Tag Archives: parenting

Apr 15 2013

this went thru my mind

 

Criticism: It’s So Much Easier To Criticize! by Stephen Altrogge

* “… if our relationships are lacking encouragement, it doesn’t matter how much we speak the truth, it won’t be received.”

Depression: Treating Depression With Psychiatry and Faith

“… many people think depression is nothing more than an intense episode of ‘the blues.’ Why are they wrong?”

Facebook & privacy: Get Total Facebook App Privacy With One Setting

“… what if I told you that changing one simple setting can radically improve your privacy on Facebook? It sounds like a ‘too good to be true’ claim, but it’s true.”

Fear & security: Everyday Idolatry: Security by Jonathan Stormented

“… the real risk of security is that you might be worshipping a god who is no god at all.”

Gossip: Addressing Gossip in the Church by Ron Edmonson [sermon; 27 min. video; essential viewing]

“Have you ever been the spreader of gossip? … Gossip is one those sins that no one admits to.”

Grief: Why You May Never Heal by Caleb Wilde

“The assumption to both Freud and Kubler-Ross’ model is that the end of the grief process (healing, acceptance) is a form of detachment from the deceased. But, I think they’re wrong. … Instead of saying that the end of the grief process is detachment and healing, I think we should say that the healthy end of the grief process is adjustment. It’s adjusting to the fact that your loved one is no longer here to share life experiences with you. It’s adjusting to the loss of the future, but there’s never a detachment from the past.”

Heaven: Heaven is for Real: A Book Review by Wayne Stiles [required reading]

“If this book’s story is real, Jesus needs to get His stories straight.”

Hope: How Hope Can Help You Heal

“Groopman’s research showed that during the course of illness, belief and expectation — two mental states associated with hope — have an impact on the nervous system which, in turn, sets off a chain reaction that makes improvement and recovery more likely.”

Illness & sickness: For a Sick Friend: First, Do No Harm

“Conversing with the ill can be awkward, but keeping a few simple commandments makes a huge difference.”

Jackie Robinson: Jackie Robinson and the Pattern of Jesus by David Mathis

“… if you are against him, you’re against all of us.”

Leadership & ministry: * Ministry Inside.115 by Jim Martin; * Something I’ve Learned as a Senior Leader

* “How do you stay sane when there is so much craziness that surrounds ministry? Good question. Craziness is everywhere.”

* “Not everyone will understand all the decisions a leader makes unless they sat where the leader sits.”

Listening, preaching & teaching: Exegetes at Church by Tim Gombis

“…  there’s a world of difference between a critical mind and a critical spirit.”

Parenting: Helping Your Teen Read the Bible by Chad Nall

“Let’s be honest, the Bible isn’t as easy to read as we would like it to be.”

Young adults: The Church and Young Adults by Joshua Graves

“In Robert Wuthnow’s After the Baby Boomers, three critical (in my estimation) observations are offered. … I will summarize Wuthnow’s observations and add additional reflection.”

Apr 8 2013

this went thru my mind

 

Faith & marriage: * Marrying Out of the Faith; * Interfaith Unions: A Mixed Blessing

* “Interfaith couples tend to marry without thinking through the practical implications of their religious differences. They assume that because they are decent and tolerant people … they will not encounter difficulties being married to someone of another faith.”

* “Before the 1960s, about 20 percent of married couples were in interfaith unions; of couples married in this century’s first decade, 45 percent were. … interfaith marriages often come with a heavy price. They are more likely than same-faith unions to be unhappy and, in some circumstances, to end in divorce. They also tend to diminish the strength of religious communities, as the devout are pulled away from bonds of tradition and orthodoxy by their nonmember spouses.”

Law, people, and righteousness: Four Kinds of People

“It is helpful to see that there are four kinds of people in the world … law-obeying, law-relying … law-disobeying, law-relying … law-disobeying, not law-relying [and] … law-disobeying, not law-relying.”

Same-sex marriage: * Nelson Lund: A Social Experiment Without Science Behind It; * How Different are the Adult Children of Parents Who Have Same-Sex Relationships?

