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All interviews are presented to stimulate thought and assist Christian families in homeschooling their children. Interviews may or may not reflect the opinions and beliefs of the management of HomeschoolChristian.com.

Homeschooling from a Biblical Worldview

A Question and Answer Session with Israel Wayne

June 10-15, 2002: The following is a question and answer session that appeared on HomeschoolChristian.com's message boards. Israel Wayne is a homeschooled graduate who serves as the Marketing Director for Wisdom's Gate, a national publishing company which produces the Home School Digest, An Encouraging Word magazine, and Brush Arbor Quarterly. Israel is the author of the book Homeschooling from a Biblical Worldview, and What God Has Joined Together (MP3 CD), the story of Brook and Israel Wayne's Spirit-led betrothal. Israel is a popular conference speaker and a frequent guest on radio talk shows. Israel's family began home educating in 1978 and has been featured in The Arizona Republic, The New American, TIME Magazine, and many other national publications. Israel and his wife Brook have two children, Benjamin Judah (2) and Cherish Rhema (6 months) whom they are planning to home educate.

The topics of discussion are relationships and betrothal, attention deficit disorder, curricula, and faith.

RELATIONSHIPS AND BETROTHAL

Alexisse (teen): Do you know any books on courtship I can read? My mom and I have been reading Josh Harris's book, I Kissed Dating Goodbye. I'm not interested in boys at all, but want to be prepared in case I ever get to that point so I know how to respond no matter what my heart is feeling. I am 14 years old.

Israel Wayne: "What God Has Joined Together" which is available from Wisdom's Gate for $5.00. It tells the story of our betrothal and how the Lord brought us together without dating (or courting).

My wife Brook has written an article for young women entitled, "Of Princes and Fairy Tale Dreams" which is a great article for young women on the issue of emotional purity. It is found in HOME SCHOOL DIGEST V12#3 ($5.00 from Wisdom's Gate).

I have a 60 min. audio tape I have produced entitled, "Waiting for True Love" which is especially for someone your age who is wanting God's best in the area of marriage/romance. ($5.00 Wisdom's Gate)

I have written an article entitled, "Betrothal: Should We Kiss Courtship Goodbye?" Which outlines the differences between Dating, Courtship and Betrothal, and explains some problems we have seen in the courtship movement. (V11#2 of HOME SCHOOL DIGEST. $5.00 Wisdom's Gate)

My sister Mercy (who is 20 years old and still single) has recently written an article for AN ENCOURAGING WORD magazine (Issue #38) entitled, "Twas The Night Before the Wedding" which is specifically for young ladies who are trying to find God's will for their lives in regards to marriage. ($4.50 from Wisdom's Gate)

Also I would recommend a video by Pastor S.M. Davis entitled, "God's Plan for Finding A Mate" which is an excellent resource featuring illustrations from the story of my wife and I and Chad and Heidi Eves, who were featured on NBC's Dateline. ($20.00 from Wisdom's Gate)

All of these resources are available by calling Wisdom's Gate at 1-800-343-1943 and you can learn more about some of them by visiting our website Home School Digest.

Please commit your heart to the Lord in this areas (as I suspect you are currently doing) and trust Him completely. Give the Lord your heart and He will never let you down.

Alexisse: What does betrothal mean?

Israel Wayne: The root word of betrothal is the word "troth: which is an old English variation on the word "truth". If you have a Webster's 1828 dictionary I would encourage you to look up Betrothal and Courtship to get a clearer understanding regarding the meanings of the terms.

Basically courtship means to woo, to seek the affections of, to solicit, to flatter, etc. It is a young man trying to win the favor of a young woman.

Betrothal, on the other hand, is an agreement or covenant that is entered into. In old marriage ceremonies, a young man would say to a young woman the phrase, "and to thee I pledge my troth." (Doesn't sound very romantic does it?!) However, what a young man was saying when he entered into a "betrothment" or "betrothal" with a young lady is that he was pledging to her his "faithfulness, loyalty and devotion". He was making a binding pledge or commitment to her that he would be true to her for as long as he lived.

In that sense, a betrothal is similar to a modern engagement, except that it was viewed as a binding covenant which could not be backed out of unless the other person had been unfaithful. And even in that case (as we see with Joseph and Mary), the betrothal or "espousal" was so binding and viewed so seriously by everyone involved that Joseph had to issue his fiancee a certificate of divorce in order to break off the pledge of marriage he had made.

