Let's Do It My Way
All the change marriage brought caught me off guard. Everything I had worked so hard to establish in my own life was now open to debate. All the traditions passed down through my family were about to be fused with another.
Living harmoniously as a family is an ongoing, intentional journey. The beginning of that journey is marked by great anticipation and genuine excitement. A bride and groom have high hopes and great dreams as they start out life together. However, as in all journeys, unexpected challenges pop up, including the arrival of children, which requires the couple to cultivate valuable parenting skills—without a handbook! At each age, from preschool through elementary school, each child requires his or her parents to make adjustments along the way to keep the relationships harmonious. Just about the time parents get their arms around all of that, the teenage years arrive! This stretching and complicated time calls for even more adjustments and a greater willingness to change if the parents hope to sustain harmony in the home. Then, after all that adapting, a new set of challenges arrives—the children reach adulthood, with minds of their own. Can there still be mutual respect and meaningful relationships in the family? Can harmony continue between parents and their grown-up kids? Absolutely! The question is, how?
All the change marriage brought caught me off guard. Everything I had worked so hard to establish in my own life was now open to debate. All the traditions passed down through my family were about to be fused with another.
I'm tired. The days away were well-spent but exhausting. I am glad I made the trip, but I'm even happier to be coming home. There's nothing like a few days away to remind me how much I love being home.
We are to convey Christ across the canyons of age, nationality, language, gender, cultural bias and spiritual blindness. There is no doubt the truth of Jesus can transcend every canyon, but are we equipped to carry Him well?
Thinking about the wisdom of experience and a long life of learning I sat down with my dad. I wanted to pick his brain about the important things he's learned over the years about being a husband, father, and pastor.
How easy for us to make a promise, say words of intention, yet which may only be of as much substance as the air it took to utter it. Once spoken, promises carry a weight that may be difficult to bring to full term and delivery.
Although it won't be as simple as in years past I have resolved to rid myself of my selfish attitude, only interested in what I can get out of Christmas.
A Christmas of our own making is bound to fail. Christmas is God-made and doesn't disappoint.
Until we are finally in the presence of God with all His saints we will never get rid of all loneliness; it is an inescapable part of life. But we can control it.
On this our 29th anniversary, we've been reflecting on the words theologian Rod Stewart sings, “I wish that I knew what I know now when I was younger.” Here are a few things we know now.
Parenting is not to be taken lightly. As parents, we all have moments where we want to walk away or feel like we need a do over, but that doesn't happen. What does happen is our reflection in our children.