Not hardly! There is always something going on, and I think I like it that way.
Here's a taste of what has been going on:
The other day I walked into the living room to find all of my ladies with an open Bible diligently reading, studying and answering questions in a bible study workbook. I love to see things like that! This summer Michelle has two outreach, discipleship bible studies going on at our house, one for each age group of our girls. It takes a lot of effort, organization, patience, and prayer to disciple and reach out to these girls. I am amazed at her faithfulness to the great commission. My daughters have a great example of what a woman of faith looks like.
I am busy with church and with preparing for my two weeks of seminary study. This summer we are intensivley studying the parables. There is a lot of work that goes into my seminary class. Some of it is more enjoyable than other parts. But, what I thoroughly enjoy is being pushed and challenged to dig deep into God's Word and learn from it and learn how to apply it in my life and ministry. I will be slammed and exhausted at the end of the my summer class, but I am sure that I will have grown and benefited greatly.
Other things: the girls are staying busy this summer doing volleyball stuff, and diving team, violin, piano,lots of reading, and even some math work. We do have a short vacation planned before school starts and I cherish those family times.
It is important for us to make sure that we have appropriate balance in all of these things. Sometimes that is hard to achieve, but I feel like we are on the right track.
I praise God that the life of a Christ follower is never dull!
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Family Ministry
Your family is your ministry. That is true not just for pastors, but for anyone who claims to follow Christ and has a family.
Michelle and I attempt to be intentional in making family memories. Sometimes these are small things -- playing a board game every once and a while. Other times we do something big for the sake of our family -- a vacation to the beach.
The last week we were blessed to be able to go on a trip with all four of us to Cancun. We had an awesome time! It was the first time we all flew anywhere. The whole trip was great to watch the girls have so much fun. From the flights, airports, a different culture, swimming in pools and on beaches, eating new foods, all staying together in the same room, and everything else -- it was a great family time.
Life can be so busy, but I cannot allow that to interfere with my responsibility to minister in the context of my family. Vacations like this are not just a way to have fun. It is a way to foster relationships, encourage one another, and set an example in the faith. That is family ministry.
Michelle and I attempt to be intentional in making family memories. Sometimes these are small things -- playing a board game every once and a while. Other times we do something big for the sake of our family -- a vacation to the beach.
The last week we were blessed to be able to go on a trip with all four of us to Cancun. We had an awesome time! It was the first time we all flew anywhere. The whole trip was great to watch the girls have so much fun. From the flights, airports, a different culture, swimming in pools and on beaches, eating new foods, all staying together in the same room, and everything else -- it was a great family time.
Life can be so busy, but I cannot allow that to interfere with my responsibility to minister in the context of my family. Vacations like this are not just a way to have fun. It is a way to foster relationships, encourage one another, and set an example in the faith. That is family ministry.
Monday, June 25, 2007
Fathers Figure
The Statistical Effect of Children Without A Father
63% of youth suicides are from fatherless homes
(source: US DHHS Bureau of Census)
90% of all homeless and runaway children
(source: Center for Disease Control)
85% of all children that exhibit behavioral disorders
(source: CDC)
80% of rapists motivated with displaced anger
(source: Criminal Justice and Behavior vol. 14)
71% of all high school dropouts
(source: National Principals Association “Report on the State of High Schools)
70% of juveniles in state operated institutions
(source: US Dept. of Justice)
85% of all youths in prison grew up in a fatherless home
(source: Texas Dept. of Corrections, 1992)
Nearly 2 of every 5 children do not live with their fathers.
(source: US News and World Report)
From www.fathersforlife.org
I have often heard statistics like this, but never seen them so well documented. They are a startling reminder of the importance of the complete family unit.
For years now the traditional family unit, a male dad, and a female mom, has been under attack. The feminist movement now has technology to make fatherhood obsolete. With the advent and use of no-fault divorce and other factors, a fatherless family is no longer atypical.
We need a revival and it needs to start in the church. A revival of committed, sold-out men. Men who are surrendered to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Men who are committed to their wives and love them the way Christ loved the church. Men who are spiritual leaders in their homes. Men who are courageous enough to do all these things regardless of the criticism received by the culture. Too much is at stake for us to ignore this issue.
This is a calling for all fathers to be all that God intends them to be. May God grant us grace, wisdom and strength to be true men in Christ.
63% of youth suicides are from fatherless homes
(source: US DHHS Bureau of Census)
90% of all homeless and runaway children
(source: Center for Disease Control)
85% of all children that exhibit behavioral disorders
(source: CDC)
80% of rapists motivated with displaced anger
(source: Criminal Justice and Behavior vol. 14)
71% of all high school dropouts
(source: National Principals Association “Report on the State of High Schools)
70% of juveniles in state operated institutions
(source: US Dept. of Justice)
85% of all youths in prison grew up in a fatherless home
(source: Texas Dept. of Corrections, 1992)
Nearly 2 of every 5 children do not live with their fathers.
(source: US News and World Report)
From www.fathersforlife.org
I have often heard statistics like this, but never seen them so well documented. They are a startling reminder of the importance of the complete family unit.
For years now the traditional family unit, a male dad, and a female mom, has been under attack. The feminist movement now has technology to make fatherhood obsolete. With the advent and use of no-fault divorce and other factors, a fatherless family is no longer atypical.