So, yes, betrothal is like engagement, except that it is a promise and a covenant made before God and witnesses, which should be taken extremely seriously and should not be revoked unless there has been unfaithfulness on the part of the other partner. (Matt. 1:19)

In dating there is not an absolute commitment to marriage. It is a trial relationship.

Courtship does not require an absolute commitment to marriage. It is a trial relationship.

Betrothal is a binding covenant or agreement to be married.

I hope this helps! If you think I'm a nut, you can tell me. If it helps any, I have studied this subject quite a bit, so I'm not just talking off the top of my head. I know it sounds radical, but I think our culture has lost some important principles taught in scripture.

For the record, betrothal is NOT prearranged marriage. We do not, nor does scripture, advocate forcing young people to marry against their will. And no, betrothal doesn't necessarily mean that your parents pick out who you marry.

Alexisse: Did you practice courtship at all before meeting Brook? It seems you don't really know someone well enough to marry until you know their heart for God. If you do not allow a chance to meet and get to know each other, how does this work with betrothing?

Israel Wayne: To answer your question about courting, no I have never practiced courtship. I first heard about "not-dating" over 12 years ago (before it was popular or a fad). I heard of "courtship" proper (as we now understand it) in 1993. While I liked and still like many of the principles, it is not a completely Biblical concept. So, I couldn't embrace it fully.

As an early teen all my friends were in the very liberal dating scene, and while I was spared from the extremes of that lifestyle, I shared that worldview. It was when I was 15 that I determined to wait for God to bring me my wife. I asked God to let me be like Adam, and go to sleep on the whole issue until the time when I was supposed to be married. I asked God to then wake me up and say, "Here is your wife!" And He did that!

Since the age of 15 I did not date, court, hold hands with or even have a pen pal relationship with anyone before I was betrothed to my wife.

That doesn't mean, however, that I did not have friends who were young ladies. I believe that the natural and Biblical admonition is that we develop relationships as friends, treating each others as brothers and sisters in Christ, in all purity. You don't have to have the pressures of boyfriend and girlfriend, you can simply be friends in a Godly sense. (1 Tim. 5:2)

You can learn more about a young man by interacting with him and his family as friends than you can if he is putting on an act trying to impress you. Dating and courtship gives us a phony view of people (most of the time) because they are putting their best foot forward, trying to win your affections.

If it is any consolation to you, my wife still really loves me after 3 1/2 years of marriage. (And I still love her.)

We were friends before we were betrothed, we are still friends (and much more than friends) now that we are married.

The real question is "Can we trust God to pick out our mate and bring him or her when the time is right?" The answer is "Yes we can and yes we should!"

Your mom and dad have a lot of wisdom to offer, make sure you take advantage of it. One of the best ways to learn is from the successes and failures of others.

Speaking of mom and dad, the Lord has taught us that you want to view your mom and dad as partners in the process of preparing for marriage, not as enemies. They can help you walk through many issues that you will face all the way up to the wedding. Having their blessing and approval on your marriage will be one of the greatest gifts you will take into married life.

Israel Wayne provides more advice to Alexisse about relationships:
What I would recommend is if a guy ever asks you out, inform him that he has to talk to your dad. That will probably drop the issue right there. Most guys are real wimps and won't want to get anywhere near your dad. You don't want those kind anyway.

If they are bold enough to talk to your dad he could inform them that you (if this is the case) are waiting for the person to come along who is going to commit to being faithful to you alone for as long as you live. Other less serious inquiries need not apply. If they say they are ready to make that commitment (which I doubt), then he would have to determine your age and whether you are ready to be married. If you are 16, he should probably tell the young man that you need a few more years and if he is still committed to you in a few years when you are ready to be married, to come back and talk to your dad some more. If he allows himself to develop a friendship with your dad, keeps his emotions in check and doesn't defraud you by trying to win your affections, he may make a great husband.

This process of being accountable to your father, and making the young men who inquire about a relationship accountable, will spare you much heartache. As one who has seen a lot of tragic romances, I would STRONGLY encourage you to never enter a romantic relationship or give your heart to anyone who has not make a proper proposal to be faithful to you for as long as he lives. If he won't make that commitment, he is probably perfectly willing to dump you and find someone else later.

