It's the Most Wonderful/Ridiculous Time of the Year...

Black Friday has come and gone, and we're officially in the midst of the Christmas season. As I grow older, I've developed a little bit of a love/hate relationship with the Christmas season. Let me explain.

I love it because, it's a chance to celebrate that God intervened in the world by sending His Son to the earth. I still haven't gotten over that fact that God would love the world enough to do that. The idea that the "Word became flesh" is literally the event most worthy of celebration in the history of the world.

On the other hand, I live in a world that "celebrates" a much different Christmas. For the next solid month, I'll be surrounded by rampant consumerism, credit card debt, and some downright ridiculousness. It might be that I'm just getting older, but it seems to get more and more ridiculous every year.

So here's you're thought for the day as you wrestle with this tension about how to focus your family's life and thought for the next month or so...

There will be tons of people who are more more concerned with what they want from Santa rather than being concerned with what Jesus wants from them. How can you combat that in your family's life? What's your plan because you can't stumble into intentionality?

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope that you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. I hope your weekend is full of remembrances of how good God has been to you and your family!

For those of you who work in retail...I'm really sorry about what will inevitably happen to you tomorrow.

See you on Sunday, Firewheel!

"Thankfulness" Activities

One of the dangers facing kids this day is the danger of "entitlement." I see it everywhere. Maybe you see it in your family...your kids...even yourself. One of the real blessings of Thanksgiving week, is that it's a chance to stop, pause, and give thanks for all that the Lord has blessed us with. I would encourage you to be very intentional about creating a spirit of thankfulness/gratitude throughout this week.

I found this link the other day, and it had 12 really cool ideas about how to make "thankfulness" something fun during the upcoming holidays. After you click on the link, the "Thankfulness" activities are scrolling across the top. Check it Out!

Thankful Kids - Thankful Families

Enjoy!

Separation Anxiety

One of the things children's ministry leaders have had to deal with on a consistent basis is what most people would call "separation anxiety." Almost weekly, there is a kid who is hesitant or outright defiant when faced with the realization that mommy and/or daddy is getting ready to leave them in the children's wing during our ministry time.

Did you know that if you have young kids, there are a number of ways you can help make this a "less" common occurrence?

"General Guidelines for Easing Separation Anxiety:

1. Develop a “good bye” ritual. Rituals can bring reassurance to your child and can be as simple as a kiss bye or a wave.
2. Leave without fanfare. Tell your child you are leaving and that you will be back soon, then go—don’t stall, just go!
3. Practice leaving your child. Leave your child with someone for a brief period at first to help him/her experience your leaving and returning.
4. Keep familiar “things” when possible and make new surroundings familiar to your child. When your child is away from home or a familiar surrounding, allow them to have a “lovey” or favorite blanket for comfort. Visit the unfamiliar location so your child can see where they may be going to be left with a caregiver.
5. Try not to give in. Always reassure your child that you will return and he/she will be just fine and will have fun—setting limits will help the adjustment to separation."

Source - LINK

Excited about the Bible?

Have you ever wondered how to get your kids excited about God's word? Here's a great list that might help. Although geared toward children's ministry volunteers, I think almost all of them apply to parents.

10 Ways to Get Kids Excited About Bible

I would agree wholeheartedly with #1. Unless you're excited about God's Word, the chances your children are excited about God's Word are significantly impacted!

Connecting with your kids...

Every parent wants to do it. Some are better at it than others. Here's a link to 10 helpful ideas of how you can connect more with your kids. I think a couple of these could easily turn into memorable moments. Enjoy!

10 Ideas for Connecting With Your Kids

What's Your Rhythm?

One of the most important, and yet least thought about, ideas within the family is "rhythm." Your family has one...every family has one...but what is yours?

Excerpt from Reggie Joiner - source

"If you were to analyze the rhythm at your house, you would soon discover that much of your family life consists of repeated patterns. As much as we resist that thought because we like to think of ourselves as free beings, we actually behave like creatures of habit. If you don’t believe that, take a different route home from work tomorrow, switch places at the dinner table, or change up the side of the bed you sleep on tonight.

