Archive for August, 2010
Forget the Pizza!
I try to keep up with what’s going on in the overall landscape of youth ministry and in youth culture and today I found this article published by the USA Today giving a brief description and explanation as to why a lot of teens just don’t care about church any more.
Take a look at the article and if you have any personal ideas about what we can do as a youth ministry to counter some of the reasons teens stop caring about church submit a comment.
What if…..
When I was in high school I had an index card taped to the inside of my locker in the field house with one simple verse written on it:
For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things
1 Timothy 4:8 became a constant reminder for me as an athlete that training physically, competing, even having success, only had limited value.
As a parent I am teaching my young daughter even now that godliness has infinite value. There is nothing she will ever set out to accomplish that will hold more value. If she ends up getting a full scholarship to college, cures cancer, negotiates world peace, or even becomes a professional hall of fame caliber athlete, those achievements will be worthless if she doesn’t strive for godliness. There’s nothing wrong with those things…they are actually pretty great! But compared to being godly, they are…rubbish (Paul’s words, not mine)…or as The Message puts it, “dog dung.”
I often think about what a difference it would make in our schools and in our community if more parents embraced this incredible truth and taught it to their kids. What if we spent time every day teaching our kids scripture? What if we spent time every day praying with and for our kids? What if we spent more time teaching our kids to be godly than we do teaching them to shoot a three pointer or hit a curveball?
That Was Hard!
This morning I had the privilege of taking my baby girl to school for her first day of kindergarten. It was also my wife’s first day of school as a teacher this year, so she wasn’t able to go with us. She had been saying for awhile that this was going to be really hard for her to miss dropping Isabel off for her first day. And of course in my less than sensitive kind of way I assured her it was no big deal…Isabel would be fine…after all, she’s been going to preschool for 2 years now…I’ll take her, snap a couple of pictures, and we’ll get this first day behind us with no problems.
So this morning after eating a good breakfast together, having a devotional time, fixing hair, packing lunches, and taking lots of pictures, it was time for me to man up and take Isabel to school. And by man up, I mean walking her into her class, watching her find her cubby and get started coloring a picture, having to talk myself into actually leaving her there (my baby girl…all alone…with only 2 awesome teachers and 19 other kids and a gazillion other excellent teachers and administrators), and sobbing uncontrollably all the way to the car. Yeah…that’s right! I had to man up. That was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do.
Last week I saw a twitter post from another pastor. He talked about his kids’ first day of school and referred to them as “little missionaries.” That term really resonated in my mind. I talked to Isabel about her kindergarten year last night and again on the way to school this morning. We talked about all the things she will learn this year. We talked about doing your very best, obeying the teacher, being a helper, respecting everybody…but mostly we talked about being a little missionary. She knows that while she’s learning and playing and making friends at school God wants her to help other people know about Jesus. I can’t even begin to tell you how excited that makes me as a daddy!
So here I am. 30 minutes after dropping off my little missionary for her first day of kindergarten. Still sobbing. But full of joy as I know my baby girl is a mighty warrior princess, more than a conqueror (Romans 8:37), launching an all out attack against the pathetic prince of darkness (Ephesians 6:12) at her school.
Can’t Keep This To Myself
I came across this entry from Reggie Joiner today and, as a parent and a fan of godly parenting, just couldn’t keep it to myself.
