A Little Bit About Me...

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I have many hats that I wear. I am a husband and father. I am pastor/teacher at my church. I am part of a team working on a large project at work. I am a friend. I am a budding visionary. I am a writer, an actor, and a director. I am an artist. I am a student of the Bible. I have a brain that comes up with some pretty crazy and interesting ideas, and I have a personality to match. I try to treat all people how I would like to be treated. I strive to be steadfast, immovable in my faith. I seek after the TRUTH, and I believe that it can be found, not just 'from my perspective', but for all people.

Thursday, July 31, 2008

Rules with no relationship equals rebellion.

This is a famous buzz phrase that renown youth speaker, and apologist Josh McDowell is known for.  Parents and young people, sit and think about how meaningful the phrase is.

Parents, I was just listening to a Winkie Pratney podcast where he tells the story of a young man that, while he was growing up, had a prophetic word on his life that he was going to sing in front of thousands of people for the purpose of evangelism.  His parents (who I believe were a pastoral couple) cracked down hard on him to keep him on the "straight and narrow".  Because they were so involved with their own ministry duties, they didn't really have the relationship to be able to parent him the way he needed.  The young man rebelled and became famous on the world stage, as a music artist.  You can see traces of his struggles in his music, but for a time, he didn't want anything to do with the church.  Eventually he did come around.  He left his "world stage" band and began a solo career, where his Christianity came through.

It is a tragedy that happens too often.  When I was reading through the book, God's Generals, it was disturbing how many times there would be a story of someone doing incredibly well on the mission field, or as a preacher, but they would lose their kids due to neglect and the bitterness that the kids would have.

Ministry should be an overflow of the heart.  What you put in your heart is also what fuels your heart.  What you get out is a direct result of what you put in.  Garbage in, Garbage out.  Are you at a point where you think only of yourself?  Are you at a point where you consider your family only?  Are you at a point of overflowing to others?

Love your kids.  Spend time with them, even when you are too tired.  I sat and watched the shark special with Logan last night.  He loved it!  It was about whale sharks.  He kept thinking about the Go Diego, Go! episode with the whale shark named Lucy.  It was cute.  He fell asleep before the end.

I plan on building the relationship with him, and working on building trust with him, so that when the times where rules have to be made, he will know that I have his best interests at heart.  It's not that I don't expect resistance from him, but he will know that I love him.

With the hectic nature of our culture with working long hours and doing our best to survive and keep up with the person next to you, we can sometimes get too busy to actually parent our kids.  If we don't establish the relationship when they are young, it will be that much harder to do when they grow up.  The way I see it, my first ministry is to my family, and then the overflow goes to others.  If my family is not in order, what business do I have trying to speak into other people's lives?

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