23

Jump Start # 2085

Posted on April 23, 2018 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

Jump Start # 2085

Matthew 5:16 “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in Heaven.”

In our last Jump Start, we talked about impressions and what a congregation can do to make a good impression upon a visitor. There are more things that need to be said in this area. Becoming a welcoming church is important. Jesus welcomed the crowds around Him. People found in Jesus someone who cared. Children were welcomed by Jesus. The outcasts, the troubled, the diseased, all found a friend in Jesus.

Our verse today, not directed congregationally, but individually, reminds us of the importance of influence and impressions. Shine that light in such a way. The same light that can attract, can blind. The light that draws attention, can make it hard to see. Give a five-year-old a flashlight, and he’ll shine it in your eyes. There is a right way and a wrong way to shine that light.

As we continue our thoughts about making impressions congregationally, one area that so little consideration is given to is announcements. The idea of making announcements is not found in the Bible, but is accepted and convenient to keep the church informed. We make announcements about special meetings, the sick, those needing help and all sorts of things.

Here are some thoughts about announcements:

First, make announcements with consideration of the visitor. I’ve seen some make announcements as services begin and then they make the same announcements as services end. I’ve seen some try to recap what the sermon was all about, often times, missing the point of what the sermon was about. I’ve seen long, drawn out announcements. I’ve seen people add to the announcements from the pews, speaking out or making corrections to what was being said. I’ve seen names mispronounced and personal medical information that is delicate and private being announced.

Give some thought to a person who might be visiting for the first time. Consider how to stream line announcements. Using the bulletin, and opening slides, possibly cut down the number of announcements.

Second, the timing of announcements is also important. I’ve seen services begin with the announcement of a death that happened the night before. Few knew about it. You could hear the expressions of shock in the auditorium. That one statement put a dark pale upon the rest of services. Our announcements can change and even disrupt the thoughts necessary for worship. Maybe hold off on that announcement until the end. I’ve seen the opening of a special meeting with the announcement of church discipline. Could that have held off for one more week? Give thought as to when and what is being announced.

Third, at the beginning of worship is a wonderful time to have a warm and kind greeting. Welcome visitors. Very briefly, let it be know what is going to take place. Set the tone for encouragement and put God before our eyes.

Fourth, give some thought as to who gives announcements. Face it, some are comfortable behind a mic and others nearly pass out. Some mumble. Some don’t stand behind the mic, they stand to the side of it. Some do not raise their voice. So the result is a few people in the first roles can hear, but the rest can’t. Within the audience, people whisper, “what did he say?” “Who’s in the hospital?” That rather defeats the purpose of announcements if what is being said cannot be heard.

Fifth, some go off script and use the occasion to get a few things off their chest. The announcer is not the preacher. The preacher peaches and the announcer gives announcements. Sometimes those two get their roles confused.

Sixth, we know the power of prayer, but often in a large congregation, everyone knows someone who is in hospital or having a hard time. A co-worker, a neighbor, an aunt’s best friend, someone from down home, and often no one else has a clue who these folks are. Is it wrong to do that, no. But, in a large congregation, you could have a long, long list. Discretion needs to be used. Someone, like the elders, ought to have the final say as to what names go in the announcements and what names do not.

Finally, closing announcements, may be one of the final things a person remembers and takes with them. There has been a sermon, prayers, lots of songs and now a final few announcements. Letting people know where material, CD’s, and other information is located at and are free is important. Final thoughts. Make them positive, uplifting and inviting. There may be some things that are announced on a Sunday evening or Wednesday evening that may not be announced on a Sunday morning. The reason being, thinking about the visitor.

The announcements should not be an obstacle to the worship. The announcements should not hinder worship. Impressions. Give thought to what is being said and who is listening.

Roger

20

Jump Start # 2084

Posted on April 20, 2018 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

Jump Start # 2084

Proverbs 13:7 “There is one who pretends to be rich, but has nothing; another pretends to be poor, but has great wealth.”

Our verse today is about impressions. We form decisions and judgments based upon what we see. We’ve been told not to judge a book by it’s cover, but we do. I’ve bought books just because of the cover. Great titles, but not so great reads.

 

Our verse is about misleading or false impressions. A poor guy pretends to be rich. How would one do that? He’d dress sharp. Wear what appears to be expensive clothes. Today, he’d have fine looking shoes, nice watch, and certainly, the latest and greatest phone. I knew a guy like that. He always paid for lunch. He had the greatest gadgets. He fooled all of us. He lost his house and later, I helped move him from apartment to apartment, because he didn’t have anything. He sure put on a good show. Why would someone do that? Someone who is poor, yet acts like he is rich? Esteem issues. He wants to impress people. He wants others to think that he is a success. His hope and identity lies in what others think about him, rather than what the Lord thinks about him.

