When parents send their children off on a yellow bus everyday, there’s an assumption that the children will be kept safe by the public school system. Recent reports of sexual abuse in the schools, however, have caused that trust to be questioned. Many families debate over whether or not to home school their children. It’s a serious commitment, often requiring sacrifice from every family member. In some places, like California, home schooling is highly restricted, so the stakes are even higher. This article is by no means the only ten reasons, or even the top ten reasons to home school. Rather, it’s a collection of facts taken from news headlines that remind us all of the dangers inherent in public school, which will hopefully help families make a wise choice.

After over a year of hard work, Child Refuge is publishing its first book, a novel entitled "The Glimpse". I wrote it as a fictional account of what our nation and world would look like if Christian youth continue to leave the church in droves. However, the story is based on a real dream my wife, Nikki, had in 2007. The dream was so powerful that it changed the direction of our lives, and played a part in the birth of Child Refuge. We pray that the story will be equally as powerful to those who read it. 

Some time has passed since Joe Paterno's funeral. The legendary football coach from Penn State did wonderful things for the university and touched the lives of many people. Inreading the news story of the funeral, I got a chance to see things from the point of viewof his biggest fans and family. Many people adored Joe Pat, and I can understand why. He did do many good things. However, during his eulogy, it was said that Joe was "a hero wronged". Obviously, this was a reference to the child sexual abuse scandal that broke out and resulted in the termination of several prominent staff members, includingMr. Paterno.

Every so often, things happen that jolt our awareness, that open our eyes to problems we didn’t notice, or chose to ignore. Such is the case with the Penn State child sexual abuse scandal.

Most people agree that child trafficking is a horrendous crime that should be punished to the fullest extent of the law, but if this is the popular opinion of society, why are child trafficking and child pornography so prevalent in the U.S. and all over the world?

I've read a few blogs about the challenges faced by convicted sex offenders after they have served their time and are released from prison. One interesting point was that some offenders went to prison for a consensual sexual relationship with an underage girlfriend, or for sexting, or even for urinating in public (though I've never heard of that one before). The point is, not everyone with the title "sex offender" is the same. Some have done things worse than others and yet they all get shunned by society once they're out.

This is a difficult subject to talk about, especially for those who have been victimized or are connected to victims, which is almost everybody considering the statistics. It’s something that stirs up emotions for everyone - anger, disgust, desire for justice. There’s no question that offenders must be punished. For the sake of the victims and the sake of the community, they need to be removed from society for a time and then closely monitored to prevent recidivism.

So, Warren Jeffs has been convicted to life in prison for sexual assault of a 12-year-old girl and 20 years in prison for assaulting a 15-year-old. Good. Thank God. Still, I can't help but think that one of the reasons why his punishment was so severe...I mean fitting... is because of all the press his case has gotten over the months, and the fact that he was the leader of a fundamentalist cult involving thousands of followers.

Church is not an institution, it's a family...

Like many American Christians, I grew up going to church, and my idea of what church is and how it works has changed over time. I used to think of church as a big building where everybody went to talk to God. Then, I realized that the real church was every believer in the world put together, not a building at all. Over the past several years, my understanding of church has changed even more, and I think it all goes straight to the core of what we do at Child Refuge - protecting children from sexual abuse, even within the church.

It was called Dreamboard, but for many child victims, it was a nightmare. The online members-only bulletin board granted membership to men from the U.S. and several countries around the world when they submitted child pornography of children age 12 and younger. Officials said some victims were infants.

Members had to continue submitting content to maintain their membership, and elevated access was given to those who submitted more. The highest status was given to those members who submitted photos or video made personally of them abusing children.

In America today, most people have what's called a post modern worldview. Part of this worldview includes the idea of relativism. We like to think of right and wrong as being relative. What “works” for one person may or may not work for someone else. It’s a great way to make everyone who has different beliefs feel comfortable. Rather than actually seeking to find out what the truth is, we sit back and say “oh well, it’s all the same”.  Sometimes, this works out okay. There are general things considered to be good, like feeding the poor, sheltering the homeless, etc. This makes us all feel good, as it should. Then, there are general bad things, like rape and murder. This generally makes people feel bad and angry.