I cannot even begin...

to describe how wonderful this week has been. I'm exceedingly grateful isn't superlative enough.

We tried to spend the mornings working on our individual studies and projects, and then spend the afternoons tooling around the little mountain towns. I have written before about my love for the mountains. I think it's the closest thing to God's country this side of heaven. I know Lisa Writes waxes poetic about the beauty of the beach, but I maintain my position that the mountains are cooler. Literally.

Husband and I have been coming here since the late 80's. We've been bringing our sons here since the 90's. We have history in this place. I can tell you where Chess threw a rock almost larger than himself into the creek, and then toppled in behind it. Where Pele stepped into a hole and dunked himself. And where the Chairman sat and played in the water till his lips were blue and his teeth were chattering, but he refused to leave he was having so much fun. We love these hills.

In recent years we have unfortunately noticed a growing trend of new ageism and counterfeit spirituality, of superstition and crystals, of idols and every stripe of perversion man's depravity can imagine, perform, and display. As a result, we have had to consider whether or not to bring our sons here again. We try to take every possible opportunity with our sons for discussion of the false ideas and thoughts that set themselves up against the truth of Christ. We believe that to be our diligence and responsibility as Christian parents.

My conflict is in whether or not I want to knowingly expose my children or myself to these things. Where is the line of teaching them truth from error and allowing them to see cesspool teachings as we walk down a street for ice cream? One argument is that we could continue to bring them here and just not frequent the more overt places. However, while that has been our tactic for the past three years, the incidence of overt to subtle has drastically changed to almost unavoidable.

I don't have a tidy answer to the question. I grieve that this vacation place has become tainted with the enemies' darkness. I know at the same time that Christ is victorious over darkness, and He has commanded us to be salt and light. Responding to that call means first realizing the reason and direction in the call.

So one of the things Husband and I prayed for this week was continued wisdom in raising our sons, even in where we would choose to vacation as a family.