Merry Christmas

A friend sent this to my wife, and I thought you would appreciate it for Christmas.

Jesus is Better than Santa
Santa lives at the North Pole.
JESUS is everywhere.
Santa rides in a sleigh
JESUS rides on the wind and walks on the water.
Santa comes but once a year
JESUS is an ever present help.
Santa fills your stockings with goodies
JESUS supplies all your needs.
Santa comes down your chimney uninvited
JESUS stands at your door and knocks.. and then enters your heart.
You have to stand in line to see Santa
JESUS is as close as the mention of His name.
Santa lets you sit on his lap
JESUS lets you rest in His arms.
Santa doesn't know your name, all he can say is "Hi little boy or girl, What's your name?"
JESUS knew our name before we did. Not only does He know our name, He knows our address too. He knows our history and future and He even knows how many hairs are on our heads.
Santa has a belly like a bowl full of jelly
JESUS has a heart full of love.
All Santa can offer is HO HO HO
JESUS offers health, help and hope.
Santa says "You better not cry"
JESUS says "Cast all your cares on me for I care for you."
Santa's little helpers make toys
JESUS makes new life, mends wounded hearts, repairs broken homes and builds mansions.
Santa may make you chuckle but
JESUS gives you joy that is your strength.
While Santa puts gifts under your tree
JESUS became our gift and died on the tree.
It's obvious there is really no comparison.
We need to remember WHO Christmas is all about.
We need to put Christ back in Christmas.
Jesus is still the reason for the season.

Christmas Blessings,
Dr. Paul

Do You Know What Your Teen is Texting?

The suicide of a 14 year old girl has highlighted again a serious problem among today's teens, sexting. Sexting is when teens send sexually suggestive or explicit pictures to one or more friends or romantic interests. This girl sent a topless picture of herself to a guy she was interesting in dating. He immediately forwarded it to some of his guy friends, who then forwarded it to their friends. Soon it was all over her school. She couldn't walk anywhere in school without people making comments to her. It quickly got to the point where she just couldn't take it anymore. Don't think this is some isolated phenomena. A recent survey found that one third of young adults age 20 to 26, and 20% of teens have sent a naked, or semi-naked picture of themselves via text messaging.
What many teens don't realize is once something enters the electronic media, it is there to stay. In addition, teens are being arrested for possessing child pornography, and trafficing child porn when maintain or send a sexually explicit picture through text messaging.
How should a parent of a teen respond? I recommend that you talk to your teen about this. Start by asking what they have seen or heard regarding sexting. Share with them your concerns and point out to them what some of the consequences are for doing this, or even recieving a message and keeping it on their phone. You might also ask your cell phone provider what options you have as a parent to monitor or block the text messaging your child does.
I don't know about you as a parent, but everytime I think I am catching up with the technology curve something else comes along, seemingly out of nowhere. Now, more than ever, stay in touch with your kids and be technology savvy.
Blessings,
Dr. Paul