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Feature Friday (06/28/19)

Tragedy! It strikes in the most peculiarly places and times. It affects all of us, regardless of age, gender, socio-economic class, race, and location. Tragedy is a human experience. To be human is to experience tragedy in some form.

The same horrible situation that affects adults can happen to children as well. The loss of a favorite item. The passing of a loved one. All of these and more happen to children like adults. As a parent there are many ways we want to respond to tragedy that hits our children, but what is one of the best ways to come alongside our kids in tragedy?

Brooklyn Lindsey shares an excellent article on this subject. Instead of offering advice, seeking conversation, or hoping to soften the blow, there is a better way.

Brooklyn shares how one of the best things to do when suffering rears it’s ugly head in any form is to “Huddle Up Close“.

Enjoy the read and as always be with the Lord’s people on the Lord’s day!

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Feature Friday (05/24/19)

It begins today. This marks the beginning of summer for our family. It is the day that our oldest son finishes his school year and our routine changes. We get some more freedom in our morning schedules and flexibility throughout the week. While all those are good things, that also means we lose other realities…like routine!

Any parent of young children will tell you how important routine is and I cannot agree more. However, as a dad, I want to ensure my children enjoy life as well so my wife and I are always having the “balance” conversation. “Are we balancing fun and freedom with structure and order well?” That is why I loved the article “Balancing Fun and Order” over at Parent Cue.

I encourage you and your family to have some fun today, but also enjoy the order and routine of life as well. And as always be with the Lord’s people on the Lord’s day!

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Feature Friday (04/26/19)

I did not know how to repair a screen door to ensure it slide more smoothly. So what did I do? My screen door repair lesson began that day in the form of a YouTube video tutorial. Like so many others when I am unequipped to do a task, I turn to the old trusty teacher…YouTube! All I ever wanted to know (and not know) about how to fix my problem was addressed. It was easy, quick, and informational. The reality is I am not the only one who turns to YouTube on a whim. Teenagers are turning to YouTube not just for simple tasks, but classwork help, relational advice, and much more!

Gone are the days when teenagers asked their parents, peers, or other people for help. On average, teens spend more time watching YouTube than any other video platform — including TV, Netflix, and movies. So what can parents do to engage their students and discuss Youtube? That is where “The Ultimate Parent Guide to YouTube” by Bark can be useful.

If you have a college age, teenage, or any aged student in your home, classroom, or church and you care about them this is a must read with many helpful hints (like setting up restricted access). I hope you enjoy the article, pass it along, and as always be with the Lord’s people on the Lord’s day!

Photo by Christian Wiediger on Unsplash

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Feature Friday (03/30/19)

12:10am is a timestamp that will remain in my mind for the rest of my life. I found myself in a hospital room. I knew it was coming, but I never knew how it would feel. 12:10am was a moment in time that changed the routine, thought-process, and course of my life. 12:10am was the moment in time when I became a father. I was now responsible for the provision, protection, and maturity of another individual. It was this last one, maturity, that concerned me the most.

How would I help my firstborn son grow? What would be the indicators that I was succeeding at raising a man not just a boy in a man’s body? There are so many things to consider and stages along the maturing process it can be overwhelming at time. To this day I still question if he (and my other children) are maturing as they should, not just physically, but spiritually as well.

While physical maturity is pretty easy to spot via the external indicators of size, weight, and other aspects; spiritual maturity seems a bit more nebulous or difficult to define and recognize. This is a question I have asked repeatedly and still wrestle with from time to time: how will I know that my children are maturing spiritually? What are the indicators? Jim Putnam wrote a great concise article on this exact subject titled, “The Biggest Indicator of Spiritual Maturity Might Not Be the Thing You are Looking For.”

It is a great article and Jim boils spiritual maturity down to the irreducible indicator to help me, you, and others recognize the greatest mark of spiritual maturity. So whether we are raising children, leading groups, discipling individuals, or pastoring people this article will prove extremely helpful in clarifying and simplifying what we should be looking for in those we lead.

As always be with the Lord’s people on the Lord’s day!

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Feature Friday (03/22/19)

Self-control. It’s funny how a desire that comes so naturally (control) can be so difficult when paired with the adjective (self). Control is something we desire so much in life. We want to control our schedule. We desire to control our workflow. We want to control results. The desire for control seems to come naturally to us, that is until what is needing to be controlled is our self. Nothing has taught me more about self-control than parenting.

I caught my son one day smashing to bits an older toy of his with a stick. My immediate response was, “stop”. But then I engaged and asked the obvious question, “Why are you destroying your toy?”. To which my son replied, “It isn’t working like it’s supposed to.” What was at the core of this situation? Control. You see my son in realizing he couldn’t control the toy as he desired, ultimately lost his control in the process. But I had to go deeper.

Why was he responding like this? What made him think it was ok to utterly decimate his toy in such a violent fashion? Why did he lose his self-control in this manner? So I asked him and the response I got crippled me on the spot.

“Dad, when you were fixing the lawnmower the other day and it wasn’t working, you started hitting it just like this“… Wow! Crippled. Humbled. Shamed. Yet accurate. It was at that moment I realized that if I wanted “The Simplest Way to Teach My Kids Self Control“, I would have to start with me.

This is the crux of the issue and heart of the article Jon Acuff writes over at Parent Cue. It’s funny and humbling how the age-old adage, “more is caught than taught” holds true in every form of daily life.

Enjoy the article and as always be with the Lord’s people on the Lord’s day!

Photo by Trym Nilsen on Unsplash

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Feature Friday (02/22/19)

Losing! No one likes to do it. No one plans to do it. And I have yet to meet someone who enjoys it. However, it was a large portion of my formative years. For 4 years of my sports career losing was normative. Over 4 years of high school football my school accumulated records of 2-8, 0-10, 0-10, 5-5. My cumulative record for high school football was 7-33. Not impressive. But glad that I am not alone.

Losing is horrible, but when you have others with you it’s at least bearable, most of the time. The one time that losing is unbearable even on a team is when you are the one to blame for a loss. While I am not a proponent of saying one play or one player wins or loses a game, the reality is some plays or players role has a much more visible factor in winning and losing. Such is often the case for kickers in football. Such was the case for Cory Parkey of the Chicago Bears in the 2018-2019 NFL playoffs.

Cory’s situation is a rough one and yet I think much can be learned and gleaned from the scenario. Most vital life lessons and character qualities are forged in the midst of loss, not realized through victory. These qualities are the ones I want to teach my children, which is why I loved and highly recommend Dan Andros’ article “Why I’m Telling My Sons to Be Like Bears Kicker Cory Parkey“.

If you are trying to grow children with character rather than just winners, check out the article. And as always be with the Lord’s people on the Lord’s day!

Photo by Ben Hershey on Unsplash

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