I submit this to you for prayer and consideration. I would encourage you to seriously and prayerfully evaluate whether the Lord would have you date someone who you are not certain that you will marry.

If you do not marry that person, they will be some other woman's husband. In that case, they truly belong to that woman, not to you. Do you have a right to date someone's future husband?

If you do not marry a person that you date, that means that your future husband will have to contend with the fact that you dated someone else, and perhaps gave part of the love and affection you should have reserved for him to someone else.

Here is a guideline that I think is good to follow (really give some thought to it before you write it off as irrelevant): It is not appropriate for you to do anything with a man who is not your husband (or pledged to be your husband), that your mom should not do with a man besides your dad. (And this applies in reverse for men also.) Is it right for your mom to hold hands with, kiss, or go to a romantic dinner with a man besides her husband? I don't think we would have trouble seeing this as inappropriate. Why? Because she has set herself apart to be faithful to your father for as long as she lives.

In the same way, you should set yourself apart to be faithful to your future husband. You don't have to wait until you are married to begin. You can start saving yourself for him even now. Any gift you give to someone who isn't your husband, you have stolen from him to give to another.

In all seriousness, please consider if there may be some wisdom from someone who has been down the road a little farther on this. Once you are married, you will not regret (I promise you) that you did not date a few more men and give more of your heart to other men before you married.

You will thank God that you have stored up many treasures of purity to offer exclusively to the man you will spend your whole marriage loving.

ATTENTION DEFICIT DISORDER

Mary Leggewie: On the hyperactive child...do you have any tips on teaching math facts to an active little boy (10 year old)?Flash cards take FOREVER with this one! He just can't focus. I'm curious what your mom did with you!

Israel Wayne: Believe it or not, one of the questions my wife's mother asked me before they gave their consent to let me marry Brook was, "How good are you at math?" Don't ask me why she asked that, but she did. I answered something like, "I am slightly better at math than I am at spelling." This of course told them very little, but they let me marry their daughter anyway. The moral of the story is: You never know when you may need to know something about math later in life.

All that being said, I guess I would suggest (I, not the Lord) that you may want to look into a software program that would allow him to interact with a computer that prompts him with questions.

I have never personally used this program, but I would recommend that you check out Marvelous Math. The creator, Stephen Mitchem, is a homeschooled dad and he has advertised in our magazine in the past. Another thought is, boys (especially hyperactive ones) don't tend to learn anything on grade level. Don't panic if he doesn't "know what he is supposed to know when." Try hands-on projects where he is implementing real-life math scenarios, not just abstract facts and data. I had a really hard time learning if I didn't see how it connected with real life.

Mary Leggewie: How did you do with "speed drill" type timed tests? I'm curious if anything timed and rushed was hard for you as a kid.

Israel Wayne: My personal experience is that, especially when I was young, it was a bad idea to try to rush me. I needed time to focus and really let the ideas sink in. The thing about flash cards, and I hope I am not out of place to say this, is that I considered them to be boring. There was something about my mom (personality issues) drilling me with math that just seemed boring to me.

I'm not saying that was a good and proper perspective. I just didn't do well with "formal" education. I don't know if this helps or not, but I really think I have learned much more after I graduated and didn't have to do formal schooling anymore (as formal as our informal homeschooling ever was). I still don't like formality. Some people crave it. Not me.

As I said before, the more I could see that I might actually use a skill in life the more motivated I was to study it. I loved to study baseball cards. I would do it for hours. I liked to figure out the players' batting averages, slugging percentages and ERAs. That is how I learn to do percentages. I used to be addicted to baseball. A man at our church called me a walking baseball encyclopedia.

For some reason my mom let me spend way too much time studying baseball. I knew that it was 90 feet from home base to first, 60 feet from the pitchers mound, 455 feet to center field (in some parks), etc. I used to calculate attendance at certain games. If Wrigley Field could hold 42,000 people (for example), and only 28,000 showed up (which would be rare unless it was raining, Cubs fans are notorious for being gluttons for punishment), what was the percentage of the park that was sold out. If 40% of the seats were bleachers and sold for $6.00 each (this was when I was young if you recall), and if 30% were box seats at $12.00 and the other 30% were club seats at $16.00 how much money did the ballpark take in that day?

