Easter is Coming...

Easter weekend is coming...do you have a plan to talk about the most important things? In the midst of eggs, candy, bunnies, and the like, be looking for ways to talk about Easter and why we celebrate Easter.

How are you going to talk about the awesome truths of Jesus death, burial and resurrection and why that matters so much?

Here's the scoop...it doesn't just "matter." It's the single most important event in the history of the world.

For some reason, I don't think bunnies will do!

Can you laugh at yourself?

Christians do some funny things. For a guy who has grown up always being involved in church, I've seen some stuff that will just make you laugh. I think that's how this website ("Stuff Christians Like") started. I don't know the authors whole story, but I'm almost positive he grew up in church all his life.

I love it when someone can poke fun AND have a point!

Make it one of your favorites...you won't regret it.

Stuff Christians Like

The Danger of Multi-Tasking...

At some point, multi-tasking became something that is required to function in this fast-paced world. In fact, there are a number of different careers or fields of work that reward multi-tasking immensely. They search and search for people who can do it well.

Here's the problem with multi-tasking:

*** "Multitasking, in short, is not only not thinking, it impairs your
ability to think. Thinking means concentrating on one thing long enough to
develop an idea about it. Not learning other people’s ideas, or memorizing a
body of information, however much those may sometimes be useful. Developing your own ideas. In short, thinking for yourself. You simply cannot do that in bursts
of 20 seconds at a time, constantly interrupted by Facebook messages or Twitter
tweets, or fiddling with your iPod, or watching something on YouTube."

So, here's the dilemma...do you teach your children to multi-task (work on a lot of things at one time) or do you work hard (in a culture that is working against you) to teach your children how to "finish" something before moving on to the next thing. There is much research that suggests that those who can focus on one thing at a time are much better at retaining information and processing information.

Interesting thoughts...at least they were for me.

*** The More You Multi-task the Worse You Get at It

"Singletons"

It's a word I never heard of until recently. "Singleton." I was recently reading an article about one of the fastest growing trends in families in America. "Singleton" refers to families who choose to only have one child. According to the last U.S. Census, one-child families are the "fastest growing family unit." I'm not really sure what all this means or why this is such a growing trend. Either way, it's extremely interesting to me that the "only child" is something that is becoming more and more common.

Anyone have any thoughts about why this is increasinly becoming the norm?

One Child: The New Traditional Family?

Spring Break

The Family Resources Blog is still attempting to recover from that whole "spring forward" fiasco this past weekend. Plus, it's Spring Break for all your children.

In honor of these events, I'll be taking a week off from posting. Hopefully, you'll be able to use this week in the lives of your kids to make some special memories while they're out of school.

Be back in 7 days!

Why Boys Need Parents...

Saw these picture floating around the other day on the web. If you haven't noticed yet, boys and girls are very different. God made them that way, and there are just some things that we are "born" with. [Evidence below]

Bill Gates is a Smart Dude, BUT...

I ran across this quote from one of the richest men in the world.

"Just in terms of allocation of time resources, religion is not very efficient. There's a lot more I could be doing on a Sunday morning." - Bill Gates

Below is my response to his quote...


Mr. Gates,

First of all, I love your products, and I am extremely impressed with the stories that I've heard of your philanthropic and generous endeavors. I agree with you in one sense. Time resources given to "religion" are not efficient. "Religion" the way many people in our world practice is useless. In other words, I think "religion" is a really lame hobby as well.

However, I would plead with you, Mr. Gates, to consider that a relationship with the God of this universe is completely different than "religion." I have become convinced with every fiber of who I am that humanity (even the best of humanity) is in need of "saving," and that God made a way to be reconciled to him through his son Jesus Christ. There is a huge differnce between "religion" and a "relationship" with your Creator.

Grace and peace,

Robert


FYI...I didn't really send this, and if I did, I would definitely expound more. Regardless, if church is your "hobby," it's a really lame hobby. If Christ is your passion...that's a whole different thing!

Family Rituals

The other day, I remembered one of the traditions my family had. After every Sunday night church service, my dad would take my sister and I to Taco Bell. We loved it. My dad loved it because he took us "out to eat" and the whole family could eat for around $12. Even in his frugality, my father was doing something very important...establishing family rituals. For my sister and I, we looked forward to it all week, and I'm sure he did as well. It was one of those things we did as a family. There were many more "rituals" in our family and each of them bring some fond memories.

I was reading an article on the Psychology Today website, and it was talking about the importance of family rituals.. The premise of the article was that these family rituals are simple, yet powerful gifts to your children. They listed a few characteristics that make family rituals so powerful.

Here are the characteristics it lists as:

• They are low-key that everyone likes to participate
• They allow time to talk and socialize, but they don't require deep conversation
• They need to be done regularly and predictably
• They need to balance regularity and flexibility.

Link to Article - Simple Gifts

A little humor for the weekend...

MOSES AND THE RED SEA

Nine-year-old Joey was asked by his mother what he had learned in Sunday School.

'Well, Mom, our teacher told us how God sent Moses behind enemy lines on a rescue mission to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. When he got to the Red Sea, he had his army build a pontoon bridge and all the people walked across safely.

Then he radioed headquarters for reinforcements. They sent bombers to blow up the bridge and all the Israelites were saved.'

'Now, Joey, is that really what your teacher taught you?' his mother asked.

'Well, no, Mom. But, if I told it the way the teacher did, you'd never believe it!'

Enough to be scared...

"My definition of an expert in any field is a person who knows enough about what's really going on to be scared." - PJ Plauger

When I first read this quote, it completely stopped me in my tracks. I've found this to be true in life. When I hear someone talking about how they've got something completely figured out, they've mastered something, or how easy something is...I'm usually very cautious towards that person.

So as I was reflecting on this thought, I remembered a story about Socrates my first college history professor told when he opened up his first class of the semester. Apparently, one day, Socrates stood up in the middle of the assembly in Athens and said these famous words:

"I am the wisest man in Athens...because I know nothing...yet I know that I know nothing."

In my own life, I've seen this play out more times than I care to admit. The more I know, the more I realize that I don't really know. For many of you, that may be how you feel about parenting. The more you find out about this thing, the more you realize you don't know much at all. The more years you spend doing it, the more times you realize you might not be that great at it. That can be very humbling to think about, but there's good news. Our God has promised to give "grace to the humble" (James 4:6).

Some of the wisest and smartest people on earth are often some of the humblest. There's a way to approach life with humility, and my prayer is that you would approach parenting with that same humility. An approach that begins with the realization that no matter where you are in life, there is still so much to learn.

"Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall." (Proverbs 16:18)

"A man's pride brings him low, but a man of lowly spirit gains honor." (Proverbs 29:23)

"God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." (James 4:6)

"A Nation of Wimps"

What a title for a book. Over 5 years ago, there was an article written in Psychology Today about a growing problem. The author's basic premise was that the way the majority of parents parent in today's world, is creating a nation full of adults who don't know how to deal with the realities of the world. The author later compiled many of her findings in a book. This concept immediately garnered my attention, and I wanted to share it with you. Like anything, you should read and consider its worthiness and ask yourself hard questions.


The Original Article - A Nation of Wimps

E-Book - A Nation of Wimps

(E-book doesn't include the entire book, but you can read most of it here)

What do you think? What strikes you?