pastor accidentally flooded Texas by praying too hard

[Mango]

Dear pastor whatshisname, please come to Lewisville and fill the lake back up so that my shoreline property will have a pretty beach and not *()!$@! sharp exposed rocks.

Love n kisses (from the puppy, not me, because ew, but the puppy helping me type has no standards), Mango

[DuggarsTheEndIsNear]

How can you chase the devil out of texas would rick perry leave voluntarily?? There would be no government left.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/03/25/o ... -too-hard/

An Oklahoma pastor this week said that his attempt to remove demons from the United States had worked a little too well, causing a severe drought to turn into massive flooding.

In an appearance on the Christian Internet broadcast Generals International, Church on the Rock Pastor John Benefiel recalled how he had used a “divorce decree†to severe Baal’s hold on drought-stricken states like Texas and Oklahoma.

“There was no rain in sight, no rain forecast at all,†he said. “But literally the day after we first used this Baal divorce decree in 2007 — we declared it in a meeting together — the rains came. And we ended up having more rain between February and June of 2007 than any other 12 month period in history.â€

Benefiel said that the ceremony was repeated in Texas, Kansas and Missouri.

“And at one point and every lake of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri were at or above flood stage,†the pastor noted. “And that’s what Chuck [Pierce] had prophecized, that when you see this happen, those are areas targeted for a Holy Spirit invasion.â€

Benefiel also claimed that the effects of “divorce decree†lasted into the next year, protecting Oklahoma from the recession of 2008.

According to NPR, at least 22 people were killed during the floods of 2007. Thousands more lost their homes.

Watch the video below from Generals International, broadcast March 24, 2014.

You know, if this has such a success rate, why isnt he decreeing in California? =p

[MalteseBaby]

I believe everyone should have the right to succeed, but I realize that not all people have equal opportunities to do so. If given different situations it is likely that I would not have been able to make my life what it is today.

I was thinking about all of this earlier in the evening. Then went to sleep accidentally before I could post, ha.

My family probably gently pushed me into the " succeed, there is no try" mode when I was too young to know what they meant.

My paternal grandfather was a sharecropper when he was a young man, and my paternal grandmother worked two jobs- at a chicken farm or plant, not sure which, and at a cotton gin while raising 3 children. They ended up, through their hard work, some good luck, and maybe the economic conditions of the time, being very successful by small town standards. They owned a florist and a restaurant when I was very young, and owned a large farm that I don't remember. They died at very advanced ages leaving their descendants nice inheritences.

My grandfather planted his own garden until he was almost 90, and they had moved to a lovely house right on the main highway when I was a small child, but he still made his garden. :)

My grandmother was extremely kind and frugal. She saved and reused aluminum foil. Things like that. Very sweet but maybe not too sanitary if I think about it deeply, LOL.

Of those 3 children: The oldest, my dear aunt, pursued a very good profession for that period in time ( 50s to 70s). She was the assistant to our small hometown's favorite and best dentist. When I was on FB a few years ago, people from that town, which I left with my parents when I was 12, remembered my aunt and the dentist very fondly. ( I was in one of those " If you are from _____

(name of town or city) groups because a childhood friend invited me. )

My daddy, the middle child, had his parents sign a permission letter for him to join the Navy when he turned 17, and he hitchhiked with a friend to the CA coast and signed on with the Navy aboard the USS Hornet CV-12. He told me a few years ago that his time in the Navy was the happiest time in his life.. then I realized he meant that the happiest time of his life was in the midst of a world war, and he told me a lot of stories about deaths and all the hardships they faced on the aircraft carrier.

Daddy left the Navy at the end of the war and went to Auburn University on the G. I. Bill. He hitchhiked to Auburn for the week, staying with a friend, then came home the same way to my mother on weekends for 4 years. He earned a degree in engineering.

My uncle, the youngest child and the only one still living, owned his own successful business for many years. He married a young woman from Georgia and moved there and raised his family, his children being many years older than me, so I never knew him or his family too well. They were part of a rather unusual religion for some time, and once at a family reunion, my uncle, who had grown a long beard, said he was now a preacher. That's when I decided they had gone round the bend from where my position on such things were.. But, he did have a strong work ethic, also.

So my answer would be that I truly think if people are motivated enough, they will find a way to get an education and go to a trade school, a junior college or a state college as a start to higher education goals. My parents were children in the Great Depression and teens during WWII. They understood deprivation and hardship more than I can even wrap my head around now and it brings tears for me to think of them having it so difficult when they were so young and to see what they accomplished together. My parents were very successful in their careers, my father being an engineer for all of his career, and my mother being a secretary until they adopted me later in their lives.

