“I can live for two months on one good compliment.” – Mark Twain We live in a pretty ungrateful society. From your boss, to the parents you try to please, to the students you love, rarely will you ever get all the affirmation you deserve.…
On a recent confirmation camp retreat weekend with our church’s middle-school youth, I experienced firsthand the aroma and annoyance of body sprays. Prior to this encounter I had only anecdotal evidence as to the extent of its use and the substance of its scent.…
In June, 2005, the summer after the Tsunami ripped through Southeast Asia, my wife and I led a team of students to Thailand to help with the rebuilding efforts. I had never seen devastation like this before. Our guide took us first to the place where they brought the dead bodies.…
Today’s teenagers are having sex and many of them dont even know it. Three years ago, CPYUs Walt Mueller wrote about a sexual phenomenon that is happening more than we realize, and more frequently among a growing portion of the adolescent population.…
Each December the National Institute on Drug Abuse releases the results of its Monitoring the Future survey concerning drug use, attitudes and behaviors. The 2006 survey was conducted on 48,460 8th 10th, and 12th grade students (17,026, 16,620, and 14,814, respectively) from 410 schools nationwide by the University of Michigan.…
All it takes is a quick search on the Internet to discover how to make meth and get a list of the necessary components to make a potent batch for either personal use, or to sell for profit. The key ingredient is pseudoephedrine, commonly found in over-the-counter cold medicines.…
Teen attitudes are shaped by, and steeped in, the relativistic postmodern cultural landscape, which reflects a mindset that snubs absolute truth in favor of subjective feelings. Here, gambling is viewed not so much as a sin – as with the Las Vegas Sin City label – but as a matter of personal preference and choice.Todays…
Regardless of method and reason, as care-givers to todays emerging generation we need to address this issue with the teens and pre-teens in our lives. Discussion is the first place to begin. Teens who understand the danger and risks involved will be less likely to see choking one another as a game.…
They are parents whove experienced a nightmare no dad or mom ever wants to face. Upon returning home from church, they found their 17-year-old son and his 19-year-old friend dead. The newspaper reports all mentioned that significant quantities of dextromethorphan (DXM) had been found at the scene.…
A few months ago I was working out at the local fitness center. It was early in the morning and only one other person was there. The radio station we were listening to announced that someone had recently won the big Powerball lottery worth $340 million.…
