life. faithful.

I have a confession--I don't like to discipline my kids. When I threaten a consequence ("If you keep that up, you're going to lose x"), I really hope they will stop whatever that is because I don't want to take "x" away from them. I would much prefer to only have fun times with my kids. I love to see them smile...wouldn't you? It would be wonderful if I never had to tell them no, never had to correct them, never had to hurt their feelings. I would love to make sure their lives are full of laughter and happiness, where nothing is ever hard for them and the world gives them everything they could ever want. Here's the problem, though: I want my kids to grow up to be good people. I want them to develop a strong work ethic, good character, empathy, generosity, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control (you caught me--I didn't come up with that list on my own...). As Helen Keller said, "Charac...

The Israelites had just experienced the impossible. Never mind the escape from Egypt, the parting of the sea, the food falling from the sky in the wilderness...or a whole host of other ways God's power had been shown. After all, we're 40 years removed from those times. This time, they had walked around Jericho for a week and then watched the walls fall. They'd been able to rush in and wipe out the entire city. They were told to burn everything except the metal. As an aside, there's a thought now that there was likely a plague in Jericho. If that were the case, it would definitely explain the importance of everything being destroyed and burned... The wall of Jericho wasn't some dinky thing. It was 5-6 ft thick and ranged from 12-17 ft high. The whole thing was surrounded by a ditch that had been dug out of solid rock, a pit that was 9 ft deep and 27 ft wide. Obviously, they would have been on top of the world after that. They could accomplish anything! So wh...