Ted Atchley's Blog, page 5

Should I let my child have a Facebook account?

In this post, I examine what we did as a family when confronted with the question,“Should I let my child have a Facebook account?

“When my daughter turned thirteen, she became legal to sign up for her own Facebook account. At the time my wife and I decided she wasn’t ready. Iknew I had to start the transition through the four stages of fatherhood with her and move from Commander to Coach on the issue of Facebook.

A short time after her fourteenth birthday, we decided to let her sign up and begi...

Top Five WordPress Theme Mistakes

I’ve been looking around for a new theme. I don’t mean to be so picky about my theme, but I am.

Over the past few days I’ve looked at probably 100 themes. I’ve checked out dozens through “Live Preview”, and I’ve tried at least a half dozen live on my site.

As I’ve surveyed these themes, I’ve noticed some common mistakes. These were big reasons why I decided to not use a particular theme.

If you make themes, you might want to see if your themes have any of these issues.

If you are looking for a th...

Pardon Our Dust

I’m experimenting with some different themes for my blog. WordPress doesn’t have a great way of letting you try out new settings and themes other than putting them “Live” on your blog.

Things may look a bit…wonky for a little while.

Thank you for your patience.

The post Pardon Our Dust appeared first on Ted the Third.

Which One? Samsung Galaxy S5 or HTC One M8

This weekend, I have to replace my phone. I’ve narrowed the field to two, the Samsung Galaxy S5 or the HTC One M8. I initially wanted to look at a Samsung Note 3, but the Note 4 is coming in the fall. While I can’t wait for the Note 4 to be available, I don’t want to buy a Note 3 so close to the end of its life.

I’m firmly established in the Google ecosystem. I’m not interested in going to iPhone or Windows Phone this time around.

I’m currently using a Motorola Droid RAZR.

I’ve done research on...

What Happens at a Church Easter Egg Hunt?

Last Easter, Patrick Phillips of Patrick’s Place talked about the controversial question of Should Churches have Easter Egg Hunts?My church answers that question in the affirmative. But what happens at a church Easter Egg Hunt? I can’t tell you what happens at every church, but I will show you what happens at mine.

My Church

Our church holds an Easter Egg Hunt the Saturday before Easter. Dozens of children and their parents show up. Most are families that call our church home, but others are fr...

How To Handle Baptism for Children?

A reader asked me a question about handling baptism for children.

(not my kid)

Out of curiosity (you don’t have to answer), how did you handle baptism for the children?

I know families that say, Oh, well, we will let the children decide when they are old enough.

Next, I know families that baptize their babies in the belief that “they can’t decide! they’re children! If they don’t want to do their chores, we make them. So much more so when it comes to their souls.” Those children go through Confirm...

The Relationship Fractal

My friend Paul shared an observation with me recently and the more I grasp it the more I see it challenging everything in my relationship pyramid (better man, better husband, better father). As always, Paul’s outstanding teachings can be accessed on iTunes.

It starts with understanding the concept of a fractal. The best definition I’ve read of a fractal is a self-similar, repeating pattern.

Math, Science, Nature

Mathematicians illustrate with this with the Sierpinski Triangle. Wikipedia calles i...

Richard Sherman’s Failure

Are you nuts? Richard Sherman isn’t a failure. He’s a champion!

This is true. But to get to that championship ending, Richard Sherman faced a moment where he had to realize he had failed.

By now, even those who don’t follow football know about Richard Sherman, the bombastic cornerback of the Seattle Seahawks. What most people don’t know is that Richard Sherman is a failure, and that his failure has the potential to teach us about finding our own calling and greatest gifts.

When Richard Sherman w...

Patrick’s Place Guest Post: Why the ‘Deathbed Confession’ Works

Today, I’m guest posting on Patrick’s Place “Regular Doses of Common Sense”.

Patrick

Patrick did a great post where he asked Can a Deathbed Confession Really Get You to Heaven? I enjoyed his response, but I wanted to take a different tack on it. It started as a comment, but as I blew past 500 words and I still wasn’t close to being done, I knew that wasn’t going to work.

I thought about just making it a post here like I did fromCan You Have Christ Without the Bible? However, during the last Blog...

The Kindle Fire: A Year Later & What I’d Do Differently

Last year about this time I was struggling with what tablet/ereader device to buy. I eventually settled on a Kindle Fire.

The core question came down to spending the money on a device that would only read books, or spending a little more to get a device that would also play movies, music and games?

On the whole, it’s been wonderful to have a device that does all that. When I took a business trip, all I needed in my carry on bag was my Fire. I could watch TV1, read a book, or play a game. On the...