 

Impressions are important. This is why a young man, who typically doesn’t care if his shirt is ironed or his hair is combed, will spend what seems like days in front of the bathroom mirror, looking his best before he goes out on that first date. He knows if he appears like a street bum that there probably won’t be a second date. Impressions are important. There was a time when people dressed up for job interviews. I’m hearing that some show up with dirty jeans and clothes you’d wear to work in the yard for an interview for a professional job. Is it any wonder they don’t get that job? Impressions. Many modern preachers today have ditched the tie and suit for Hawaiian shirts and flip flops. They want a casual approach. Forgetting that they stand before God, they want to fit in with the crowd. Impressions. If I’m in court, I don’t want my attorney wearing a Hawaiian shirt. If I go to the funeral home, I don’t want the funeral director to greet me in flip flops. I don’t want my insurance man wearing shorts, not when we are in his office, talking insurance. Impressions.

 

One area that we often over look in a discussion about impressions, is what our church buildings look to a first time visitor. Most congregations hunger for new faces and visitors to show up. But they don’t realize how important impressions are. Like that young man getting ready for a date, the wrong impressions can keep first time visitors from ever returning. We can easily dismiss all of this as, “it’s just a church building, it doesn’t matter.” But it does. Dirty restaurants is all it takes for us never to return again. When on the road, finding clean bathrooms can be a real challenge.

 

Here are a few thoughts:

 

First, is the church building inviting? From the parking lot to the front door, is the impression good, warm and welcoming? This involves signage on the street, parking lot, and lights. Does it look clean and taken care of? Is the yard trashy? Is there grass growing in the parking lot? Are the times of services easy to find and up to date? Which door should a person enter? Is that well marked? Where do visitors park, in the far corner of the parking lot? Is there anyone at the door? Should a person just walk in or should they knock? We laugh at that, but visitors don’t know.

 

Second, is there friendly faces to greet a visitor? Walmart has them. When I’m at Walmart and I can’t find what I need, which is most times for me, I look for someone in the blue vest. Someone coming to visit your congregation for the very first time, would they know where to go once they are inside? Do they know where the classes are? Does the place seem safe? That’s a concern anymore. Do visitors have to walk around groups of people who are engaged in conversations and are ignoring the people walking in? Immediately, does a person feel welcome or do they feel like they have crashed a private party and were not invited? Impressions. I have actually seen people turn around and walk out. I went to a place to eat not too long ago. Just my wife and myself. We stood in the entry way. No one came. We heard people in the back. I walked back there and saw people seated and eating. We waited. We waited. No one ever came. We left. Not a good impression.

 

Third, does the insides, the entry way, seem inviting. When someone walks in, will they know where to go to worship? Are there signs up? Are there places to find information? Is it up to date, attractive and appealing to visitors? I’ve walked into some church buildings and it was like walking in someone’s basement. There were stacks of paper, Bibles and all kinds of things piled up. Junky looking. We know what it is like to have company. We clean the house. We pick things up. Impression, remember? Some how that’s forgotten in some church buildings. Have you noticed walking into a major store, like Target, how bright it is, signs pointing to bathrooms, things to catch your eye and things to make your experience comfortable, easy and welcome. Next time you go to Target, stop in the doorway and just look around. Then go back to your church building and stand in the doorway and look. Do you see differences? Impressions. A fresh coat of paint, tossing junk, cleaning up the eyesores, hanging a few signs, putting out some attractive literature, sure can change impressions.

 

Now, some will think, “It’s just a church building. Our emphasis is upon the Lord.” Certainly. But have you ever noticed that in the Old Testament, when we talk about the Temple, it wasn’t some storage shed made out of plywood. Gold, gold, gold. It was magnificent. Then, fast forward, to the image of Heaven. Gold street. Peal gates. Beautiful. Now, the in between time, is when we have our church buildings. What do we see? I know places that has standing water in the basement when it rains. I was at one place and the mold was so bad, I had to walk outside. I could breathe. Dirty carpets. Old curtains. Dim lights. Bathrooms that need a lot of scrubbing. It leaves the feeling, the impression, that folks do not care. If they don’t care about the place where they worship, how can they care about the Lord?

 

Fourth, the friendliness of the church. That’s a huge impression. Some can overlook the crude they see in the building, but they won’t forget how the people treated them. Friendly? Rude? Can you imagine being a visitor, and you don’t know where to sit, so you find a spot and sit down. Soon a couple comes in and proclaims that you are sitting in their seat. How were you to know? You weren’t given a ticket or a seat number? What are you to do? The couple is waiting on you to move. Don’t be looking for that visitor back. He’s done. Even before the first song is sung, he’s done. I have been the guest preacher at places before, and walked in and no one said a word to me. Very awkward. Very strange. And somehow, my schedule is always booked when they ask me to return. Impressions.

