Update: Jessica Hulcy Awake!

This arrived this morning (Tuesday):

Dear family and friends,

Jessica's Ford Explorer was broadsided in Melissa, TX about 11:30 on Monday morning. We think she was hit by a volunteer fire truck responding to an accident. After a 25 minute extrication process she was Life Flighted as a level 1 (the most severe) trauma case to Parkland Hospital in Dallas.

She is still in critical condition. Here is what we know so far:

1. She is still unconscious but is moving all four limbs and attempting to pull the tubes out of her throat which is encouraging to the doctors.


2. Major Lung trauma, punctures to both lungs. Both were collapsed. One is now working well and they are still draining the other. Doctors are checking for possible damage to wind pipe and trachea.


3. Head trauma. Medium amounts of blood on the brain. Closely monitoring this to see if it improves. Surgery not necessary now, but possible to come.


4. As of now multiple broken ribs on both sides, broken left wrist, broken left arm in 2 places. Will require surgery. Possible broken left leg and right wrist. She has undergone 4 hrs of X-rays, over 1000 X-rays taken so far. They are working the broken bones in the order of most life threatening so there is a possibility of more discovery of broken bones.

We will be sending out another email as soon as we know more. Thank-you for your prayers.

Jason Hulcy

Latest Update (Tuesday afternoon): from her son (via Lisa Guidry):

I was just in to see her and she was awake. She was squeezing my hand and could show 2 fingers upon command. She has always had a fear of not being able to breathe, more than the average bear, so please pray specifically for her to be at peace with her condition, as much as possible.

Praise the Lord with me... and keep praying!

Please pray for Jessica Hulcy - Unconscious After Collision with a Fire Truck

Jessica Hulcy has just been in a traffic accident; she was broadsided by a fire truck. She is alive but badly hurt, in critical condition but stable. Her lungs are collapsed. She has no broken bones. There is some brain trauma but nothing to operate on. She is unconscious. Back in the most challenging days of home schooling there were few options for curriculum. Abeka, BJU or write your own. Two neighbors wrote their own and developed one of the first widely used curriculums written for home education... vs a classroom. Jessica Hulcy, author of KONOS and national speaker... and friend of Texas home school families... Please keep her, the family and doctors in your prayers...

Her husband's name is Wade.

The BIG Announcement

The Most Distinctly Christian Home Discipleship Magazine

Homeschooling Today magazine is my favorite publication of all. I first read it right about the time James and Stacy McDonald bought it and have always loved the portrait it has painted of Christian family.

It was with great fear and trepidation that I accepted the role of Editor-in-Chief of the magazine when James offered it to me in the fall of 2006. A short three months later, James told me that God was calling him into more and more full-time pastoring in Peoria and that he was looking to sell the magazine.

Knowing that my good friends Steve and Kara Murphy wanted to purchase a family business that would allow Steve to hand off his construction business to two of his young protégés, I told them that the magazine was for sale. In February 2007, they bought it and kept me at the helm while Steve finished up his last construction/remodeling job.

Because of the increasing time demands on the McDonalds in the new direction the Lord was taking them, the Murphys inherited a production schedule that was almost a half-year behind. In the following twelve months, we worked very hard and with the Lord’s help published ten "bi-monthly" issues: something even some fans said couldn’t be done.

Going Strong
Now after two years, the magazine is on-track, has undergone a great redesign, just launched a new community-focused website, added a digital edition, and is in more capable hands than it ever has been.

The redesign is complete and in the talented hands of Erika Schanzenbach. Bookshelf and Beyond, where you can learn about the greatest resources available to homeschoolers, whether they be new books hot off the press, or tried and true standards from years gone by, is now under the close scrutiny of private homeschool librarians, the Cottrill family.

Instrumental in launching the new HST website, Ken Griffith will continue to tweak and fine-tune it, endeavoring to make it a community portal for all things related to the biblical family. A handful of capable men are making sure Homeschooling Helper, FirstYear, and The Father-Led Home e-newsletters and email blasts keep arriving on-time in your inbox to deliver encouragement between issues, right when you need it.

I have loved every minute of labor at Homeschooling Today magazine: communicating with writers and potential writers, working with editors and publishers, maintaining and updating the website, training customer service interns, speaking at conferences, and especially co-laboring with my friends, Steve and Kara Murphy. But best of all, I've seen God use the magazine to bless the lives of many: encouraging them in their daily walk to disciple their children, exhorting them to think biblically about curriculum, schedules, organization, college, marriage, government, entrepreneurialism, and so many other areas. I am grateful I have been able to serve Him here!

Now He's calling me to serve Him elsewhere.

Parting the Waters
During a Christmas trip to Texas, Amy's and my hearts were stirred to return to Texas to labor with the saints there, closer to our siblings and parents, that we may care and provide for them as the Lord allows. Thus, we began praying that He would move us back to Texas "soon." We pictured paring down our belongings, beginning a job hunt, finding someone to whom I could hand off the labor at Homeschooling Today magazine (but also knowing I could do much of the work remotely as long as high-speed internet was available), preparing our house to sell, and looking for new digs as soon as God revealed my next position.

We arrived home after almost four weeks on the road and began seeing His answer to our prayers the very next morning, when Steve let me know that the long-term plan for keeping the magazine financially strong would require letting me go. This is the second time God has closed employment doors for me here in SW Virginia, which tells me He heard our prayer and was answering our request to return soon.

Editorial oversight will now rest in the capable hands of Steve and Kara Murphy with the trusty help of long-time friend, supporter, and prayer warrior, regular contributor and former Managing Editor, Marilyn Rockett, who was indispensible to me when I wore the Editor-in-Chief hat.