My parents always pushed me to be more. I did get a lot of messages growing up about how circumstances don't determine who we become, we determine it. My family was religious- all of us going to the same First Baptist church when I was young. They had a lot of faith in God which saw them through rough times and also kept them humble and honest. I'm not sure my daddy ever realized how far the son had come from the father's extremely humble beginnings as a young sharecropper. My grandfather's youth wasn't something I knew about until a few years ago. He was a very kind, quiet, easygoing grandfather and friend to all.

It was never a question in our home whether or not I was going to college, it was a question of which one, and them encouraging me to be the best student I could be to get academic scholarships. I did what they wanted me to do, and became what they wanted me to become. In hindsight, they were right. :)

[jaelh]

Heathen, my comment on marriage was not about *you*, it was about the idea of marrying the "right" person. that you self-identified as having a wealthy spouse implied to me that you put wealth into the list of things that matter in a spouse. it just doesn't rate on mine. While i agree who you marry really, really matters, I also think it's a bit of a crap shot either way - you never know when you marry someone that they won't have a catastrophic accident; won't develop a mental illness or cancer; be ripped off and lose all their money and so on- it seems odd too me. There are many things that that make the "right" spouse - while identifiable attributes like being hard working, honest, reliable (and so on) matter, there are many things that also matter that cannot be predicted; cannot be chosen.

I am genuinely interested in your answers to those questions above. not for you, not to pick a fight with you. I want to understand the reasoning - many millions of people share your perspective, and it's just as valid of mine. I don't get it; I don't see how you can I really want to get to the bottom of it, it you KWIM.

My life is what I have made it. I believe every person has the same right to succeed.

I entirely, wholeheartedly agree with the second half of your sentence. My agreement with your first statement is [highly] qualified. Your life is indeed, what you've made it.

The raw materials though - the hard working parents that taught you hard work; the expectation that you'd go to college from the get go; that you - or your spouse - haven't suffered a catastrophic illness; and so on - IMO, those aren't what you made for yourself. No more than where I was born, who my parents are, my faith background; where I went to school; that I grew up physically safe etc... are what I made for myself.

I *genuinely* don't understand how we can bypass context. It matters. A poor child in Somalia has no more hope of having my 'good life' than a water buffalo does of flying. It's entirely possible that say, a girl from Ben Tre in the Mekong Delta many end up marrying a wealthy American, but chances are, she won't; it's an impossible dream. An indigenous Australian growing up in the middle of the Tanamar desert is less likely to attend university than the child growing up middle class in a big city. Not because the middle class city kid is smarter or harder working or more generally capable, but because they've grown up expecting to go to uni; because their parents can pay the costs; that they're not remote and could live at home and so on and so on.

How do you deal with these differences, intellectually? Can they be explained away? How? I genuinely want to know how a very liberal (classical liberal, not politician liberal) approach to liberty, freedom and the good life grapples with the 'inputs'.

anyway - again; I'm not meaning to pick on you, Heathen. I apologise if it comes across that way.

And the questions aren't just for Heathen - I'd be delighted if anyone who shares the same ideological perspective grapples with these questions would chip in.

[bumblebee]

Shouldn't you have more respect both or Him and the flood than to brag about it. Seriously, God isn't a dodgy app for a faucet or a phone call that makes you forget you've got a bath running, he doesn't forget to turn the rain off because you didn't stop praying for it.

[LilyRose]

In the UK I find this especially amusing as we've recently had bad flooding and a politician over here has blamed the floods on allowing homosexual marriage- apparently we have incurred the wrath of God.

So we're getting floods because we're permitting sin, and Texas is getting flood because this guy was too devout. Seems to be a fine line in how "Christian" you need to be not to get flooded.

[doggie]

Shouldn't you have more respect both or Him and the flood than to brag about it. Seriously, God isn't a dodgy app for a faucet or a phone call that makes you forget you've got a bath running, he doesn't forget to turn the rain off because you didn't stop praying for it.

great post

[lemonhead]

In the UK I find this especially amusing as we've recently had bad flooding and a politician over here has blamed the floods on allowing homosexual marriage- apparently we have incurred the wrath of God.

So we're getting floods because we're permitting sin, and Texas is getting flood because this guy was too devout. Seems to be a fine line in how "Christian" you need to be not to get flooded.