 

Make a person feel welcome. Invite them to sit with you. Don’t talk just about yourself, but don’t quiz them with a thousand questions. Don’t use that moment to correct everything doctrinally that you hear them say. Just be glad that they came. Help them to find where things are. Put yourself in their shoes.

 

Becoming a church that welcomes is important. In today’s world, the visitor has already check a church out on the website before they came. That right there is enough to tell whether or not they will show up on a Sunday. Keep things fresh. Put some curb appeal on the outside and the inside as well as the website. Spend some time with the church, reminding them that how they conduct themselves with visitors can be a game changer.

 

In the movie, Field of Dreams, the line is, “if you build it, they will come.” They may come, but if the place looks and smells like a dump, they won’t stay long.

 

Impressions. You want to leave the right ones. You want to put your best foot forward. So, polish that foot and make it shine and put a smile on your face and warmth in your heart. Invite folks to come, but be ready for them when they do come.

 

Impressions—give this some thought.

 

Roger

 

19

Jump Start # 2083

Posted on April 19, 2018 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

Jump Start # 2083

Colossians 2:2 “that their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God’s mystery, that is Christ Himself”

I finished speaking at a church last evening in the Indy area. First time I ever preached at that congregation. Having spent a few days with them you can sense a special bond that they had. I referred to this as a special chemistry. Some churches have it and some don’t.

Our verse today speaks of hearts that were knit together in love, a necessary aspect for a congregation to move forward and upward with the Lord. I don’t know much about knitting. My grandma used to weave rugs on an ancient loom. But the idea and the concept is pulling different stands together and uniting them so they not only are connected but together they form a strong unit or bond. Knit together. Joined together. Connected. United. That’s the idea. And, the key component to keep things from pulling apart is having the right chemistry.

We understand the importance of chemistry when it comes to dating. I once heard a preacher, a long, long time ago, make the claim that any single Christian man and any single Christian woman ought to be able to date because of Christ. I was single when I heard that. I knew a lot of single Christian girls. I also knew that there was no way that I would ask some of them out and I also knew that there was a bunch that would turn me down if I did ask them. There has to be some chemistry there. In the world of dating, chemistry is love, romance and attraction. That grows into a marriage. Without a chemistry, a man and woman become roommates, partners but what they lack is being knit together. Biblically, it’s two becoming one.

So, just what does chemistry look like within a congregation? What is it?

First, it’s folks who like each other. That’s one of the surest ways of seeing this chemistry. Before services begin and especially afterwards, there is a lot of chit-chatting going on. You see people hanging around for a long time talking. There are smiles, laughter, hugs, deep conversations filling the air. Those that are in charge of turning out the lights and locking the doors, often wait and wait because these people are not in any hurry to leave each other’s company.

Now, I’ve witnessed the opposite of this. By the time the last “Amen” is said, folks scatter. The building empties out fast and everyone goes their way. Sometimes you can just walk into a place and feel the tension. There isn’t much joy taking place. You sense people really do not want to be there. You see this in other areas. I’ve sat in waiting rooms while my car was being worked on. You strike up a conversation and it kills the time. But have you noticed, when you are waiting at the dentist’s office, no one wants to talk. They just sit in silence. Nothing wrong with the dentist. I’ve known some great dentists, it’s just the fact that most folks would rather be any where else. They want to get out of there as soon as they can. That’s the same experience some congregations leave. You can tell that some don’t want to be there. For them, going to worship, is about the same as sitting in the dentist office. What’s missing is hearts that are knit together.

Second, there is a genuine concern for each other. The congregation I was with in Indy had some recent deaths. In fact, there had been a funeral when I was there. That’s enough to put a gloom and doom in the air, but it didn’t. You’d see folks talking to those who were mourning. There were invitations to come and eat with others. There were lots of hugs and lots of offers to help. You could tell these folks really cared. That’s chemistry. That’s a valuable part of fellowship. We are fellows, in the same ship. We are traveling together. We endure similar things. There are a lot of us, all around my age now, who are having to have serious conversations with our aging parents about driving and assisted living. Those are not easy conversations. But we find ourselves all going through this. Chemistry is about caring. It’s about making the journey easier. It’s about helping someone. It’s about being there. It’s about bearing each other’s burdens.

You can tell when the chemistry is missing when someone states, “No one cares about me.” Alone in a crowd. No friends. No fellowship. Just sitting in a pew each week among people that I may know their names but that’s about it. When that chemistry is missing, a person won’t reach out to others. He will try to figure things out himself. He may turn to his friends for help or advice. He won’t have that powerful network of fellow believers to support him, encourage him and strengthen him.

