Unprepared

When I stand up to teach during Sunday school I generally get the feeling that I'm the only one who is prepared for the lesson.  I think I get that feeling because I know that when I'm not teaching a particular Sunday I'm not prepared for the lesson someone else is going to be teaching. 

I believe in preparation and I really enjoy the digging through the Scriptures and various resources that goes into it.  I'm beginning to wonder though if I'm just shoveling the knowledge I'm gaining into my brothers and sisters laps,by doing all the work before hand, only have it spill out of those laps shortly after they leave the room. 

I wonder how it would go if I came prepared, but instead of shoveling everything I learned onto them I had them ask their own questions about the particular passage of Scripture and then start showing them how to dig to find honest answers to those questions themselves and corporately as a class?  I don't think it would be very exciting, with all the cross-referencing, but I wonder if it wouldn't be more edifying? 

I'm thinking, "Give a man a fish and you've fed him for a day, teach him to fish...."

Top 10 Sights that Made me Fall in Love with Western U.S.

#9.  Old Faithful comes in at number 9.  Apparently "faithful" is defined as + or - 30 minutes because that's the range of time they give you for the set time they tell you she will go off.  Old Faithful was neat, but the sulfur smell took some of the shine off the geysers for me.

You're so lucky!

"Your children are so well behaved.  You're so lucky!"  I hear this every once in a while from people observing our children.  I'm thankful for the complement that is being shared and it is very encouraging.  However, my children being well behaved has nothing to do with luck and everything to do with the grace of God. 
It's by God's mercy that I was raised by parents who disciplined me and had expectations that I would discipline myself.  It's by God's Word that I understand that children are not tabula rasas, i.e. blank slates, but they are born sinners and good behavior is an unnatural state of affairs for them.  It's by God's grace that He saved my wife and myself and has given us a biblical understanding of multi-generational faithfulness.  Lastly, it's by God's grace that the cummulative effect of all this mercy and understanding is the knowledge that our children must be raised so that they understand when they disobey or are disrespectful to Amy and myself, they are sinning against God and breaking His requirements and claims on their lives.

If you are a follower of Christ and are married mark this passage of Scripture.
"Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union? And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring." -Malachi 2:15 
God has made you one in your marriage and has given you a portion of the Spirit in your marriage and He expects something in return.  Godly offspring. 

Well behaved children are not the product of their natural personalities.  It's really rather the opposite.  Well behaved children are the product of parents encouraging the Imago Dei that every human being possesses and punishing the fallen nature they are all enslaved to.  It's simple really and it's a biblical principle.  Reward the good and punish the bad.

Fitting In

A 5 point Calvinist, Post-Tribulation Rapturer, and Old Earth Creationist walk into the room.  Not sure "Rapturer" is a word, but this sounds like the beginning of a joke doesn't it? 

In today's Church these are 3 minority positions on 3 hot-button topics, at least they are hot-button for some.  It just so happens that I hold to all 3 of these positions.  If that wasn't enough I homeschool my 3 children and I hope God blesses my family with many more children.  If I wasn't weird enough for you before that last sentence then I'm sure I am now! :)  

So when someone like me has strong convictions on all of these subjects, except Old Earth Creationism....I'm strongly convicted about creationism but am still in the "opinion" stage of the old or new earth discussion, how can I possibly fit into a community of believers that largely disagree with me on these important subjects?

Well I've been asking myself that question for a while and here's what I've found.  My knowledge and convictions on these subjects does not have to waiver OR interfere with my love for my brothers and sisters in Christ.

"And He gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, and teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in decietful schemes.  Rather speaking the truth in love we are to grow up in every way into Him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love." Eph. 4:11-16 

We can share the truth of our convictions, we can back that truth up with the Truth, i.e. the Scriptures, and we can love our brothers and sisters and consider them more important than ourselves.  Finally, we can trust the Holy Spirit of God to change their minds on the subjects of discussion and disagreement and bring us all into the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, and that's how I, and you if you're weird like me, can fit in.  I/we must trust the Holy Spirit to change people in His timing and understand that any wisdom I/we have is not found in clever arguments or beating people into submission but my/our wisdom is only found in faithfully proclaiming the Scriptures and trusting God with the rest. Isaiah 55:8-11

Note to my/your self:  Sometimes my/your mind is the one that is changed.

Top 10 Sights that Made me Fall in Love with Western U.S.

 #10 While visiting Yellowstone National Park Amy discovered some very humurous signs, at least we thought they were funny.  Apparently some people look at buffalo and see cudley stuffed teddy bears.  I looked at them and saw a burley beast.  Likewise, some people see geysers and think, "I wonder what it looks like down that hole?"  I looked at them and thought, "It's gotta be pretty hot down there to get enought pressure built up to shoot that water 100 feet in the air...not to mention the steam that's constantly pouring out of there."  So the #10 reason why I fell in love with Western U.S. are the "Here's Your Sign" signs.

Car Line

I help in the afternoons loading children into their parent's cars at my school. I've been doing this for almost 11 years now. For the first 3 years of my career I did it in the morning when parents drop their children off as well as in the afternoon when they pick them up. For the last 8 years I've done it in the morning for the majority of the time, but have also mixed in the afternoon for most of this year.

So every day of the school year I get to see how parents and their children interact as they are leaving each other for the day as well as how they receive each other after a day apart.

I've got one thing to say. HANG UP THE PHONE AND LOVE ON YOUR KID. I'm going to guess that in my time of doing car line duty around 50% of the parents that drop their children off and pick them up don't even acknowledge they are leaving the car or getting into it because they're too busy on the phone. Everyone's going to have a day or two like that every now and then, but for the majority of the 50% I'm talking to it's every day.

One day these parents are going to wonder why their children are ignoring them and won't have anything to do with them. Perhaps it's because you ignored them their whole childhood so you could get done what was on your agenda instead of investing yourselves into them.

God be merciful to these kids and to these parents. Help them to wake up before it's too late.