Family

Holding my little girl and saying a prayer…sharing Jesus with her every day through prayer.

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My daughter Ella has had a rough couple of months as we have transitioned to a new place. She has struggled in our new place.  No it isn’t anything anyone has done. No I am not going into the second grade and having to beat up some boys and girls for not making her feel welcome.  She is just having a hard time not seeing her Mom and Dad as much every day.  Transitions can be difficult.  Childhood can be difficult.

For the first two months at St. John I had a kid who just cried and cried every time I dropped her off.  So about two weeks ago I tried a different tactic. I said Ella if we are going to cry every day I am not going to walk you to class.  I also said when we go down to her class I would pray for her right at the door and send her into class if she promised to be brave.  It is now the best part of my day.  I get down on my knees, hold her forehead to forehead and look her right in the eyes and pray for her out loud. My prayer normally goes like this, “Dear, Jesus help Ella to have a great day.  Help Ella to not be scared.  Help Ella to not get crushed by a boulder…(She smiles about that one) Help Ella to see Jesus. Amen!” I then give her a kiss, a high five and send her off to class. It has totally changed the daily routine.

It really made me think these last few weeks about praying for my kids. I do it every day.  Recently I have seen the power in letting them see me pray for them. It is not for show it is so they know God is watching over them.  It is a way for me to speak Jesus into there lives.

As a parent, grandparent, brother or sister I would encourage you to pray for your family. From time to time pray out loud in their presence.  It is another way to share Jesus in their lives.  It may be one of the most powerful ways to show Jesus and His love to those around you. God bless you as your walk with Jesus this week.

Rest is so hard…teaching our kids to rest in Jesus.

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I have Mondays off. It is the one day a week I get to have off and I try to guard it like crazy.  Well mostly that is true. Honestly my wife is the one who guards it best because she knows if I didn’t get my rest I will be cranky and out of control20151006_064921.

When I was in High school I spent three weeks of my summer in Puerto Rico for a mission trip.  I spent that amazing time getting to know some of the people there and would love to go back just to experience that place again.  They taught me a whole host of things but the thing I remember taking away from my time with them was how important rest was to their culture.  You see every day they had a siesta.  It was a time when the whole country shut down for the most part and people were expected to rest.  I remember being told by one of the people there that we Americans didn’t enjoy life because we didn’t rest enough. We ran from thing to thing never enjoying the times God gave us to rest.

My life seems to moving faster and faster.  I feel more tired and enjoy my life in Christ less and less.  My kids feel it too.  I am afraid we as a family are too busy with life to enjoy our time in rest in Jesus.  We as the family of God need to slow down and rest.  We need to spend time in resting in Jesus.

So how are you resting?  Are you resting?  I know I am not resting nearly long enough.  I am running too fast and ultimately teaching my kids to run to fast.  Let us all find those times to slow down and rest. Let us teach our kids to rest.  The laundry will be there tomorrow, the school work will be there tomorrow, the office work will be there tomorrow.  Let us rest in Jesus. Let us teach our kids to rest in Jesus.  To focus our time on rest.

28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30 (NIV)

Youth and family ministry to 80 year olds…Listening to the stories, being the family of God

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This week I had the joy of sitting with an old friend.  Someone I have known for a little over 5 years who I think of as an amazing grandma in the faith.  I have seen here many times at Church and today I had the privilege and joy of spending just a few moments talking with her at her house as I move away.  I wasn’t planning to see her but I had to make a visit because she had something in needed.  Jesus was at work in all this.  We laughed, we cried, we shared a moment together and she got to unload some of her story I have never heard before.  It was a moving moment and I have to say thank you to Jesus for letting me have a reason to see her one last time. I don’t know if I helped her but I do know I got to be Jesus for her today. It was one of my greatest moments in youth and family ministry.

You heard me right.  Youth ministry isn’t just about talking with teens, or children.  Youth and family ministry is about being in the lives of people.  Being in the lives of the family of faith.  Family and Youth ministry isn’t just about young people, young families, and little children it is about the whole family.  You see our more seasoned members need people to listen to them.  To care for them.  To pray for them.  Our family is bigger than just the young.  Our family is whole of the body of Christ.

