’s CIA appointment a mistake. Read it HERE. The President admitted a mistake (Read it HERE ) with the Tom Daschle appointment. He did it again this week admitting that the plane photo opportunity in New York was a mistake. Read about it HERE.   I realize my conservative friends (who I mostly side with) will not like this statement, but speaking as someone who would be more likely to support the policies of a Bush Administration, I think President Bush could have used more of this trait during his term.  Had he been more willingly to accept responsibility I believe his credibility would have risen among the people.

One of the things that is most attractive about a leader, especially in today’s culture of mistrust, is an honest admittal of a mistake made.  Even when one doesn’t agree with that type leader’s decision, he or she is more likely to respect their leadership.

Leaders, how real are you in front of the people you hope will follow you?  Pastors, are you real with your people, or do you try to make them believe you are someone you are not?  Something tells me they know the truth.

This reality about parenting came to me recently.  I’ve observed it for years, but I am just now formulating my thoughts around the concept.  The reality for most of us is that we tend to try to control less when our children are younger and more when they are older.  It should be the opposite.

When our children are toddlers we tend to dismiss the control issue.  Sadly this appears to be epidemic in today’s generation of parenting.  I hear parents often saying things like, “I can’t get them to take a nap” or “They won’t obey me”.  I see this at church when parents won’t leave their toddlers in the preschool area because “they just don’t like it.”  The fact is that you can make a toddler comply if you really want them to.  You are stronger, bigger, scarier, and smarter than they are.  You may not feel that you are, but you are.  The time to control your children the way they need to go is when they are young.

Something happens when a child enters their late elementary and middle school years.  Our children naturally begin to resist authority and so what do we do?  We attempt to control them even more.  The problem is they have more freedom in their schedules.  They are stronger, bigger, scarier and smarter than they were as toddlers.  They can even pretend to comply and yet do their own thing when parents are nowhere around.

The biggest problem with trying to control our children into their teenage years is that if we don’t protect our relationship with them, when they can they will completely rebel against our authority.  Have you ever known that to be true of a high school or college student?

Almost as a side note, but equally important: If you don’t do anything else in your time with your children, help them to know you love them unconditionally.  You don’t accomplish this by giving into their every wish  when they are young, but by lovingly guiding them in the right direction through discipline and correction when they are very young.  When your children are older, when they need your wisdom perhaps even more, they will continue to seek your input into their life if that love relationship has been developed.  The time to have ultimate control of their behavior is when they are young.

My encouragement, especially to the parents of younger children, is to instill the values you have for your children when they are very young, while you still have control, then move to less control and more protection of their hearts through their teenage years.  If you have trained them well and they know you love them, then they will continue to honor your influence over them later in life.

For more parenting tips, check out the parenting category of this blog.

Fox Broadcasting has decided not to carry President Obama’s news conference Wednesday night. Read the story HERE. This is an extremely rare occurrence. I will admit he seems to do a lot of them and there are plenty of other channels to catch it live, but I’m curious about the real reasons behind this move. Did he stiff someone on an interview? Just curious. I would think they would have a hard time getting an interview now for sure!

What do you think? Should a national news station carry every president’s news conference?

I love this  funny video, but the accents and reporting is almost as humorous.