Happy Friday

“A day has been well spent,

when you include God in all you did”

Too often in Christianity, that’s about all that God gets. Weekend Visitations. So often we treat God as our divorced father, one who has weekend custody. Yet, with weekend custody we only wish to give our father a couple of hours on Sunday, because we have other things to do. Once a week is all some think about Him. Many Christians only visit, or call on God when there is trouble, hard times, barriers, or when they are seeking answers. Simply put, God is asking for full custody not temporary visitation to fit our needs.  Typically children from broken families, foster homes, or divorce yearn for a relationship, love, comfort and affection from parents not just an occasional timed scheduled event. This is the same guardianship God longs to have with His children. More often than not the root cause for people shunning from relationships with God is lack of desire, time or the belief of solving one’s own problems. Believing that an occasional prayer and thanksgiving is all that is needed to have a relationship is far from the truth. These warped thoughts drive a wedge deeper between God and His children.  The question we ask our selves can’t be; “What would I like to do, but heavenly Father what would you have me to do?” The dying words of Paul reflect a Christian who had given full custody of himself to Jesus. Sadly enough, we are in a spiritual custody battle between satan and our heavenly Father. The Good thing is, we have the right to choose who we want to live with eternally. It’s our call do we want just weekend visitations or can we let go and allow God full custody of our life?

Daily Smile:
A family of skunks was trapped in a thicket, surrounded by a pack of hungry wolves that were edging even closer. The Mother skunk calmly instructed her young: "Quickly children, let's put our heads together!" After they obeyed, forming a circle, she continued, "Now—Let us spray!"

In The News:
Bullied Kids More Likely to Commit Crimes as Adults

People who were bullied throughout childhood and adolescence are more likely than others to engage in delinquent or criminal behavior later in life, a new study finds.

In the new research, scientists found that about 14 percent of those who reported suffering repeated bullying through their childhood and teenage years — up to 18 years of age — wound up serving time in prison as adults. In comparison, 6 percent of people who did not experience bullying ended up in prison.

"Most studies focus on a relatively narrow period of the life course, but I looked at victimization from birth to age 18 and then associated that with legal outcomes — whether they got involved with substance abuse, got arrested, convicted or were sent to incarceration," said Michael Turner, an associate professor in the department of criminal justice and criminology at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte.

In his analysis, Turner found that compared with nonbullied individuals, victims of bullying had higher rates of criminal conviction. More than 20 percent of those who were bullied throughout childhood and adolescence were convicted of crimes, compared with 11 percent of nonvictims. Sixteen percent of individuals who experienced childhood bullying, up to age 12, were convicted of crimes, with 13 percent of victims who were bullied during adolescence (from age 12 to 18) experiencing similar legal outcomes later in life. "But chronic victims — those who were bullied in childhood and adolescence — had the highest odds of adverse legal outcomes."

Turner presented the findings at the American Psychological Association's 121st Annual Convention.

Source: LiveScience