Prayers for my Keiki
Here's a super cool tool you can use to pray for your child. It's a simple prayer card with a short prayer and scripture passage you can pray over your child.
There's a back side too.
We'll be passing these out at GBCK this Sunday for the conclusion of our parenting series.
The Goal of Parenting, part 2
Throughout GBCK's parenting series we've been asking ourselves, What is it the goal of parenting? The answer, based on Deuteronomy 6:5, is to teach our children to love God.
But how do you teach them to love God? Isn't teaching best done by a professional? How can I teach my child about loving God when I don't know anything myself? Don't I need to know the Bible?
I realize that teaching a child to love God may seem scary. Yet, we are to "teach these things diligently."
Let me offer a beginning point. A really smart, dead guy once said something to this effect: You cannot fully love God until you fully understand what he did for you. And once we understand what God did for us, we understand how much he loves us, and once we understand how much he loves us our response is to love him back.
So, what did God do for us?
A couple months ago Julie took the boys to Ko'olina for a swim (thanks to furlough Fridays). The kids were in the water and she was a little ways up on the sand. She suddenly realized that she couldn't see Aaron, 3 years-old at the time. All she could see was his little hand waving above the water in what she immediately recognized as a call for help. She raced into the water and pulled him above the surface. Thankfully, he wasn't under for more than a few seconds. He was o.k.
See, this is what God did for us. He came to earth on a rescue mission. Just like Aaron, we are helpless to save ourselves and we need a savior. However, the similarities stop here. When God came to rescue us, he not only rescued us from death because of our sin, he became sin and died in our place.
So, the beginning point in teaching our kids to love God is to bring them to an understanding of the deadliness of sin. Sound morbid? Absolutely, because sin is morbid. But, once we understand the sacrifice behind God's love, our response is to love him back. If we don't connect God's love to his sacrifice then what we're left with is an ooey-gooey, Hollywood, I'm o.k., you're o.k. kind of love that's like a marshmallow: really sweet but no substance.
In part 3 I'll give some thoughts about how to talk about sin with our kids.
Simplification through Elimination
I read a great quote this morning: "The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak." ~ Hans Hofmann.
What a great reminder, especially during the Christmas season when everything gets so cluttered. If we want the true message of Christmas to speak loud and clear in our lives we need the ability to eliminate the unnecessary. Yet, this idea of simplification isn't reserved only for Christmas; it about life as a whole.
I'm trying to simplify my life into three pursuits: 1) develop my faith (to know God), 2) deepen my connections (to know others), 3) devote my life to God's purpose (that God would be known).
The obvious question is, "What do I need to eliminate that is preventing me from faith, connection, and life?"
I'm learning to pray as the Apostle Paul did when he prayed that we would determine what really matters (Philippians 1:9-10), and eliminate the rest.
Speed Bumps
Yesterday we had our Christmas services at Grace Bible Church Kapolei. One element we always add to these "big" services is food. We do this for a couple of reasons: first, it adds a special-ness to the service because we don't serve food every week. Second - and more importantly - it creates a speed bump after the service. Food slows people down and prevents people from racing to their cars.
I think speed bumps are critical to the health of a church. Slowing people down creates an opportunity to connect with people. I love it after church when I see people praying for each other, trading phone numbers, or just having conversation. The reality is there will always be a percentage of people who don't connect with the church in any other way than attending on Sundays. Speed bumps help us to connect with those people too.
We have a hospitality tent set up weekly with coffee and snacks to encourage people to linger. Just another speed bump.
Yesterday I connected with a guy who's been checking us out over the last year or so. He walked in after not being in church for months. He's looking for hope and he knew to come to Jesus. So, over a plate of chow fun and manapua we decided to get together weekly for a season so we can walk though the "stuff" together. Thank God for the speed bump.
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- Prayers for my Keiki
- Parenting Q&A with Dr. Hale Akamine
- Doing Bad Stuff
- The Goal of Parenting, part 2
- The Goal of Parenting