We need a revival and it needs to start in the church. A revival of committed, sold-out men. Men who are surrendered to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Men who are committed to their wives and love them the way Christ loved the church. Men who are spiritual leaders in their homes. Men who are courageous enough to do all these things regardless of the criticism received by the culture. Too much is at stake for us to ignore this issue.
This is a calling for all fathers to be all that God intends them to be. May God grant us grace, wisdom and strength to be true men in Christ.
Monday, January 22, 2007
A Memory is Worth a Thousand Toys
You always hear the famous phrase “a picture is worth a thousand words” (which I don’t think is true) but I have a new phrase. “A memory is worth a thousand toys.”
This was our first time to do a family vacation during the winter. We have done most of our vacations in the summer time. This year we wanted to try one in the snow!
This meant that our vacation was close to Christmas. You remember Christmas – all the presents. Our girls are 4 and 8 and are really into the presents. But, I’d be willing to venture a guess that 20 years from now they won’t remember their presents, but they will remember the great time we had as a family on vacation.
Don’t get me wrong. I am not saying that you shouldn’t give kids presents – I am not that big of an idiot(I think). But, giving a kid a present is not nearly as lasting as giving them a memory. Our kid’s don’t need toys, they need us to be and interact with them. And the great thing about our vacation is it was family centered.
We traveled, ate, played, and did everything together. They will remember the long trip and the things we saw together as we entered the mountains. They will remember the times we played in the snow, together. They will remember the sledding, the skiing, the bible studies, and all the things we did, together.
The purpose of our vacation was to spend some uninterrupted time together. I thank God for the opportunity we had to get away and enjoy His creation and one another. It was a time that I will never forget.
Vacation
What a great time we had on vacation! The mountains surrounding South Fork, Colorado were absolutely stunning. The snow was fresh, deep, and perfect! The girls loved it all and had a fantastic time.
We arrived at our cabin after dark and immediately discovered that we had to dig our way in through the snow. I have never seen this much snow before. We couldn’t even open the door. That was a good sign to a great week.
The first day we all bundled up and just played outside in the snow. Snow is such a novelty to us as Texans. We get half an inch of sleet and ice, cancel school, and go outside and play, hopefully before it all melts away.
In Southfork, we woke up to temperatures 10 degrees below zero and the high around positive 18. I loved it(for a week).
That afternoon we went sledding. There was a huge hill and we had a variety of different types of sleds. It was tough walking up that steep hill, but the payoff was well worth it. It was a blast. It was almost as fun crashing into the fresh powder as coming down clean. Hannah and Michelle had the best wipe-out!
The next day we ventured to the Wolf Creek Ski Area. The girls went to ski school, and mom and dad got to hit the slopes. The last time we skied was after Michelle and I had just got engaged about 13 years ago. But we picked it up quickly and had a great time skiing the mountain.
After Hannah recovered from a little altitude sickness, we all skied together. I was so impressed at how well both Hannah and Emily picked up skiing. They did awesome! Maybe we have some future Olympic skiers in our family.
Hannah was absolutely fearless. She quickly wanted to tackle some fairly difficult blue runs and loved it. She even liked crashing and sliding down the hill on her bottom.
Emily stuck to her green run, but was blazing fast. She amazed me at her confidence and skill for a four year old.
I also have to mention the deer. The backyard to our cabin was the Rio Grande National Forest. Every day a herd of mule deer would come into the yards and streets looking for something to eat. We all had fun watching the deer tromp through the snow.
I could go on and on. We made smores, played games, talked about the mountains, went for walks, and had a great time.
We can’t wait to do it again!
We arrived at our cabin after dark and immediately discovered that we had to dig our way in through the snow. I have never seen this much snow before. We couldn’t even open the door. That was a good sign to a great week.
The first day we all bundled up and just played outside in the snow. Snow is such a novelty to us as Texans. We get half an inch of sleet and ice, cancel school, and go outside and play, hopefully before it all melts away.
In Southfork, we woke up to temperatures 10 degrees below zero and the high around positive 18. I loved it(for a week).
That afternoon we went sledding. There was a huge hill and we had a variety of different types of sleds. It was tough walking up that steep hill, but the payoff was well worth it. It was a blast. It was almost as fun crashing into the fresh powder as coming down clean. Hannah and Michelle had the best wipe-out!
The next day we ventured to the Wolf Creek Ski Area. The girls went to ski school, and mom and dad got to hit the slopes. The last time we skied was after Michelle and I had just got engaged about 13 years ago. But we picked it up quickly and had a great time skiing the mountain.
After Hannah recovered from a little altitude sickness, we all skied together. I was so impressed at how well both Hannah and Emily picked up skiing. They did awesome! Maybe we have some future Olympic skiers in our family.
Hannah was absolutely fearless. She quickly wanted to tackle some fairly difficult blue runs and loved it. She even liked crashing and sliding down the hill on her bottom.
Emily stuck to her green run, but was blazing fast. She amazed me at her confidence and skill for a four year old.
I also have to mention the deer. The backyard to our cabin was the Rio Grande National Forest. Every day a herd of mule deer would come into the yards and streets looking for something to eat. We all had fun watching the deer tromp through the snow.
I could go on and on. We made smores, played games, talked about the mountains, went for walks, and had a great time.
We can’t wait to do it again!
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