New Year Resolutions…again
Ok, we all make them… every year we make them. What’s yours? I have several, here’s a few of them:
1. Writing – My wife and I want to finish our Children’s Book on Adoption
2. Blogging – get my act together this year and really expand the influence.
3. Reading – 40 books (10 “classics”, 20 ministry related, 10 just for fun)
Give us a few of yours…
Influencing the Next Generation Part 3 –Roadblock
One practical roadblock to influencing the next generation:
1. Self-centeredness
Matthew 19:14 – Don’t hinder the children …
Here’s the deal with kids… the quality of the relationship determines the extent of Influence
When communities of faith spend too much time making decision based on how they feel, how they communicate, the style of music they like, etc. they can slip into a place where they place themselves at the center of their world and forget to take up the banner of leading a younger generation. We need to be so careful as to not miss out on reaching this generation simply because we’re too busy focusing on ourselves.
Influencing the Next Generation Part 2 – Influencing
I remember growing up in here in Ohio and sitting next to an elderly Chinese man name Ty Mao. We sat on the left hand side of the auditorium, about three rows back. Every few months, the pastor would open up the microphone for “open testimony”. Every time, Mr. Mao would tell of his escape from communist China in the 1960’s with his wife and daughter. He would tell of how he watched many of his friends taken to prison and even put to death. He would tell of a particular time when soldiers came into this workplace and put gun to his head in order to shoot him right in front of his wife and daughter… only the gun wouldn’t work, it froze. After a short time, the soldiers lost interest in left.
Every couple months, Mr. Mao would tie my pew, which I sat in into a bigger story of God’s protection and grace. As a result of people like Ty Mao, I grew up with a REALLY BIG GOD.
I Corinthians 10:6
6Now these things happened as examples for us, so that we would not crave evil things as they also craved.
Paul writes to a community in order to be sure they remember the past as the head into an uncertain future. I influence this next generation every time I tie my story with their story…into God’s story.
Influencing the Next Generation Part I – Teaching
This short 3 part blog series is taken from a message that I gave back in April on Influencing the Next Generation. As we head into the Christmas season, a time filled with school programs, parties, and family traditions, it’s a great reminder that how we live day in and day out influences our kids. Dad and mom, you ARE the primary influences in your children’s lives…(note: it’s not that you should be… you are!) You will influence your children one way or another. It’s up to you as to which.
Back in 1998 my wife and I spent the summer in Ireland. I was completing an internship for my mission’s degree. While we were there one of the missionaries, an elderly man (late 70’s) and father of the team leader, announced that his colon cancer was back and that the outcome didn’t look promising. He announced to the group that they had decided not to do surgery, but instead to just let it go… We we’re amazed at how calm he was. Here’s the thing: a couple months later we were back in a similar meeting when he announced in the same calm and collected way that his last doctor’s appointment revealed that the cancer was gone. There was no way to explain it, the doctors were dumbfounded, but he wasn’t. He simply said, “Huh, isn’t that just how God works sometimes.”
As we left Ireland a couple months later I asked the man if he has any advice to give a young pastor just starting out. Here’s what he said,
“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” – Proverbs 3:5-6
Tom SHOWED me his belief in the God’s word. I saw his belief in action. We teach the next generation how to keep an eternal perspective by the way we live it out day in and day out.
Parenting Sound Bites
Heard this story a little while back:
One evening a little child named, Billy, was allowed to sit in his father’s place at the dinner table while his father was absent. His slightly older sister asked Billy, “So, you’re the father tonight. All right, will you help me with my homework after dinner?”
Without a moment’s hesitation, Billy replied nonchalantly, “No, I’ve got work to do. Ask your mother!”
Question: If your child(ren) were to give a few soundbites of you, what would it sound like?
Halloween Traditions
Ok… I told you that we we’re going to load up with candy this Halloween and WE DID!!! Only, we really like these times to actually mean something more to our family then “Tricking or Treating”. Here’s a little of what we did for Halloween this year. My wife wrote about our time (HERE)
…I am not a BIG candy buyer/spender or even Halloween costume spender for that matter (The clearance rack is my best friend!), but we do buy some candy to hand out to our neighbors. I wanna be a light for God right where we are and protesting buying a one bag of candy to share with my neighborhood probably isn’t gonna the best route to go, BUT as a family we do wanna GIVE more and LOVE more and make MEMORIES in the midst of doing so. So this year we did something DIFFERENT! We made a small change that I think we will make a TRADITION. Our church does service projects in our community and through this we heard that the local nursing home always has a Halloween party for friends and family, but no one comes. HEARTBREAKING. So after we went to some houses on our street and talked with neighbors, we piled in the van and headed over to the nursing home. BEST decision we made. The kids LOVED it and realized how lonely Holidays can be for some. Sometimes that knock on the door on Halloween is a blessing for someone else. Sometimes the joy of giving candy and hearing a “Thank You” is a blessing to the person who wanted to give. Sometimes seeing little people dress up and enjoy the one night they get to wear a crazy costume out in public is a blessing to someone else… (Read Full Article Here)
Halloween… No Halloween…
Not Sure where you all come down with Halloween and all, but our family carved Pumpkins last night and we’re loading up with candy tonight! If you’re going out tonight, have fun and be safe. If your not… still have fun and be safe!
Question for God
Yesterday, I had one of those “Dad moments”. My son came to me with a question while I was grilling dinner. His question? Why doesn’t God talk to us. After a few minutes of poorly attempting to explain HOW God talks, I finally gave up and said something like, “I don’t know why He doesn’t just TALK to us!” We decided to ask Him. Now, I’ll be honest with you, I’m a little nervous about this request, but here it goes… “God’s can you talk loud?”
Let’s see how he answers…
The Upside of the Internet for your child – Creating a private blog
Here’s an idea my wife and I got a while back. Our oldest daughter wanted a Facebook page, a cell phone, a college acceptance letter, and several other “grown-up” things… She was ten at the time. Being the parents that we are, we wanted to encourage her in her maturation so like most parents, we caved in and allowed our little girl to enter the Internet unguarded and minimally protected. Yah right! Not a chance. We said no to the Facebook page, no to the cell phone, and no to a half a dozen other things. BUT we wanted to be sure to say yes too. Here’s what we did:
I set up A PRIVATE blog for her. We allowed her to have her own space. She now runs a private blog called (none of your business) ok, that’s not the name of the blog, but it still isn’t any of your business what the blog is named… or what it’s about, or what all she says. See the beauty in it? We allowed her to invite her closest friends, and family members. I run the privacy settings so as a result, I’m the one who accepts and invites people to join.
Here’s what happened: she got her space to try out being a “grown-up” and we still get to keep her safe and guide her in this experience. If you were to go on her blog today you’d notice that the #1 people who comment on nearly every post is her biggest fans… Dad and mom. (The honest truth is, she’s awesome. You’ll discover this soon as I’m going to let this now eleven year old write a few posts here very soon.)
Bottom line: You can say yes sometimes without letting go completely of the reigns and hoping for the best. Stay engaged.