* “A significant number of organizations representing social and behavioral scientists have filed briefs promising the court that there is nothing to worry about. These assurances have no scientific foundation. Same-sex marriage is brand new, and child rearing by same-sex couples remains rare. Even if both phenomena were far more common, large amounts of data collected over decades would be required before any responsible researcher could make meaningful scientific estimates of the long-term effects of redefining marriage.

“The conclusions in the research literature typically amount at best to claims that a particular study found “no evidence” of bad effects from child rearing by same-sex couples. One could just as easily say that there is no reliable evidence that such child-rearing practices are beneficial or harmless. And that is the conclusion that should be relevant to the court.”

* “In this debut article of the NFSS, I compare how the young-adult children of a parent who has had a same-sex romantic relationship fare on 40 different social, emotional, and relational outcome variables when compared with six other family-of-origin types.”

Small groups: 9 Great Things Many Group Members Hate About Small Groups

“If a group leader is going to see transformation at a meaningful level in a group member’s life, the group leader cannot give the group member a pass on these expectations. Rather, the group leader must graciously and wisely move the group member into these seemingly dangerous places.”

Mar 23 2013

LIFE group guide: the ‘where did I go wrong?’ verse

 

NOTE: Following is a copy of the discussion guide that will be used in MoSt Church’s LIFE groups tomorrow night (March 24). This guide will enable your follow-up in our LIFE groups of my sermon tomorrow morning. This sermon is part three in a series that deals with some of the most commonly misunderstood and misused Scriptures. The series title is I Do No Think It Means What You Think It Means. This second sermon in the series deals with Proverbs 22.6 and is entitled “The ‘Where Did I Go Wrong?’ Verse.” Look under the category title “LIFE group guides” and you’ll find an archive of previous discussion guides. All Scripture texts reproduced below are from the CEB.

Aim

To examine familiar Scripture more closely, so as to correct our misunderstanding.

Word

• … all the earth’s nations will be blessed because of him [Abraham]. I have formed a relationship with him so that he will oversee his children and his household after him. And they will keep to the Lord’s path, being moral and just so that the Lord can do for Abraham everything he said he would. (Genesis 18.18-19)

• Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your being, and all your strength. These words that I am commanding you today must always be on your minds. Recite them to your children. Talk about them when you are sitting around your house and when you are out and about, when you are lying down and when you are getting up. (Deuteronomy 6.5-7)

• Listen, my people, to my teaching … I’ll declare riddles from days long gone—ones that we’ve heard and learned about, ones that our ancestors told us. … we’ll tell the next generation all about the praise due the Lord and his strength—the wondrous works God has done. (Psalm 78.1-4)

• Train children in the way they should go; when they grow old, they won’t depart from it. (Proverbs 22.6)

• … parents, don’t provoke your children to anger, but raise them with discipline and instruction about the Lord. (Ephesians 6.4)

• I’m reminded of your authentic faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice. I’m sure that this faith is also inside you. … Since childhood you have known the holy scriptures that help you to be wise in a way that leads to salvation through faith that is in Christ Jesus. (2 Timothy 1.5; 3.15)

Open

Icebreaker questions are meant to help us all start talking. Choose one of the following to discuss as a group.

1. Tell us what you know of your genealogy or lineage of faith, or the lack thereof.

2. Name a Bible character who chose unbelief over their parents of faith. Or vice versa.

Dig

These questions are meant to help us grapple with Scripture related to this morning’s sermon. Choose some.

1. What’s the intended point of the last sentence of the Deut. 6.5-7 text? What’s the relationship of this sentence with the opening sentence of that passage?

2. Taken by itself, Proverbs 22.6 can sound like a promise. Why is it not a promise?

3. How could Christian parents “provoke” their “children to anger,” perhaps even over matters of faith (Eph. 6.4)? Let your answers arise from the rest of Ephesians 6.

Reflect

These questions facilitate our sharing what we sense God’s Spirit is doing with us thru his word. Choose some.

