For those who haven't gathered, I am a conservative Christian. And I am unapologetically so.

As conservative Christians, who homeschool our children, we are careful about the curriculum we choose. When the kids were younger, that extended to the books we had in our library.

And so it was a surprise to us when we saw that a popular children's book series contained some material that we considered VERY offensive. We began to pick through the books to decide if we needed to get rid of the entire series (my rule: donate them to charity. I won't SELL to someone else materials I find offensive). Our children were assisting in the process.

As I grabbed one book, I decided it should be tossed. My oldest, then six, said "I know why", and turned to the part of the book we considered offensive.

That got me to thinking. As much as I want to protect my children from some of the "bad" things out there, I just can't. Just as you can't protect yourself from being a victim of crime by staying home, you can't protect yourself from bad philosophies by shielding yourself from them. They can, and will, discover a world out there that is antithetical to everything we believe.

And so, I realize, we must EQUIP them. Teach them our standards, give them the tools to make responsible decisions, and, when the time comes for them to make them, hope and pray that they make the right ones.

For you see, we won't always be around. Much as we'd like to, there will come a time when they will have to make some very hard moral choices. And if we have always made them for them, we can't guarantee they'll be the right choices. There may be a natural attraction to abhorrent lifestyles, because, let's face it, some of those lifestyle choices are fun, at least on the surface.

The best gift I can give them is a firm understanding of right and wrong. And the right and dignity to choose for themselves, knowing that I will always love them, even if I don't necessarily love their actions.