I guess the whole point is that I was interested in baseball, so mom my let me study it. I guess she figured that as long as I was learning the right skills, I would eventually drop my obsession with baseball (which I did) but still remember how to do the math problems (which I did).

Perhaps I have proven I am not a homeschooling purist and will now be labeled a heretic for studying baseball instead of flash cards. I'm just saying it helps if you can find an area of interest and work with it.

Cathe: Training up the ADD child... Our middle son, 15 yo, has ADD [as well as my husband.] How can I train him up? Perhaps the word I am looking for is to "prepare" him - he does have these handicaps. Self-discipline is one aspect of it, especially when you are talking about little children, but the situation is different for grown men.

I don't over-indulge my sons or let them make excuses. I find that clear rules and continual guidance are what they need, ADD or not! Saxon is excellent for junior high and high school math because of its incremental approach and the lack of distracting illustrations and silly stories. So we do build the self-discipline to do the required tasks - as long as they know what is required.

Alex is a delightful person - he is involved with children's ministries and is an affectionate son. But already I see him having trouble at work (farm work, resort lawn care, etc.) because he can't focus. An employer from last year did not have him back this summer. He forgets where he puts things or what he was doing.

On the other hand, he will read for hours and hours on end - good books. His math is coming along nicely. He can speak in public and is strong and healthy.

So I guess my question is this: What practical coping skills and "tricks" should we teach our ADD children? How do we do that? How can we direct their education to prepare them for a world that will be frustrating for them? I know there are tricks like developing habits - always putting your keys in the same place, etc.

What have you found helpful and what areas would you encourage me to work on?

Israel Wayne: Boy, my heart goes out to you. I can tell you care a lot about your husband and your son. That is one of the things that will help them the most. Knowing they are loved and secure in their most important relationships makes a big difference.

For you and your husband I would recommend a book which may be out of print by now, but I'm sure can still be found used. It is called Honey, Are You Listening? (How ADD Could Be Affecting Your Marriage) by Dr. Rick Fowler and Jerilyn Fowler. (Nelson Publishers) To be honest there are not many books that I would recommend on the topic of ADD or ADHD. Most of them are a waste (at least as a whole; you can glean a few good ideas from most). This book, while not perfect, is better than most and really helps a married couple, especially if the man has ADD.

The other resources I will recommend in general are How To Get Your Child off the Refrigerator and on to Learning (Homeschooling Highly Distractible, ADHD, or just Plain Fidgety Kids)by Carol Barnier (Emerald Books). Carol and I have dialogued via e-mail some. She homeschools. Her book is on the practical side, not really dealing with the philosophy and worldviews of the issue, but with usable teaching tips and approaches to help a child focus on their work.

My area of interest is in the worldview behind the whole ADD/ADHD movement. Carol couldn't care less what causes it, she just wants to know how to deal with it.

If you are interested in knowing what philosophies drive the issues surrounding ADD/ADHD (which I think are important and do affect the way you treat the problem), you can order an article I have written entitled, "Acute Disobedience Disorder" HOME SCHOOL DIGEST V12#3

Or I would recommend Blame it On the Brain (Distinguishing Chemical Imbalances, Brain Disorders, and Disobedience) by Edward T. Welch (P&R Publishing) It is a good book to understand what causes the problems and what a Biblical perspective on the issues would be.

For myself, I was ADHD, so I had to deal with the hyperactive element as well as attention problems. It doesn't sound like your husband or your son deal with hyperactivity. I grew out of being hyper during my teen years, but the attention issues aren't as likely to just go away.

I have friends and relatives who are incapacitated by their diagnosis of ADD. They feel there is something wrong with their brain that will keep them from being a normal human being. That saddens me.

God made us a certain way and we should never be bitter about how God has made us. He may have given us certain tendencies for a specific reason. I hope your son doesn't decide that he can't win. I hope he realizes that God knows what He is doing and God can help your son fulfill his greatest potential, if he submits himself fully to the Lord.

Distractibility must be overcome, at least to some degree, or we can't function properly (as you stated in your letter). We have to be able to focus, finish tasks, have meaningful conversations, etc.