1. Why do you have faith now at this point in your life? What are the biggest factors?

2. What are some huge points of influence at work today that are eroding away faith?

3. Which plays a bigger role in influencing youth: teaching truth or living truth? Why?

4. Think of someone who left faith, but came back. What did they say led to renewal?

5. What have you seen a church actually do to help parents raise kids of faith that worked?

Mar 21 2013

this went thru my mind

 

Change: Five Secret Objections to Change by Ron Edmonson

“Show me an objection to legitimate, needed change and you’re almost guaranteed to find one of these hidden in the crowd somewhere. Probably multiples of them.”

Children, Easter & parenting: Preparing Your Children For Easter Without Rabbits! [required reading]

“For our children, Easter has become more about baby chickens, bunny rabbits, and egg hunts and hardly anything about Jesus! Part of the reason is that the story is sad, brutal, and gory. We have sanitized the lives of our children to the point that the real Easter story just doesn’t work. We need a Disney version for our young children. On the other hand, my 8-year-old, 7-year-old, and 5-year-old grandsons have all seen Star Wars, and some of them have seen at least the first episode of Lord of the Rings. They have all seen the Narnia movies—and they have all been to funerals. I think they can handle the basics of the passion story. I’d like to just suggest to you today a schedule of possible readings and activities to do with your young children.”

Church: Seven Ways to Kill a Church by Scott Elliott; * Bullies in the Church; * And Then the Conference Uninvited Me to Speak by Jen Hatmaker [required reading]

* “Be immature – Gripe, complain, nitpick, and criticize others. … Fail to get people involved. Don’t ask people to do anything. … Ignore the youth. Refuse to teach them anything meaningful about the Christian faith. … Pretend like worship isn’t important. Show up late and leave early. … Forget about feeding the flock. Give the congregation upbeat and entertaining messages with little or no substance. Never move beyond the basics of Christianity. … Convince people that leadership does not matter. Choose leaders who are biblically ignorant and spiritually immature. … Never look beyond the church building. Forget there is a world full of people who need help. Do not feed the hungry.”

* “There are books on school bullying—and more than enough data to support techniques for dealing with the problem. But when it comes to the church—there’s very little information. Nevertheless, there can be bullies in the church.  And most don’t fit the bully stereotype. Consider, for example, a few of the bully personalities that are more commonly found in the church …”

* “The Barna Group estimates that 80 percent of those reared in the church will be ‘disengaged’ by the time they are 29. 80 percent. Gone. … 73 percent of Nones came from religious homes; 66 percent were described by the study as ‘de-converts.’ … [But] as far as I can tell, Jesus is still the easiest sell on earth, because if you don’t love a guy who healed lepers and pulled children onto His lap and silenced the religious elite and ate and drank with sinners, then you just don’t know Him.”

Happiness: One Thing You Must Stop Doing to Be Happy

“The quickest route to happiness is to stop the pursuit of finding happiness and start the process of being happiness.”

Connectivity, technology & the Internet: * This is the World You Live (and Lead) in Now; * Danny Hillis: The Internet Could Crash. We Need a Plan B. [121/2 min. TED Talk video]

* “Mobile technology and digital social networks have changed our habits, rhythms of life, the way we connect, and get news and information. … They are not just tools. They are ways of being in the world. They have become an integrated part of our culture, our lives, and, indeed, the practice of faith.”

* “Internet pioneer Danny Hillis argues that the Internet wasn’t designed for this kind of scale, and sounds a clarion call for us to develop a Plan B: a parallel system to fall back on if — or when — the Internet crashes.”

Evangelism, outreach & questions: What Gives??

“Good answer!”

Poverty & social mobility: Why Social Mobility In The United States Is A Total Myth

“… 44%, of American adults who are in the bottom 20% in income were born to parents who were also in the bottom 20%; nearly half, 45%, of adults in the top 20% had parents who were also in the top 20%. Most Americans who were born in the middle 60% had parents who were also born in the middle 60%.”

Presence: Do You Have Time to Be Present? by Jim Martin

“Life is about being fully present in the one life that I am living — to the honor of God. What are your greatest challenges to being fully present with others?”