Sounds like an argument to permit gay marriage in Texas to me! Let's try it and see what happens--maybe that'll clear up the drought for a while!

[MalteseBaby]

Heathen, my comment on marriage was not about *you*, it was about the idea of marrying the "right" person. that you self-identified as having a wealthy spouse implied to me that you put wealth into the list of things that matter in a spouse. it just doesn't rate on mine. While i agree who you marry really, really matters, I also think it's a bit of a crap shot either way - you never know when you marry someone that they won't have a catastrophic accident; won't develop a mental illness or cancer; be ripped off and lose all their money and so on- it seems odd too me. There are many things that that make the "right" spouse - while identifiable attributes like being hard working, honest, reliable (and so on) matter, there are many things that also matter that cannot be predicted; cannot be chosen.

I am genuinely interested in your answers to those questions above. not for you, not to pick a fight with you. I want to understand the reasoning - many millions of people share your perspective, and it's just as valid of mine. I don't get it; I don't see how you can I really want to get to the bottom of it, it you KWIM.

I entirely, wholeheartedly agree with the second half of your sentence. My agreement with your first statement is [highly] qualified. Your life is indeed, what you've made it.

The raw materials though - the hard working parents that taught you hard work; the expectation that you'd go to college from the get go; that you - or your spouse - haven't suffered a catastrophic illness; and so on - IMO, those aren't what you made for yourself. No more than where I was born, who my parents are, my faith background; where I went to school; that I grew up physically safe etc... are what I made for myself.

I *genuinely* don't understand how we can bypass context. It matters. A poor child in Somalia has no more hope of having my 'good life' than a water buffalo does of flying. It's entirely possible that say, a girl from Ben Tre in the Mekong Delta many end up marrying a wealthy American, but chances are, she won't; it's an impossible dream. An indigenous Australian growing up in the middle of the Tanamar desert is less likely to attend university than the child growing up middle class in a big city. Not because the middle class city kid is smarter or harder working or more generally capable, but because they've grown up expecting to go to uni; because their parents can pay the costs; that they're not remote and could live at home and so on and so on.

How do you deal with these differences, intellectually? Can they be explained away? How? I genuinely want to know how a very liberal (classical liberal, not politician liberal) approach to liberty, freedom and the good life grapples with the 'inputs'.

anyway - again; I'm not meaning to pick on you, Heathen. I apologise if it comes across that way.

And the questions aren't just for Heathen - I'd be delighted if anyone who shares the same ideological perspective grapples with these questions would chip in.

Thank you for your consideration in asking what you have asked. These are my most honest and sincere answers at this time in my life. And I hope all who read this understand that I am baring parts of my mind that I have not shared before. I am in tears because these issues weigh so heavily on me personally.

I have a dying ex-husband. He has mid to late stage Parkinson's without dementia. I love him but I am not in love with him. I love him for who he is now, though, disability and all, and I love him for the many happy years we shared together until I wanted someone else ( and it didn't work out). I lost the family we made and the hurt will always be there.

He calls me every day of the world. I try very hard to be a support person for him as his wife moved to a different town and put him in a nursing home 2 months ago. He says, and I believe him, that no one else cares about him, or calls him, or visits him ( I don't visit. He lives in a different part of the country).

I have talked to my husband about bringing him here and giving him a private home in which to live out his days, months or years with my nursing skills and probably a second caregiver for the heavy lifting. I'm not sure how difficult he is to move, hence the possible need for a second person. He has a very poor quality of life now, and this is a man who was in administration of several large corporate hospitals over a span of 30 years. He was a beloved and excellent businessman who cared about the employees and their families. He knows how to love and he does love still. His MIND is fine, his legs just don't work. I am SO upset that he is in a nursing home. He is not elderly, either.

His illness has made me acutely aware of the need for planning for catastrophic illness, as his deluded wife has put him in a nursing home which is private pay only- no insurance or Medicare accepted. He is paying $5000 a month for a bed and someone to help him bathe and transfer from bed to wheelchair during the day. The greatest folly of this is that all his money is being spent before he gets into the late stages of Parkinson's when he will need much more care and his savings will then be depleted. What he needs is to be in a private home ( like the one he owns that his wife is living in) with a daytime aide who can move him and take care of his personal hygiene needs if his wife can't be bothered or is actually unable to help him, which I doubt from knowing how athletic she is. She also worked for the same healthcare company that he did, so she is no stranger to illness and disabilities.

