Parenting with Hope in the Worst of Times

Here is an excellent blog post from Desiring God ministries about the brokenness and boldness that is required of those of us who are seeking to shepherd our children. I imagine the sermon is very good, and I think I will jump over there and listen to it now.

http://www.desiringgod.org/Blog/2309_parenting_with_hope_in_the_worst_of_times/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+DGBlog+(DG+Blog)

Students are too busy

Good short article on how busy students are and a couple reminders for how we can best reach students in our fast-paced culture.
http://www.dougfranklinonline.com/youth-worker/students-are-too-busy/

Inheritence or Burden?

I was reading in Numbers 14 today, and I was reminded of how the Israelites not only failed their God when they lacked faith that God would grant them the Promised Land like He promised, but they also failed their children.
God says this to His people:

30 Except for Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun, you shall by no means enter the land which I swore I would make you dwell in.
31 But your little ones, whom you said would be victims, I will bring in, and they shall know the land which you have despised.
32 But as for you, your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness.
33 And your sons shall be shepherds in the wilderness forty years, and bear the brunt of your infidelity, until your carcasses are consumed in the wilderness.

Yes, the children would enter the land. But it would be up to them to claim it. This was not God's original plan - these children were supposed to grow up in the land. They were supposed to inherit the land from their parents. But instead, because their parents rejected God's Word and lacked faith in God these children had no inheritence, and they would have to fight the battles their parents should have.
A sober reminder to all of us who are parents that we must fight the battles God has called us to, maintain a faith in our God that He will do what He says, so that we might leave a spiritual inheritance for our children and they might grow up in the land of God's favor.

Lesson Loop 3.9.10

This past week in our Student Ministry:

THIRD PLACE: "Jesus as Victor"
After a dramatic reenactment of the resurrection by the students, we studied 1 Corinthians 15 and considered the Resurrection.
We talked about how important the resurrection is to our faith, and saw that if Christ had not resurrected:

1. Our message & faith is useless (14)

2. We are liars (15)

3. We are still in our sins (17)

4. It gets worse after death (18)

5. We are the most pitiful people alive (19)

We also looked at some of the criticisms of the resurrections, and why they cannot be valid reasons for discounting its truthfulness:

1. Swoon Theory

2. Jesus’ Body Stolen

3. Wrong Tomb

4. Legend Theory

5. Contradictions in gospel accounts

6. Appearances were hallucinations

Finally, we considered some additional proofs of the resurrections:

1. Early, simple historical accounts (esp. Acts, 1 Cor. And Mark)

2. Empty Tomb

3. Over 500 witnesses

4. Martyred Disciples




LUCID: "The World of Adults"

We began a new series last week called "Life Rollercoaster", and we talked about the relationship between parents and teenagers during the teen years. Half of the group looked at some passages that map out what the God-given role of parents is:
Deuteronomy 6:5-7; Psalm 103:13; Proverbs 13:24, 22:6, 29:17; Ephesians 6:4; 1 Timothy 3:4, 5:8

The other half looked at the God-given role that children have been given:
Proverbs 1:1-7, 3:1-2, 10:1, 13:1, 15:5, 17:25, 19:26-27, 23:15-24, 28:7

We then talked about all that parents do to care for their children, and how a child's response should be one of respect, thankfulness and contribution to the family.

Real World Parents 2.24.10

Parent Newsletter

Contents

1. Tools for Parenting Teens


2. Learn Their Lingo


3. Links to Learn From


4. A Little Encouragement...And Humor

1. Tools for Parenting Teens

From http://www.realworldparents.com/starters/

Zoom Out

Let’s help our kids to pull back from the moment right in front of them to think about their big “P” purposes as a follower of Christ—no matter where they go to school, what jobs they hold, or who they…

Read More:

http://www.realworldparents.com/starters/article/zoom_out/

Featured Resource: Boundaries with Teens

In this exciting new book, Dr. Townsend gives important keys for establishing healthy boundaries�the bedrock of good relationships, maturity, safety, and growth for teens and the adults in their lives. The book offers help in raising your teens to take responsibility for their actions, attitudes, and emotions.

http://www.realworldparents.com/store/item/boundaries_with_teens/

2. Learn Their Lingo

Cow-Mo = Cow-Mo is a subgenre of country music that is a mix of country and emo.

Noted = A reply posted when someone puts a status on facebook, myspace, etc. Sarcastically shows that you care, and are going to write the status down in a notebook, when you really don't care at all about the status.

3. Links to Learn From

Cortisol directly related to obesity in girls only
http://www.examiner.com/x-6180-Birmingham-Science-News-Examiner~y2010m2d24-Cortisol-directly-related-to-obesity-in-girls-only

Millenials: Confident. Connected. Open to Change.
http://pewsocialtrends.org/pubs/751/millennials-confident-connected-open-to-change

Teacher Tackles Shooter in Littleton School Shooting
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/top/all/6882913.html

4. A Little Encouragement...And Humor

Family: A social unit where the father is concerned with parking space, the children with outer space, and the mother with closet space.

- Evan Esar