Often our children would question, “Why can’t we do what other kids get to do?” “Why isn’t our family like other families? They let their kids watch ________ or go to ______, etc.” And this was before parents were getting their 11 year olds SmartPhones and Facebook and Twitter accounts. I can’t imagine what pressure […]
Back when our church had a summer day camp with 150 children a day from K-8th grade with children from all kinds of homes, rule breaking was rampant. How can we get these kids under control? We resolved to do better the next week. We started each of the remaining camp weeks with a review […]
One might deny it, not wanting to look like one is losing one’s mind wandering about talking to one’s self. But we all do it all the time. The question is not, do you talk to yourself? The real question is, do you preach positively or negatively, do you rationalize and propagandize or do you […]
Often when meeting with a student, I draw different diagrams to explain ideas. One of my favorites is a long horizontal line upon which I draw a small dot. I ask, “If that is a timeline, what do you think the dot represents?” Almost immediately the student says, that is my life in comparison to […]
It’s Your Own Dumb Fault …would often be our parents’ response when kids back in my day would come home crying or complaining about something, whether it be from climbing too high in a tree and a branch would break off, or we would get punished for talking back to a teacher, or beat up […]
Man, that hurts! I was thinking after a person blasted my reputation by sending out letters to every person in her current and former Bible studies. This lady’s Bible study leader and I had come to an impasse on a doctrinal/practical living disagreement. She was sorely disappointed that I did not take her side in […]
Is there a middle ground between being all in for Jesus and being in rebellion against Him? Is there a place for someone to be just a good, decent believer but not a zealot? Can’t I just be going around my daily life seeking to do good without having to make Jesus Lord over every […]
Kids take their cues from us to a large extent. Something happens and they look to us on how to react. Think of a child falling down and getting a little scrape. He or she is rattled, but looks up to Mom or Dad to find out — is this a big deal? Is this […]
Being older gives me a bit of historical perspective. I remember the time in the Sixties when college professors were pleading for tolerance and academic freedom so that their Marxist values could be expressed in the classroom. The argument was that college students should be exposed to a diversity of opinions and robust discussion of different […]
Many of us can remember pithy sayings — those short direct comments that were full of meaning — from our parents or grandparents. My grandparents relied heavily on Poor Richard’s Almanac or apocryphal statements like: Cleanliness is next to Godliness. My mother seemed resistant to the idea of passing along wisdom, lest she impose her value system […]
Whining drives almost every parent crazy. It is often triggered with just one little word — No. No matter how one delivers this verdict, no matter how nicely and considerate of our young child’s desire, the whining can begin… “But, Mooooom!” The vowels are drawn out and the voice reaches supersonic frequencies. My 7th grade […]
Do you ever feel provoked by the claims of one group or another against the person or “side” that you support? Or have you ever felt very strongly about an issue, even with your own family, and you want to give the other person both barrels of your opinion/your set of facts? Even more important, […]
It’s been no secret that I am a Kansas City Chiefs fan from my stint as a pastor in the KC area. Along with the Chiefs fans back at my old church we had a wild ride this year. Patrick Mahomes had a wild ride, too: awarded huge contracts, commentators touting him as the future […]
One of the main things that attracted me to my wife Linda when I first got to know her 48 years ago, was her unique sense of humor, much of it accidental. Just the other day she was chatting with her snowed-in sister Kathy up in Big Bay, MI. Kathy was complaining that her dog […]
As a Classical School, we often tout that we want our children to think critically. How do we do this when times are such as these? Part of us wants to teach and preach about our thoughts and feelings about current events. We figure that if we repeat our talking points often enough, we are training […]
Many families try to read through the Bible with their children only to be stopped short at Genesis 18-19, the sad story of Lot and his family. Suddenly the G story becomes more PG and even R-rated! Things come up that no one wants to explain to young children — the men of the city wanting to […]
Have you been losing sleep this year after watching mobs take over the streets or invade the Capitol building? Have you become angry when hearing distortions on all sides being projected through the media? Do you fear what is going to happen to our country or even our children as events unfold around us; events […]
Each Thanksgiving we gather in a circle and take turns saying what we are thankful for. But the value of this activity extends beyond one meal a year. We have often talked about the importance of gratitude and its impact in encouraging one another and our family members. Developing the simple habit of thanking others creates a […]
What can you get out of a daily Bible Reading of just 20 minutes a day? No matter what is going on, I do not let myself go to sleep without my discipline of 20-25 minutes a day reading through the Bible. (Yes, even as late as I stay up.) Some have criticized this “shallow” reading […]
As I think about this last week, I have realized that our country is filled with strong emotions on all sides, but deeply polarized in these feelings. Some are celebrating like in the scene in The Wizard of Oz when Dorothy’s house fell on one of the Wicked Witch of the East, dancing and singing, “Ding-dong […]
What a time we live in! And the election is tomorrow. Am I alone in spending time speculating what might be the reactions in our country to one outcome or another? Not only do we have to wonder how the loser and his followers might react, but I remember riots when a city’s team wins […]
While listening to Prof. Greg Koukl at this weekend’s Apologetics Conference, I realized that his comments on witnessing also provided insights for us as parents. He said, “I’m a gardener, not a harvester.” It struck a chord with me as I remembered Jesus’ Parable of the Sower. In this parable, Jesus actually describes four soils […]
I came across this verse in my QT two nights ago: But Jesus called them to Himself, and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. It is not so among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be […]
Our daughter Hope was an addict… to pacifiers. Anybody else have that? She could not get to sleep without one. Many a night we had to search the house from top to bottom to find the Binky so she would finally stop crying and fall peacefully to sleep. One road trip, somehow we got to […]
As the election nears and news from all sides gets worse and worse, nearly apocalyptic, “This election could mark the end of democracy as we know it.”, perhaps we need to take a breath. Who are we? What is our mission? What gives us peace and purpose? First and foremost, we are believers in the […]
When a devastating act of evil occurs like 9/11, even believers can be shaken in their faith. The toll in human life is hard to wrap one’s mind around and the pain even in the lives of the survivors seems unending. At times like this, our preparation and training needs to be strong so that […]
As part of remembering 9/11, my wife Linda DVRs History Channel documentaries of the events. As we watch them, we are struck anew at the incredible care for one another and courage on display by first responders and co-workers of those in the Twin Towers. In one documentary, it focused on spouses and parents at […]
Living in a Cornfield? My wife and I often used that statement to encourage the other spouse to stop talking about adult things in front of the kids. Our point was to remind each other that we were surrounded by little ears. Usually, we would follow this up shortly after with a walk when our children […]
One of Margo’s latest hashtags is #VeritasUnited. I got to thinking about that. This is definitely our goal and something our enemy works non-stop to prevent. He would love to destroy the best parts of Veritas — our caring, supportive community. He sneaks around in our minds, sowing seeds of division, since he knows that […]
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