For myself, I have (by God's grace) overcome some of my ADD tendencies. Some, but not all. Gimmicks don't tend to work well for me. I hate formulas and organization strategies. People often suggest tips and hints to help me stay focused and complete assignments, but I don't like most of them.

I really think my biggest problem with ADD is selfishness. I care about myself, my freedom, and what is important to me, but I care very little about other people and their needs. I (and most ADD people) can hyper-focus on what interests me. You mention this about your son and reading. That is common. We can tune everyone else out and tunnel-vision on what we are doing, because it is important TO US. If my someone asks me to do something, get something at the store, finish a task by a certain date, etc., I tend to forget all about it. But if it is something I want to do, I never forget.

Strange, isn't it?

So, the questions is, do I lack the ability to concentrate, or do I just refuse to care enough about most things to make the effort?

It is a lack of love and concern for the needs of others that drives 90% or more of what we call ADD, in my opinion. I'm not casting stones here, I'm preaching to myself. I don't forget to finish what I like doing. People like myself, and I'm not sure if your husband and son are, are very self-absorbed. We like being free-spirits. We don't fit well into molds. We don't hold down jobs because we like to do things our way, on our own schedule. We don't respect it when someone tells us we should do things their way.

It really is pretty pathetic. I would love to blame my behavior on a neurological disorder which I genetically inherited from my ancestors, but I think it is more likely a sin problem I inherited from our common ancestor, Adam.

My universe revolves around me and my needs. Anything outside of my inside world is someone else's problem.

I notice that if I can change my heart, care about others, and put them first, my outward performance improves dramatically.

I have found that until my heart is right and I am esteeming others as better than myself, all the trick and tips in the world won't amount to much.

It has been hard for me to admit that my problem is not so much a lack of attention, but rather selective attention. Yet I recognize that I do have an ability to follow through with certain things that I enjoy.

I'm still not a very organized person in some respects. My wife helps me a lot because she is, but I'm not sure if that really helps me or just makes me look better because she is making sure I remember things. I appreciate her help, but I realize I have come to depend upon her for quite a bit. I don't think that is all bad though. I have a deficiency and she is a helpmeet for the areas where I am weak. I think the Lord does that sometimes. He has us marry people who will complete us.

The number one thing for me is to care about something, then I am motivated to follow through and do a good job. If it matters to me, then tricks and tips can benefit me. If not they won't.

CURRICULA

Lorraine in BC: Do you have specific curriculum or resource recommendations which particularly support home schooling from a Biblical worldview?

Israel Wayne: I tried to make my book "plug and play" with any educational approach. Whether you are traditional or eclectic, classical, principle approach, Charlotte Mason, textbook, unit study, etc. Anyone who is committed to teaching their children at home for the glory of God will be able to use my book as a supplement to the curriculum they are already using.

Cathe: What are your favorite US history resources for teens?

Israel Wayne: This is just my opinion here, and I'm not speaking as marketing director of Wisdom's Gate. This is merely Israel's opinion. World Magazine is quite professional and usually contains some thoughtful ideas that apply a Christian worldview to current events. They tend to focus on American pop culture issues and less of financial or foreign relations issues in general. They are probably the top pick.

New American has some thought provoking articles, but if I can say this without offending too many people, we have advertised with them in the past and some of the people who have replied to the ads are on the fringe to say the least. Can you say "paranoid"? I don't want to indict their entire readership because they have many intelligent Christian folks who read the mag. However, if you don't trust in the Lord it is easy to flip out and lose it. You'd have to see some of the letters and packages we have received to understand what I mean. Not balanced to say the least! The Christian message is not a negative one. In the end, Christ wins! Without that message I might be a bit overwhelmed as well.

Wall Street Journal is one my father-in-law likes a lot. I'm not a regular reader so I can't say much about it. I know they have been very pro-homeschooling overall.

The Washington Times national weekly is another conservative publication that is worth checking into. I know the marketing director there and he is a Christian. We have had some good discussions.

On U.S. History...Hmmm...I like primary source materials. I like to read books written by the founders themselves, not books about them. Most U.S. History resources are too biased for my taste. They have either been revised to take out Christianity or to add it where it doesn't belong. Most of the popular Christian publishing companies who specialize in American History have a theological bias that warps the way they tell the story. I think that is just as wrong as the secular revisionists. I know that is terribly unpopular to say, but I think it is important to know that they often put just as much spin on our history, just in the opposite direction.