My husband says he has a great long term disability insurance plan, and we are in the process of getting long term care insurance in case something that is a long term illness happens to him and he should have to go to a LTC facility. I think his policies cover this, but I want additional coverage. I don't need the coverage as much because I have an " end of life" plan.

His life is insured for many millions. Not that I would ever want him dead, but I would be fine financially which I think was the gist of your first part of your post/ questions.

If I develop a severely limiting and chronic condition or disease, or cancer that was not curable, or any number of catastrophic diseases with a poor prognosis or low to no survival rate, I know the answer for me. I would commit suicide before I would be too disabled to do so and also so I would not be a burden on my husband or any other family member ( there really aren't any others). Again, I set very hard standards for myself and this is written in STONE. I would end my life before I became unable to and am a burden to someone else. This is totally my choice, one that I have spent years thinking about and actually checking out with clergy whom I trust.

For other people, I believe that where there's life, there is hope regarding diseases and illnesses but I do not apply the same standard to myself because there is always the chance that I would be dependent upon someone for my survival and that is not acceptable to me.

IF there was an answer to the starving third world countries in the world, then I would hope a modern day Albert Schweitzer would have already saved them. I'm not saying this flippantly but realistically. Realists know there is no known quick answer for huge regions of extreme deprivation, commonly called third world countries in the media.

I am NOT the savior of the world. If I as much as thought I was, I would probably be committed to a mental facility because of " delusions of grandeur". It is a serious psychological disorder. I can only do what I can do to help through international charities and accept that there are MANY things in the world which I don't understand and cannot solve no matter how I would like to.

When discussing opportunities to make a good life for oneself and one's family, I do not think it is fair to include the countries which are chronically in dire straits with a starving population or otherwise extremism in the discussion because we all know that at this time they are not in the same subset of living standards.

Most people who discuss the issues of life goals, education, motivation and drive are talking about those factors within countries which have the means for achievement.

I think adding in third world countries is hyperbolic. I wish it wasn't so but it is at this point in time.

As a wise person once said to me " Life isn't fair". I have come to realize and accept that life isn't fair for all of humanity at all times, and that does and has included me many times, and probably all who are reading here.

[jaelh]

Heathen, thank you so much for engaging with me. What a tragic situation with your ex. We (by we, I mean, many wealthy nations) don't do death, dying and deterioration well, do we? How awful to be alone as your ability to control your body fades away. My mother was a palliative care nurse, who bought home half a dozen people to deteriorate and pass over the years - it's an extraordinary journey to navigate with someone. Taking that phone call, talking to someone, as they travel that path is such an important, wonderful, special role to take upon yourself. I wish you and yours what is necessary to get through whatever time you have left, in whatever form it takes.

I am a little like you - I have thought very seriously about ending my own life in the face of catastrophic illness; not for the expense (I have state provided health care) but because I wouldn't want to burden those around me with my deterioration. I don't think I could though; at least my current desire is to face death, whenever and however it comes, full aware and accepting. But who knows what will happen when that time comes - catastrophic might change my perspective fundamentally.

On those examples I gave, I chose them very carefully, knowing that the developing world argument was likely. Somalia, you're right, is the extreme - it's a failed state.

Vietnam is striding toward middle income status, and few, if any, people starve (though, once the Mekong Delta is fully salinated in about 30 years, that is likely to change someone).

Australian Aborigines live in one of the worlds richest countries - there are endemic health problems and very challenging conditions in many remote communities, but again - no starvation; they're full citizen members of a wealthy, developed, rich nation.

I could have continued with other examples - the child of a meth or heroin addict born with addiction and associated behavioral issues; the boy that grows up in a gang culture where he's discouraged from participating in formal opportunities provided for him; the girl who grows up sexually assaulted by her step-parent; all of whom who were born and raised in a rich country etc...

I'm not making a claim to what needs to be done to make things better*. I vacillate enormously on the "what to do" question. But here's the thing - I don't want to know what you think should be done - I do want to know if you think something *should* be done. That's it.

I hear you on the life isn't fair (and heck, life isn't fair) but I want to know what comes after that - life isn't fair, and that's the end of it; or life isn't fair so we need to help 'those' people; or life isn't fair and that brings down for all of us etc..

Anyway - thank you, so much, for having this conversation with me. I really appreciate your willingness to share your thoughts with me. And again; nothing but the very best for you and all of yours as you walk the path you're on with your ex's parkinsons.

