Research Paper Tutoring

I have recently begun to reach out to my community as a tutor in a couple of different  areas. While most subjects work best with face-to-face interaction, I think that RESEARCH PAPER WRITING, since it includes deadlines, would be well-suited to an email course. Here is my reasoning for that: I am afraid that if students realize how friendly I am, they may turn in late papers, make excuses, etc.

Part of college prep is getting your student used to working within someone else’s parameters. It is important that they learn to follow instructions for page format, source stipulations, note-taking, draft requirements, length of final document, etc.

However, in these times we’re living in, I realize it is difficult for homeschool families (or anyone else) to squeeze even one more item into their budgets, no matter how much they believe their children really need the class. So, in lieu of offering weekly classes where everyone comes together to meet, this is what I have come up with:

I can create a five or ten week course that your child can take via email. I would help them every step of the way, from narrowing down a topic, taking good notes, avoiding plagiarism, arranging the outline, all the way through to the rough and final draft. I would charge $10 per project if the parents want to help their kids correct grammar and punctuation on the two drafts, and $15 if they wanted me to do it. (I don’t mind, but it is the most tedious part.) At the end of the class, I will send you a PDF copy of my ebook, Write an Outstanding Paper, for free.

The class could be taken one of two ways: via email or Eliademy (especially helpful if you want your college-bound student to get a taste for online classes).

I would like to open this opportunity up to not only my local homeschoolers, but anyone who would be interested here as well. Folks could pay for the course via PayPal (all you would need is my email address). Let me know what you think! Comments and suggestions will be greatly appreciated!

When a Loved One Hurts You

Last night, my pastor delivered one of the greatest messages I have ever heard him preach. It was from 2 Kings 4:1-7:

Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto Elisha, saying, Thy servant my husband is dead; and thou knowest that thy servant did fear the Lord: and the creditor is come to take unto him my two sons to be bondmen.

² And Elisha said unto her, What shall I do for thee? tell me, what hast thou in the house? And she said, Thine handmaid hath not any thing in the house, save a pot of oil.

³ Then he said, Go, borrow thee vessels abroad of all thy neighbours, even empty vessels; borrow not a few.

⁴ And when thou art come in, thou shalt shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons, and shalt pour out into all those vessels, and thou shalt set aside that which is full.

⁵ So she went from him, and shut the door upon her and upon her sons, who brought the vessels to her; and she poured out.

⁶ And it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said unto her son, Bring me yet a vessel. And he said unto her, There is not a vessel more. And the oil stayed.

⁷ Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, Go, sell the oil, and pay thy debt, and live thou and thy children of the rest.

My pastor went on to say that oil is a symbol of the Holy Spirit. We are anointed by the Holy Spirit, just as they anointed kings of Israel with oil.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed…(Luke 4:18)

Oil was all she had left in the house, but it was the only thing she needed. Just as the Holy Spirit is the only thing we need to sustain us. The empty vessels represent other people in our lives. And here is the gist of the message: it doesn’t matter how many people you pour yourself out to. You will never run out of the Holy Spirit in your life. There will always be enough left over for you.

I have a few friends that are pastors or other types of ministers. I was thinking today about how difficult it must be to be heavily depended on by so many lives. What a burden to feel responsible for everyone’s relationship with God. What a weight to know that your life is a witness to others, that they are looking at you to see if they can find true Christianity. To some extent, every Christian lives under a microscope, but pastors and their families bear the greatest burdens. These people, who are constantly pouring themselves out, constantly sacrificing their time, their sweat, their finances, and their emotions, are taking a great risk by loving the rest of us. I have discovered, over the course of my life, that those who are closest to us have the greatest opportunity to cause us grief. I cannot even think of a good enough term to describe how we make them feel sometimes. Turmoil, vexation, sorrow? None of those words seem adequate.

So tonight, I want to encourage you if you have been hurt by someone you love. My heart especially goes out to those who have made it their life’s work to minister to others, but the rest of us are affected sometimes too. The fact is, people, self-proclaimed Christians, hurt each other sometimes. When someone hurts me, I have learned to compare where they are right now to who I was nine years ago. I was living in a back-slidden condition then, purposefully sinning, and putting my entire family at risk. Yet I was still me. I was still under the grace and protection of God, and He was still working in my life. Not through me perhaps, because I had made myself unavailable to Him, but rather working on my behalf.

So if there is someone in your life that has hurt you deeply and has behaved unseemly toward you, perhaps they are not hypocrites after all – the first conclusion we want to jump to – but a work in progress. Perhaps this is a phase, and God is going to create something beautiful in their lives. I think that God not only looks at the whole person, but at the whole span of a person’s life.

One of my long-standing prayers has been to see people through God’s eyes. Now, some of us get really good at seeing unbelievers and new believers like that (hence the patience and call to deal with drug addicts, etc.). These are people who we view as needing our help. We look at them, and visualize a beautiful future for them, saved from the depths of despair by the majesty of God’s grace. In a way, I think we sometimes self-worship, and believe that it is due to something good in us that brings these folks to God. I think that’s why it is so easy for us to “help” them. Because we get some pleasure out of it and perhaps a pat on the back. That’s how I feel sometimes, even though in reality I know I am nothing, but a hopeless sinner saved by the grace of God. (Only I can know and understand the depths of my own depravity.)

