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Back to School Prayer Acrostic
A couple weeks ago, my son bounded down the stairs before I left for work, proclaiming, “I am so excited!” “Why is that?” I asked. “I get to start Kindergarten,” he proudly proclaimed. Then he marched over to our fridge calendar and showed me how many days until the start of the school year. My older daughter, on the other hand, isn’t so sure she wants summer to be over. She’s nervous about a new class and fears it won’t be as fun as last year. Whatever your situation—starting school, packing a child’s lunch, or slowly sipping pumpkin lattes—chances are you’ve got a lot on your mind. Yet, no matter…
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Pursing Fruitfulness in our Children’s Discipline
For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. — Hebrews 12:11 Every time God disciplines one of his children, he has a clear goal in mind. He wants us to bear fruit—to become more and more like our holy God so that we exhibit the characteristics that he so perfectly embodies. As Christian parents, we seek the same goal. Although we are broken, imperfect people, we seek to see God’s fruitfulness take root in our children’s lives. But how do we get there? How do we pursue fruitfulness, especially as we…
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Living Life with Others
I recently attended a convention that inadvertently brought me much needed rest. For the first time—ever—I traveled away from my husband and kids for more than two days. I chose, over the course of my family’s life, not to stay away from them for over forty-eight hours at a time. Call me crazy, but I don’t regret it. Not. One. Bit. It’s now almost twenty-six years since I looked into the eyes of my beloved and I answered with the words, “I do” until death do us part. Dinner, a movie, and a baby or three later, I found myself holding children. Good ones, too. When the…
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WHY IS IT SO HARD TO RAISE UP A GODLY GENERATION?
If as teachers and parents our faith is in Jesus, our text book is the Bible, we’re indwelled by the Holy Spirit and want God’s will for our children, why are so many of our grown up children leaving the church? Why is it so hard to pass on our faith to the next generation? Dr. Paul David Tripp encourages us to look for the answer in the Gospel message, “Parenting is a sinner seeking to give guidance and wisdom and grow a sinner. No wonder it is hard. No wonder we need God!” The more I hear what Dr. Tripp has to say, the more I am convinced that…
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Why Didn’t Anyone Tell Me This Before?
About 3 weeks ago I helped officiate a funeral for a 14-year-old girl that lived about 4 houses down from my home. She had taken her own life on New Year’s Eve and was discovered by the girl’s mother on New Year’s Day morning in their own home. An unbelievable tragedy to say the least! I knew the girl because her parents had attended our church for about a year and she was in 3rd grade at that time. I remember that little girl as this sweet, bright-eyed girl who loved to talk about her animals that her family had. One day at church, I had decided to present the…
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Three Responses to Charlottesville
Like many of you, I watched in disbelief as white supremacists spouted bigotry, violence, and KKK rhetoric last weekend at a “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, VA. For a brief summary of the weekend’s events and aftermath, see: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/13/us/charlottesville-virginia-overview.html I’ve noted two common responses to the persistent racial and political divide in our country: 1) Us vs. Them. Whether it’s Democrat vs. Republican, black vs. white, black vs. blue, male vs. female, gays vs. straights, or Cowboys vs. Redskins, a “vs.” in the middle necessarily puts one group in complete opposition to another. Dividing ourselves into ideological categories is a natural way of expressing our identity, heritage, and values.…
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Teaching our Kids about Pain, Suffering, and Hope
“God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.” It's a popular mantra we recite to children in our churches. And it's true. One of the greatest lessons we can teach our kids is that God is good and gracious—it's the heart of the gospel, the anchor of our faith, and what sets our beliefs apart from other world religions. But there's more to what we believe. And sometimes we miss it until we walk through pain and suffering and are forced to confront the fact that Christianity isn't easy. Walking with God, in the most complete sense, certainly involves struggles and even loss. I remember being faced…
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How Patriotic is Too Patriotic?
This month I’ve been thinking about what patriotism means to many Christian families in our country. When my husband and I moved to Texas 7+ years ago, I experienced more culture shock than anticipated. Have you seen that bumper sticker that says “I wasn’t born in Texas, but I got here as quickly as I could”? Well…that wasn’t on our car. Some joke that “everything is bigger in Texas.” It’s surprising how sometimes even little things contribute to that perception. I opened the mailbox one afternoon, and out popped our new car insurance cards. They were 4 times the size of any other I had ever seen thus far in…
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A Free Evangelism Gospel App for VBS
What we know as “Vacation Bible School,” originally began as “Everyday Bible School” at a New York beer hall in 1898. According to a Lifeway article: “Initially, it was a plan of a compassionate doctor’s wife who sensed a need to get children off the streets of New York during the summertime. Mrs. Walker Aylett Hawes went to New York City from Charlottesville, Virginia, with her husband who was specializing in a medical ministry to children. She noted that many of the children attended to at her husband’s clinic received injuries as they played in the streets of New York City. She surmised that they needed something safe and…
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A New Generation of Christ Followers
Children are the future generation of Christianity and we are commanded to pass on to them the teachings of the word of God. Deut. 6:4-7 NET BIBLE “Listen, Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! You must love the Lord your God with your whole mind, your whole being, and all your strength. These words I am commanding you today must be kept in mind, and you must teach them to your children and speak of them as you sit in your house, as you walk along the road, as you lie down, and as you get up.” A poll that was done by Child Evangelism Fellowship shows…