*FWIW, I do think humanity as a whole is making general strides to improving the very worst of difference. modern medicine, esp vaccination regimes and pregnancy and birth advances, have made fundamental differences to most people around the globe. there is less hunger than there was 50 years ago. there is less poverty. etc.... there are obviously also exceptions to all of these [and I know in the US, and in other states, there are many that believe you're going backwards on some of these indicators - I'm talking globally]. But this isn't really relevant, anyway. I just want to look at the underlying rationalisation of what it means for people to have an opportunity for the "good life", and if that entails an obligation. What that obligation might be is another discussion all together.

[MalteseBaby]

Human life exists within a broad spectrum of " qualities". Sometimes, a person evaluating some other culture may think that " normal" means life as the other person knows it. Sometimes, this isn't true.

There are many cultural differences which apply to knowing whether those living in cultures very different from ours need or want our help. I live in the country which stole the homes and land of its native people. This fact is a very humbling thing. It's probably the main reason I said in the beginning that it is not my place nor position to say who needs help or what help they need.

In the cases of natural disasters, like the hurricane in the Philippines, of course immediate humanitarian aid is needed, and long term support for rebuilding infrastructures is also necessary from countries with the abilities to help them. They have asked for help, and they are rebuilding with multi- national help.

There will always be people who are perceived to have disadvantages from birth or childhood experiences. I think it's necessary to evaluate each situation on an individual basis. I also believe that those in need in childhood often, if not always, need a long term qualified team of support personnel. For example, a child removed from a home with heroin or abuse and placed with an alternate caregiver may well need help learning how to parent well as a young adult because they weren't parented well themselves. I think this is where the U.S. system falls short. We treat the child, but then support drops off and out as the child reaches legal adult status. Then we wonder why the cycle of abuse or neglect repeats. It's because we haven't given the abused a new set of skills for life as they have defined what they each want their life to be.

I have 2 former clients who had sons with extreme developmental problems. Extreme meaning that they probably will not live independently but have their own wants and needs, some appropriate, some not achievable. I was very close to one of the mothers, whom I will call " B".

"B" treated her son as if he was unable to do anything. She worried about him with every breath she took, and her entire household was miserable because of her unhappiness. I met with and talked with her son many times over the course of my time with " B". I had her make a list of things that her son most likely or definitely COULD do, both around the house as a helper, and a short safe outing in our small town. She had maybe 4 things on her list. The more we talked about his day to day life, and I pointed out what I had observed during my time with him, the more things we identified together that he could do and had pride in doing. She had been stuck in inaction and negative thinking by her long-standing grief that her son was not " normal" or perfect.. She cried when she realized how much he could do with just a bit of help, despite his profound disadvantages. When she learned through family therapy that her son wanted to go to the movies without her, she allowed him to go with his friend, staying just outside the glass- enclosed lobby in her car the entire time. She started to let him find his wings. I watched the entire family grow through his small victories of independence. He is now living in a state-supported group home and he is well into his 30's now. "B" has told me several times that he is happy and the rest of the family is happy and has grown closer.

My other client, OTOH, was extremely defensive about her son's profound physical and mental disabilities. Her husband was a drug addict and an alcoholic who never achieved sobriety. He died of pancreatic cancer in his early 40's when their son was approx. 13 years old. I came to understand that she blamed herself for having a baby with a man who she realized after the fact might not have been a healthy sperm donor. She also had guilt related to the fact that her son had poor fetal development (IUGR) due to her own chain smoking, which is what her OB doctor told her.

So, she didn't enroll him in any early interventional therapies. No speech therapy, play therapy, anything else, and there were many options available to her and to her son which were provided by the state at no cost to her except a short drive. He didn't receive anything to help him.

Her final statement to me about her son was " He is the sweetest child in the world and I wouldn't change a thing about him".

He was 21 years old at the time, hardly a child. He wanted to be a truck driver. :) He probably wouldn't ever have qualified to be a truck driver, but there is a good possibility that he could have been trained to do some type of work he enjoyed related to trucks. Washing them, or working for a trucking company in some capacity with safety precautions in effect.

So, my experience with providing help for others is to make certain that the objectives and goals are congruent and that the desired results are achievable and sustainable.

I do believe, from first hand experience as a caregiver, that some people will not fall within the outliers despite many attempts to help them or their children on their level of understanding and belief systems.

My client who could not accept help for a child whom she did not believe needed help wanted her baby very much. I knew her before she became pregnant, and also during her pregnancy.

Life is not easy, and sometimes, life is not fair at all.

[jaelh]

OK, so corect me if I'm wrong but I see two things in what you're writing.

1. the idea of who needs 'help' and who doesn't is often externally imposed; often people can exist quite happily in conditions that are pretty awful by our standards.

