While Doing Adoption Home Studies: Part 1

CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS

WHILE DOING ADOPTION HOME STUDIES

 Part I

     My input on three adoption home studies was influential.

     My husband Monte and I had had to withdraw our application for adoption from an agency in the city where we lived because we were relocating to a new jobsite.  About a month after moving to our new community Monte and I submitted our application to a local adoption agency.

     At the same time, I responded to a classified ad seeking part-time help at an agency that needed to catch up on their adoption home studies. The job was located in an adjacent county.

     During the interview with Sonya, the agency director, I stated two conditions. First, I gave notice—when a baby was placed in our home (which could be three days or three years), I’d have to leave the position immediately, without warning. Second, I emphatically stated that I would recluse myself from

Lenten Study: 7 Deadly Sins—Anger #3: I Would Never Get That Angry, Would I?

CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS

LENTEN STUDY: 7 DEADLY SINS

ANGER #3: I WOULD NEVER GET THAT ANGRY, WOULD I?

MONTE W. HOLLAND

 INTRODUCTION

     The following study is a journey through Lent, the forty-day pre-Easter season (which excludes Sundays).  Easter’s date, determined by the time of the first full moon after the Spring equinox, is very late this year.

     Traditionally, many Christians use Lent for self-examination and a renewal of their commitment to their faith.

     This year I  chose to do a devotional study on aspects of the Seven Deadly Sins, sins identified by very early Christians as key behaviors separating man from God and God’s will. The seven sins are not listed together in the Bible—each is, however, spoken about in various Scripture sites.

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THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS:

GREED, ENVY, ANGER, LUST, GLUTTONY, SLOTH and PRIDE.

THE ASPECTS OF THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS ARE:

#1 Breaking the Mosaic Law

#2 Defying God or rebelling against God

#3 Acts of violence to others

#4 Failing to make proper sacrifices or worship

#5 Not living up to or reflecting God’s glory (not living as one created in God’s image)

ANGER #3

I WOULD NEVER GET THAT ANGRY, WOULD I?

 

SCRIPTURE: The Wise Men ¹ When Jesus was born in the village of Bethlehem in Judea, Herod was king. During this time some wise men from the east came to Jerusalem ² and said, “Where is the child born to be king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.” ³ When King Herod heard about this, he was worried, and so was everyone else in Jerusalem. ⁴ Herod brought together the chief priests and the teachers of the Law of Moses and asked them, “Where will the Messiah be born?” ⁵ They told him, “He will be born in Bethlehem, just as the prophet wrote, ⁶ ‘Bethlehem in the land of Judea, you are very important among the towns of Judea. From your town will come a leader, who will be like a shepherd for my people Israel.’ ” ⁷ Herod secretly called in the wise men and asked them when they had first seen the star. ⁸ He told them, “Go to Bethlehem and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, let me know. I also want to go and worship him.” ⁹ The wise men listened to what the king said and then left. And the star they had seen in the east went on ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. ¹⁰ They were thrilled and excited to see the star. ¹¹ When the men went into the house and saw the child with Mary, his mother, they knelt down and worshiped him. They took out their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh and gave them to him. ¹² Later they were warned in a dream not to return to Herod, and they went back home by another road. (Matthew 2:1-12)

The Plot To Kill Jesus ( Mark 14.1, 2; Luke 22.1, 2; John 11.45-53) ¹ When Jesus had finished teaching, he told his disciples, ² “You know two days from now will be Passover. This is when the Son of Man will be handed over to his enemies and nailed to a cross.” ³ At that time the chief priests and the nation’s leaders were meeting at the home of Caiaphas the high priest. ⁴ They planned how they could sneak around and have Jesus arrested and put to death. ⁵ But they said, “We must not do it during Passover, because the people will riot.”  

Judas and the Chief Priests ( Mark 14.10, 11; Luke 22.3-6) ¹⁴ Judas Iscariot was one of the twelve disciples. He went to the chief priests ¹⁵ and asked, “How much will you give me if I help you arrest Jesus?” They paid Judas 30 silver coins, ¹⁶ and from then on he started looking for a good chance to betray Jesus. (Matthew 26:1-5, 14-16)

DEVOTION:  The Scriptural words vary from translation to translation: worried, very worried, upset, disturbed, troubled. Herod was angry that someone might come on the scene that would remove him from power, erode his control over the people. Anger leads to calculation, to back room plots, to intrigue—all with a capital objective: violence and death to another human.

     Anger and sneakiness often get tangled together. We get angry and want to respond in this anger, but we don’t want to be found out. Often we are willing to choose the road to death for others. For example, we