But it’s 100x harder to see “mature” believers through God’s eyes. Especially if they are hurting us, or if they are in the process of indulging in sin. I’m not saying that I’m completely immune to having my feelings hurt by others, but if I can believe that these people are just short-sighted at the moment and are destined for awesomeness (I think of Paul’s conversion and ministry), then it is easier for me to find peace. And I hope that when I sin against others (and believe me, it will happen), they can extend the same grace to me. I hope they can look into my future and envision a time when I am no longer at odds with them, and a time when my sin no longer dictates my words and actions.

Wednesday evening at church, we all shared our favorite verses with each other. This is my favorite (Job 23:8-9):

8 Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him:

9 On the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him: he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him:

I believe this means that He is always working in our behalf, even when He seems completely absent. So every negative comment, every health struggle, every relationship issue, – it is all a gift from God to form us into the people He is perfecting. Romans 8:28 says:

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

Embrace it, believe it, make decisions based on it, treat others by it, live it.

The verse following my favorite passage (Job 23:10) says this:

But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.

Again, he is looking at the whole person. He knows your way – your life, your destiny. You can be at peace with everything that happens to you. But keep in mind that this verse also applies to every other Christian on the face of the planet. He is molding them, using their own situations and shortcomings to teach them.

I want to leave you with this, the favorite verse of one of my brothers in Christ. When he spoke the words Wednesday night, it immediately struck a chord deep inside of me (Psalm 119:165):

Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them.

Sincerity

A few blog posts back, I wrote about Discipling our Children. I mentioned four characteristics that I think are missing from modern Christianity. Although maybe it’s not just our “progressive society” at fault; perhaps there have always been a majority of lukewarm Christians. It would be kind of hard to tell by looking at historical documents, however, since mediocre believers generally don’t make as big of a splash or leave a legacy behind them. The world-changers are those who are sincere in their faith and willing to do whatever it takes to help the disadvantaged or reach the lost.

The four characteristics I mentioned were:

1. Sincerity

2. Obedience

3. Discipline

4. Compassion

So today I want to address sincerity. What is sincerity? According to Merriam-Webster.com, sincerity is “the quality or state of being sincere: honesty of mind: freedom from hypocrisy”. And the word sincere means “having or showing true feelings that are expressed in an honest way: genuine or real: not false, fake, or pretended”.

You might ask, what is honesty of mind? I think that means that you are honest with yourself. You aren’t trying to rationalize or make yourself feel a certain way in spite of what you believe is right. In other words, you aren’t trying to get by with behaving a certain way, all the while soothing your own conscience in order to sleep at night.

Freedom from hypocrisy, what does that mean? I really like this definition. It means we don’t believe or speak one way and act another. In other words, if you go around preaching tolerance, but cannot tolerate the intolerant, you are being a hypocrite. Either you don’t really believe what you are preaching in the first place, or you are offending your own conscience every time you fail to live up to your own standards. (This is not an argument supporting the whole tolerance movement, by the way. Rather, it is an argument against it. There are obviously some things we should not tolerate, but that is an issue for another post.)

How else can we apply sincerity to our own lives? Where do we find a lack of sincerity in the Christian realm?

Are we sincere in our belief? Do we really believe there is a Creator out there that loves us, watches out for us, gives us what we need, and provides a way of salvation? The first, immediate response would be, of course! We’re Christians, aren’t we? But then, if we truly believe that He has our best interests in mind, why do we have so much trouble obeying? Why do we think that our situation is the exception to the rule? Well, I know I’m not supposed to gossip, but… Or, I know I’m not supposed to watch this or go here or do that, but I really want to. It can’t hurt me that much…

I propose that the more obedient we are, the happier we will be. The more rebellious we are, the more miserable we will become over time. The most miserable people I know are those who have made a habit out of making poor choices. They make those choices because they just want to experience a moment of fun or laziness or danger. But one minute of sexual promiscuity, drunkenness, violence, driving recklessly, quitting a job, or yes, even gossip, can be life-changing. Think about the saddest person you know. How did they get that way?

Are we sincere in our trust? We say we trust Him with our eternity, but why do we fear death if that’s true? And if you can trust Him with forever, why can’t you trust Him right this very minute? Trust Him with your job situation or your relationship that’s falling apart. Trust Him with your health and your finances, all the while acting in obedience to His will. If you truly trust Him, you will find that you have no fear. You won’t fear people, situations, or the future.

What kind of Christian are you? Are you sincere? There is one way to tell:

Ye shall know them by their fruits.    ~ Matthew 7:16

Why I Believe

I know that everything in my life adds up. It all makes sense, like a puzzle coming together perfectly. Because of this, and because of the amazing things I read in the Word, and because of the wonderful things that science cannot explain (but the Word of God can), I find it easy to believe in God and to trust Him. Yet, somehow, I have difficulty explaining my belief to others.

I feel that salvation is not an argument to be won – as if I could somehow pass my belief along to others if I could only use the right words. Salvation – and by extension, Christianity – is not merely a philosophy or a way to live; it is something more. It is something that defines every aspect of the Christian’s life, informs every decision. It is a whole-hearted acceptance of the Creator-God and His authority, love, and forgiveness over your life.

I believe that those seeking Him will find Him, and those who choose to reject Him will overlook Him, even if He appears physically before them. (Let’s face it, it’s happened before.) However, I want my words, my actions, my very existence to be a testimony to the fact that He does indeed exist and take part in our lives. I want to be vocal and approachable for any potential seekers that come into contact with me or my writing.