2. interventions in childhood are important, and require that family members get behind and involved in the intervention process.

Is that about right?

I agree with you about both - wholeheartedly.

on the first one about creating states of 'helplessness' by deciding people so are. I think we do people massive disservice when we participate in a narrative of victimhood. acknowledging relative deprivation and disadvantage is one thing, but it's not the same as saying - well, you're deprived, therefore your situation is hopeless. I think this is a very damaging way of looking at people and the world. being poor is not a "bad" condition - there are many poor/disadvantaged people who live joyous, happy, well lived lived lives. I wholly agree, there is not a single human condition that = the good life.

None the less, I do think it's possible to make meaningful observations about how that relative advantage makes it real differences in not only what "the good life" looks like, but our ability to achieve it even within limited constraints. the example you gave of the philippines is a good one - the number of major typhoons now hitting the philippines coast annually is increasing each year. these are the most destructive typhoons to have ever hit the Phils:

Rank Names Dates of impact PHP USD Ref

1 Bopha, (Pablo) November 25 – December 9, 2012

2 Haiyan, (Yolanda) November 3 – 11, 2013

3 Parma, (Pepeng) October 2 – 10, 2009

4 Nesat, (Pedring) September 26 – 28, 2011

5 Fengshen, (Frank) June 20 – 23, 2008

6 Ketsana, (Ondoy) September 25 – 27, 2009

7 Mike, (Ruping) November 10 – 14, 1990

8 Angela, (Rosing) October 30 – November 4, 1995

9 Flo, (Kadiang) October 2 – 6, 1993

10 Megi (Juan) October 18 – 21, 2010

The Phils has a huge, ongoing, problem with tropical storms; Haiyan is just a one off. The ongoing problem is, IMO, more significant than any one storm.

So, what to do? The Phils government is currently implementing 40m no build zones back from the coast, in areas after disaster hits. you can imagine what a giant %&^up that is, right? 100feet back from the water. On a densely populated string of islands. Indeed, over 7,000 islands. With.. well, you can imagine how much coast there is, right? And every June - Feb, the typhoons come back.

Now - what a good life might look like against this backdrop - YES - fundamentally it would differ from ours. But that, IMO, isn't the only question - it's is it even possible to achieve "the good life" as storms threatening life and property increase every year; and the governance capacity of your state deteriorates further?

On the second one, I agree with you too - though I'd say that second boy's incapacity to enjoy "the good life", to the greatest extent possible, wasn't his fault either. I agree that, even given all the support possible, we still might not achieve good outcomes. and in your examples, clearly, support was given. but that's not a constant; and often, when suport is given, it can hinder as well benefit - it is, as you say, hard to get right.

But none of that is a reason not to seek to maximize people's ability to achieve the good life for themselves.

anyway. :) I hope you're doing wellin your neck of the woods and getting ready for a good weekend.

[DuggarsTheEndIsNear]

Sounds like an argument to permit gay marriage in Texas to me! Let's try it and see what happens--maybe that'll clear up the drought for a while!

It didn't help California.

Maybe the European god is different than the American god.

[MalteseBaby]

Thank you, Jaelh.

Regarding the issue of intervention into childhood crisis situations in the US, the point I probably failed to make is one I strongly believe in and that is the principle that interventionists help the child and hang around to help the young adult by providing a support system. A mentoring program for young adults who were children in crisis is lacking, IOW.

When a child is stressed in a dysfunctional living situation, they are not able to learn the growth and developmental skills we each develop within a certain age group in an unstressed situation. Removing the danger from the child is obviously the greatest and first step.

I have seen many young adults, who, because they never knew what normal was, had great difficulty establishing goals, setting limits, and distinguishing the positive pursuits in life. Our systems of aid end when a person reaches the age of legal adult usually. I would like to see a mentoring program available to all who were at-risk children such as those you described. Of course, it would be voluntary on the part of the adult children, but the help they could receive with parenting, with staying drug and alcohol free, with housing and life skills such as college, a trade school, a junior college, etc would be extremely helpful for them.

I hope you have a great weekend also. It rained almost day in this part of Texas!!! :)

[jaelh]

:) we've just had a full week of glorious drizzle after for months without a drop.

My garden has been celebrating :)

[Beb]

:) we've just had a full week of glorious drizzle after for months without a drop.

My garden has been celebrating :)

Careful.......poor, dumb god is at the mercy of some fervently righteous praying preacher who may forget to tell god when to stop.