If you can read material straight from the horse's mouth so to speak, then you realize there is a more balanced perspective. There were good and bad, Christian and unChristian, influences that helped shape our nation. Much of what shaped the Constitution was Enlightenment philosophies and the Enlightenment concept of Natural Law. Certain Christian speakers and authors try to make Natural Law appear to be a Christian concept, which it wasn't.

Also Christian Reconstructionists (which I am not) are the leading promoters of a Christian interpretation of American History. Some of their authors have stated that God made an irrevocable covenant with America, etc. They go there because of their theological bias, but I heartily disagree with that perspective. (You can see my book for a deeper examination of my views on U.S. History.)

I have a chapter in the book where I talk about multiculturalism and the tendency to downplay the Christian elements of America's history and heritage in favor of other more pagan cultures and worldviews. That is wrong. However, most Christian publishers are so arrogant about America you would almost think that once God birthed the "new eden" of the U.S., he told the rest of the world to go to hell. That is terribly unbalanced. Christians need to emphasize the kingdom of God and how He has worked through all of time and history to accomplish his purposes. God cares about other nations just as much as he cares about ours.

FAITH

Susie: What is the reality of "Christ in you, the hope of glory?" (Col. 1:27)

Israel Wayne: Answering that question could take a lifetime. It is so simple, and yet so profound.

To begin with, it takes coming to the end of ourselves. It requires us being totally willing to stop trying to control our own lives. It is recognizing that we are blind and crying out to the Lord, "Son of David, have mercy on me!" (Luke 18:35-39) It is calling out to Him as though our very lives depend upon it. Crying out to Him like it means something to us. "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." (Jer 29:13)

I could share so much scripture with you, but I would say our best hermeneutic is to look at Col. 1:27 in the context of the entire chapter. In verses 9-14 we see our initial redemption, and the growth we should be seeing in our lives once we are born again. Verses 21-22 reveal a very important aspect of Christ living in us, and through us.

"Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation-- IF YOU CONTINUE IN YOUR FAITH, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel." Col 1:21-23 (NIV)

We are in a walk of faith. Our relationship with our Savior is not a "one time many years ago" event. If we do not continue to grow and walk in obedience to what he has called us to, we will shrivel up spiritually and God will not work in us and through us.

Verse 24 contains the key word to Christ living in us and through us. SUFFERING. The path of suffering is the only path to being Christ like. We can't go around it; we can't bypass it. We must embrace it and follow Christ on the road of suffering. This is the call we have received. We have no other invitation. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer explains in his book The Cost of Discipleship, "When Christ calls a man, He bids him to come and die." Come and give up everything you have, all your dreams, your hopes, your ambitions. Lay it all down, follow Me, and die. As Bonhoeffer asks, wouldn't a fool be the only one who would respond to such a call? Why would we want to do that?!

We respond for one reason and one reason only: Because it is the Savior who calls. His voice compels us. His eyes burn into our soul as he looks at us and beckons us to come. We find ourselves laying aside our fishing nets, getting out of the boat, and following. Why? For the sake of the call. Because it is Jesus Who invites us. We will gladly leave all behind just to be with Him. Our response will be like Peter: "Lord, to whom else shall we go? You alone have the words of eternal life" (John 6:68)

We journey on with Jesus, following Him on this pathway of faith. Soon we begin to find the walk tiring. It seems we are climbing uphill. We look up to see Jesus and we notice where He is heading. We are on the road to the cross. It is time to die. Do we turn back? Do we run in fear? No, we go with him; simply because it is He Who called us. As we approach the place where we lay down our flesh and commit it to death, we realize that it is no longer we who live, but Christ who lives in us.

"Christ's life showed me how, and enabled me to do it. I identified myself completely with him. Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is not "mine," but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I am not going to go back on that." Gal 2:20-21

It will cost us something. In fact, it will cost us everything. But in losing our lives for His sake, we will gain all there is to gain. (Luke 17:33) "He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose." Jim Elliot.

May we all pursue His righteousness, His image in us, His holiness in our lives. May it be our relentless passion.

Many thanks to Israel Wayne for sharing his thoughts with us here at HomeschoolChristian.com!

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