For those of you who work in Youth ministry I want to remind you of something so important.  Seek out the seasoned members of your congregation.  Pray with them. Ask them to pray with you. Listen to them, and be there for them. They are a part of the Church as well. They are important to your ministry.  Jesus has allowed me to have some pretty amazing people walk with in my life.  People who wouldn’t be considered kids, but people who have allowed me to share Jesus with them.  I love that they let me and I love that Jesus puts us in those places.  May God put you in a place to day to be Jesus to someone.  To listen and to offer hope in their lives.

Prayer: Thank you Jesus for letting me walk with youth both young and old.

We ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters,[a] and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love all of you have for one another is increasing 2 Thessalonians 1:3 NIV

Rinse, Lather, Repeat…Discipleship

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20150413_205916My body wash reminded me of something this morning. Every so often in the morning I want to stay in the shower. Sometimes because it is warm, but mostly because it gives men a few minutes to get my head on straight before I have to deal with the world of two young people and a teenager.  Oh my kids aren’t that bad.  They have their cranky moments and they act like all little sinners some times but I wouldn’t expect anything less. Their dad’s theme song is often chief of sinners though I be. Today I was in the shower and happened to be reading the back of my body wash.  I know I am weird but like I said I like to take a few minutes.  I was blown away as I read the bottle.  Rinse lather and repeat as necessary, it says. As a guy I have never really thought about doing it twice.  Most of the time if I have done it twice it is because I got so little sleep the night before that I forgot I did it in the first place.

When we talk about sharing our faith with our kids, families and for me Youth group, I forget that I need to rinse and repeat more often than not.  I sometimes forget the importance of this process in making disciples of Jesus.  I often think of Jesus and how he taught the same thing over and over again just so he could give them the holy spirit and then they would finally understand. We are a stubborn people in need of constant reminder.  We like the Israelites, disciples, and really everyone else in the Bible have seen God work in great and amazing ways yet we constantly have to be reminded of the things God has done in our lives.

So maybe today you are struggling with teaching your family, your youth group, your Church, your friend or yourself.  Remember we need to hear it over and over again.  Like shower time it isn’t is a one time thing.  The really tough stuff might even take multiple times in one attempt to get it clean. So lets all remember to keep bathing in God’s Word! Rinse, lather, repeat.

And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Deuteronomy 6:6-9

Reading the Bible in a year as family…so awkward, yet so amazing.

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WP_20141230_004This year my family and I have decided for family devotions we are going to try and read the whole bible in a year.  We grabbed my 12 and 10 year old their own one year bibles and grabbed the ones my wife and I had gotten a few years ago and started reading.  My six year old also got her first bible this year.  So far it has been interesting to say the least. It has been a struggle, humorous, and at times just plain awkward. I think it is funny how being in God’s word this way has opened up some great family time. We ask each kid to read a section from the bible, either the old testament, new testament, or Psalm section.  It also brought some guilt when the kids missed the month of March because we just go busy and I didn’t make them read.  My wife and I had to read an number of days to catch up but now we started as a family again just a few days ago in April.

My favorite family moment so far this year is when my son was reading out loud and got to the story of Lots girls sleeping with dad and instead of saying laid with dad he inserted hubida-hubida.  We all laughed so hard at his dead pan and the awkwardness of the moment that it took some time to have our bodies be able to adjust to the lack of oxygen. We have had countless other funny moments and laughter but that one probably was the greatest.

So why do I bring this story up. I think sharing Jesus and the bible with your kids is the single greatest responsibility we are given as disciples of Jesus.  I for one have failed in a lot of ways passing on faith with my kids. This year of being in the word every night as a family and laughing at some of the weird stories in the Bible has brought us greater opportunities for faith conversation and how God is working through history.  Any family who can read through the books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy together without falling asleep will be stronger I am sure of it. We have had some great a-hah moments as we struggled through some of the texts together. I got to answer some great questions and help my kids see the bigger picture of God’s faithfulness. My wife also enjoyed watching me try to explain some crazy stories in the Old Testament to a 6 year old.

So what is the point? Well my point is I wish I had done this years ago with the kids. I wish I had taken the time to get through the scriptures together so we could explore this thing called faith more and more together. Start today, start tomorrow, but start reading together, it will change your life.