Happy Sunday

"What is a Child?"

A child is someone with the energy of an atom, the subtlety of a bulldozer, and an imagination that would challenge the creative effort of the most able science-fiction writer. 

A child, unless he is asleep, is in constant motion. He is a noisy, restless, squirming bundle of energy. But, for all his exuberance, a child is the most sensitive of God's creations. 

A child thrives when time is taken to answer his many questions, when he is encouraged to develop his many talents, and, most important, when an untiring effort is made to help him broaden his own reasoning powers. But each time that he is brushed aside, or ignored, as if consideration and justice were reserved solely for grown-ups, he wilts a little.

A child is notorious for being inattentive, forgetful, and - that most grievous fault - a daydreamer. If allowed to use his imagination, he will explore and travel a universe of concepts, which will enrich and become a part of his life. If squelched and repeatedly reminded to be "practical," he will eventually retire to his own little world.

A child can consume much of your time. He can try your patience. He can exhaust your energy. But what greater reward for all your effort than to see his face radiant with a sense of accomplishment: the discovery that he has it in his power to manipulate a whole new world of knowledge and ideas.

- Mathew

Daily Smile:

Q. Who takes care of the farm when the farmer is sick?

A. The pharmacist

In The News:
Iran Convicts Six Christian Converts

Six Iranian converts to Christianity were convicted of crimes related to their membership in a house church, according to World Watch Monitor. Mohabat News, which reports on news of Christians inside Iran, published a report on June 16 claiming that four men, a woman and her teenaged son were convicted by a Revolutionary Court in Shiraz, in southwestern Iran. The four men were found guilty of attending a house church, spreading Christianity, having contact with foreign ministries, propaganda against the Iranian regime and disrupting national security, Mohabat reported. The news service identified the men as Mojtaba Seyyed-Alaedin Hossein, Homayoun Shokouhi, Mohammad-Reza Partoei (Koorosh) and Vahid Hakkani. Each was sentenced to 44 months in prison. Hossein and Shokouhi each received an additional eight months. Also convicted was Fariba Nazemina, who is the wife of Shokouhi, and her son, Nima Shokouhi. Mohabat did not specify the crimes for which the mother and son were found guilty, but reported that each received a suspended two-year prison sentence.

House Approves Bill Banning Most Abortions After 20 Weeks

The Republican-led House on Tuesday passed a far-reaching anti-abortion bill that conservatives saw as a milestone in their 40-year campaign against legalized abortion, Fox News reports. The legislation, sparked by the murder conviction of Philadelphia abortionist Kermit Gosnell, would restrict almost all abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, defying laws in most states that allow abortions up to when the fetus is considered viable, usually considered to be around 24 weeks. It mirrors 20-week abortion ban laws passed some states and lays further groundwork for the ongoing legal battle that abortion foes hope will eventually result in forcing the Supreme Court to reconsider the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that made abortion legal. The bill passed 228-196, with six Democrats voting for it and six Republicans voting against it. In the short term, however, the bill will go nowhere; the Democrat-led Senate plans to ignore the bill and the White House has already issued a veto threat.