That’s why we (try to) put newborns on a schedule as soon as possible. It’s why we tend to go to the same gas station when we’re home, because familiar is efficient. It’s why we keep a calendar, set up family nights, why TV shows lock into a time slot and stay there, why churches don’t randomly alter service times and dates (Hey … church this week is Thursday at 3 a.m.), why stores open and close on a schedule, and why we have alarm clocks. Our lives are largely programmed around a rhythm.

You have a ”normal” flow of conversation. As a family settles into a routine, much of the daily conversation can become transactional: Did you brush your teeth? Is your homework done? What’s for dinner? The after-school exchange can easily become, “What happened at school today?” “Nothing.” Rhythm can tilt us away from meaningful dialogue or lean us into it.

This is how rhythm establishes value. Things that become part of the daily rhythm are the things our families will come to believe are most important. Rhythm silently but significantly communicates value.

So what if you rethink your home’s weekly rhythm:

• What does it look like?
• Which nights do you tend to eat together?
• What do you do when you first get home from work?
• What is your nighttime routine to get ready for bed?
• What do you do every Saturday morning?
• How do you spend Sundays?

Discuss it as a family to see what you can discover about the rhythm of your home."

These are good questions to ponder...hope you will!

One year away...

Well, some of you may know...today is my birthday! If you know me well, you might know that today is my 29th birthday. That means, that I'm only a year away from the big 3-0!

So, how should I spend my last year before I'm "old"!

Any suggestions?

A Little Monday Fun...

Apparently, "Rock, Paper, Scissors" isn't a game of chance. There's a strategy to the whole thing. You better believe I'm putting this stuff into practice with the kids. I'm going to be so dominant!



Click picture for larger view

One Step at a Time...

So often, I meet and talk with parents who know they aren't quite being the spiritual leaders of their kids that they ought to be. They know that God has called them to be something more by His grace. What they often don't know is WHAT TO DO! Some parents even become discouraged, and think that they have to be some super-Christian-parent in order to make a difference in their child's life. But, here's the thing...you don't have to be super parent, you just have to take ONE step at a time in order to influence and raise your children to love God.

So, I've put together a list of a few things that might be "One Step" you could take this week.

• Spend fifteen minutes this week praying WITH your child
• Take one/all of your children for a walk and ask "what's the last thing you learned about God"?
  
• Go into each of your kid's room(s) while they are sleeping and pray that God would move mightily in their lives and ask God to use you to do that
• Find something pretty normal (a good meal, a sunset, a good conversation), and have a discussion about your appreciation for the "small" things that God does
• Read a passage of Scripture, and ask your kid what they think it's talking about
• Take home one of our "Cue Boxes" at the kids desk and use it at home.
  

There's all kinds of ways that you can take ONE step. Your ONE step may not be on my list. Your step may be something else.

But what would happen in your child's life, in your relationship with them, and their relationship to God, if you took ONE step this week?

We had them...we are them!

We all had parents who weren't even close to perfect...you're not even close to perfect either!

Here's a great article about why it's ok to not be perfect, and why you should point them towards our perfect Heavenly father. The link below is well worth your time.

Imperfect Parents

Forty-seven

I still can't get over it....all of 24 hours later, I can't shake the images out of my head.

Yesterday, at Firewheel Church, 47 people went through the baptismal waters. That's 47 people who stood up and said, "I'm a believer and follower of Jesus...that's who I am." Some of them were people who had been believers for quite a while, and were never baptized for some reason. Others were people who had trusted Christ in the last few weeks of our "Gospel" message series. Either way, it's still 47.

I don't think the people who were there will ever forget that day. I don't know that I will ever forget those moments. One of the reasons I love our church is that, so many people stayed almost an hour after service to celebrate with these new believers. Side note (in case you were wondering): apparently, an hour is about how long it takes to baptize 47 people.

What a day! Praise God!