And though He closed a door here before He showed us the one He will open in Texas, it is clearly His hand moving us, directing our hearts like a watercourse "wherever He pleases" (Proverbs 21:1). Our response is to trust Him and begin our journey to the land He will show us.

But, This is a bad time to try to sell a house. And, We’re in a recession. Don't you know that Folks are being laid-off all over the country?

The waters have not yet parted though we move toward the shore while the river overflows its banks (Joshua 3:14-16) and threatens to wash us downstream. We look forward to seeing Him part the waters, allowing us to cross over on dry ground.

New Work
In addition to the new employment we trust He will show us, God has given Amy and me personal success and a voice to help others save lots of money in these difficult times by using coupons to lower their monthly grocery spending. (See In the House of the Wise for details. And look for an upcoming online training class.)

For those of you liked Inherit the Land produced by Franklin Springs Family Media (http://www.franklinsprings.com/) and hosted by yours truly, I hope you will be pleased to learn that I am working on a couple of more projects with Ken Carpenter. Both projects are still in the infancy stage but I am very excited about their potential to deliver a powerful message.

As always, I will continue to be an advocate for home education, writing and publishing where He allows. In that vein, there are some other potential projects in the works that I hope to share with you soon when I have more details and they’re ready to go public.

Not Forsaken
Please join me in praising God and thanking Him for His promises and His provision for my family up until this day and for what He is going to do.

I have been young, and now am old;
Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken,
Nor his descendants begging bread.
—Psalm 37:25

P. S. Resumes are available on request and a list of my work history and qualifications are available on LinkedIn: www.LinkedIn.com/in/JBHoward.

Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!

In light of today's elections in the United States, I want to draw your attention to God's work in the town of Nineveh in the days of Jonah. Many look at today's elections and are fearful that we are going to get a leader who will oppress us. Others see that whichever of the front-runners wins, it will be judgment on our country. What we need, they say, is a miracle.

No Guarantees

Talking vegetables notwithstanding, most folks know the story of Jonah. They know he was swallowed by a big fish for disobeying God. But most do not realize that Jonah was not sent to Ninevah with the message: "Stop sinning."

God's message for Nineveh was "Nineveh shall be overthrown." Jonah did not call them to repentance. In fact, chapter four of Jonah tells us that he did not want them to repent. He wanted the city to be destroyed for its crimes.

But, God turned the hearts of the people of Nineveh. They believed God, and fasted and prayed and grieved over their sin, "from the greatest to the least of them." After the people repented, the king of Nineveh heard and called for a fast.

"Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; do not let them eat, or drink water. But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily to God; yes, let every one turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who can tell if God will turn and relent, and turn away from His fierce anger, so that we may not perish?" —Jonah 3:7b-9

The king had no word from God that there was any hope for mercy on Nineveh. But he chose to lead the people to spend their "final days" in prayer and fasting, denying themselves, and turning away from evil.

But God DID relent.

God Judges Nations

"He makes nations great, and destroys them;

      He enlarges nations, and guides them." —Job 12:23

Throughout the times of the Judges and the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, godly and ungodly leaders reigned. Some were magnificent; some were cruel. But the judgment pronounced on the nation was that the people did what was right or wrong in God's eyes. If they followed the practices of an evil leader, judgment came as a result of the people's actions, not the leader. (The leader suffered the consequences of his own sin, to be sure. And causing others to stumble carries a hefty penalty.)

When judgment comes on a people, it comes because the people have forgotten God. They have done what is right in their own eyes. They have followed in the sins of their fathers.

Our fathers, a generation ago, made the murder of the most helpless of society a right. But, that stemmed from generations prior disbelieving God when He said that children are a blessing, and a reward from Him.

Around that same time, women began to throw off the safety and responsibility of hearth and home, choosing different chores instead. In the name of equality, they have devalued themselves, so that now they are no longer protected within the home, but are expected to place their lives on the line for their country.

And our country is under judgment. Consider the divorce rate; look at the crime rate; see how heavy is our tax burden; think of the laws that restrict our very lives. "Sign, sign, everywhere a sign. Blocking out the scenery and breaking my mind. Do this, don't do that. Can't you read the signs?"

Removing the Log

In Economics, the Law of the Commons tells us why whales are endangered and cows are not. It comes down to ownership. Cows are the private property of the rancher. He takes responsibility for his cattle, for their health, their survival and multiplication. Whales belong to no one. If one whaler doesn't kill all he can, another whaler will. There is no incentive (or protection) to save some to protect the species. They're succeptible to "just one more" until there are no more.

Judgment is the same way. As long as we point to other people's sins and THEIR responsibility to do this, don't do that, we sin "just one more" time. "It's just a little white lie." "My employer won't miss one box of staples, one pen, one marker, one minute of my time." "It won't hurt if I just take one peak at that internet site." "I'll place one vote for the lesser of two evils; next time I'll fight for more righteousness." Ad infinitum.

Yes, pray for miracle; pray for deliverance. But, first pray for a heart of repentance. I have no word from the Lord that our destruction is coming in forty days, but given our current course—as history shows us—bondage and captivity are coming.

Lord, teach us to loathe our sin. Remove our hearts of stone and replace them with hearts of flesh that cry out, "Abba, Father." We are children caught with our hand in the cookie jar. We need your forgiveness; we need your righteousness. We dare not ask for your justice to be poured out on your enemies, for we know that we would perish in its wake, were it not for the blood of Christ alone. Rend our hearts over our own sin, and help us not to commit "just one more" sin against you. Thank you for your grace and mercy upon us. Amen.