You have to make yourself available for people to know you and care for you. Lower your guard. Remove the masks you wear and tear down the walls you have built, so people can get to know you. Some fear, if they really knew me, they wouldn’t like me, so they pretend to be what they are not. They begin relationships that are not genuine. When you are invited out with someone, go. Stick around. Strike up conversations. Stop pretending to be perfect because you are not and neither is anyone else. There are people who would love to know you and include you.

Finally, chemistry is built around transparency. Openness. This is true in marriage and this is true in a fellowship. Secrets kill chemistry. Inner groups that only include certain ones and not others, kills chemistry. When leaders operate in secret and no one knows what’s going on, or, what the plans are, or where we are headed, it kills the chemistry. Jesus told the apostles that everything the Father told Him. Complete transparency. No suspicion. No guessing. No ’I don’t know what’s going on.’

Strong churches have great chemistry. It’s not based upon the size of the church. I’ve been around some small places, and it was missing. They wanted to gossip about each other, point fingers at the world and stick their tongue out at other churches. Long week, when I go to places like that. It’s no wonder they are small. Who would want to be a part of that mess? It’s the people that set the tone, temperature and the chemistry of a congregation. Leaders make all the difference. The spirit of sermons. The attitude of shepherds. The connections to the flock. All of those things matter. I’ve seen the spirit of congregations change. I’ve seen the chemistry change. Congregations have gone from being moody, stingy, and mean to having hearts that are knit together in love. The leadership has much to do with this. Their attitudes and their examples and the way they deal with people and the way they go about the business of leading can be warm and helpful or mean and ugly. I’ve seen elders literally cry in the pulpit when it comes to having to discipline some who were no longer walking with Jesus. But I’ve also seen it done in such a way that I felt the elder was happy to do that. Tone. Attitude. Atmosphere. Chemistry. Love. Knit together or pulling apart.

Each of us adds to this chemistry within a church. How we interact and how we allow ourselves to be knit to one another is the key. Behind all of this, of course, and always, is our faith and love in the Lord. The Jesus that went to the home of tax collectors, touched lepers and showed the world that He loved them, is how we learn to have our hearts knit to one another.

Chemistry—it’s more important the how pretty the church building is. It’s more important than the location of the church building. It’s more important that all the activities a church may do. It’s even more important that all the new people that are reached. Because without the right chemistry, people will soon leave.

Are you doing your part to help the chemistry in your congregation? Are you knit together with others? It’s something to think about…

Roger

18

Jump Start # 2082

Posted on April 18, 2018 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

Jump Start # 2082

Revelation 12:1 “And a great sign appeared in Heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars”

 

There are just five days left. Only five days to get done what needs to be done. In five days, April 23rd, according to religious expert, David Meade, the world will come to an end. How does he know this? Our Revelation verse, he claims tells it all. On April 23rd, the sun and the moon will be in the constellation Virgo, which Meade claims is the woman from this passage. The planet Jupiter, which he says represents the Messiah, will also be there. This cosmic alignment isn’t unique. It happens every twelve years. But on this occasion, another planetary system, called Planet X, will also appear in the sky. On April 23, the moon will appear under the feet of the constellation Virgo. The twelve stars, mentioned in the passage, include the nine stars of Leo and the alignment of Mercury, Mars and Venus—which will make up the twelve stars of the woman’s crown. This is all Meade needs to conclude that in five days, the world is coming to an end.

 

This proclamation is making the news circuit. Could it be possible? Could the end be so close? Is this it? I guess we’ll know by Tuesday. But stuff like this isn’t knew. There have been all kinds of claims made for hundreds of years about the coming of the end.

 

Here are some things we know:

 

First, this same alignment of all these stars and planets has occurred on four other occasions in the past millennium. The end didn’t happen then. Why should we believe it will happen this time?

 

Second, these end of time theorists fail to grasp the basic concepts of Revelation. The book was written for the seven churches of Asia. There is a message of hope for them. What purpose does the book serve if those first readers received a message that wouldn’t be fulfilled for thousands of years later? They were suffering and they needed Divine help.

 

Third, at the beginning and at the conclusion of the book of Revelation, the repeated statement is that the things must shortly come to pass. Two thousand years later isn’t very short. Don’t be thinking, a thousand years is like one day to the Lord. That may be how God operates. We don’t live that way. The book was written to believers on earth, who still deal with sunrises and sunsets.

 

Fourth, the end of time theories miss the symbolism of apocalyptic literature. Revelation is a vision. The first few sentences reveal that the message is “signified,” or symbolic. The words are not intended to be literal. Jesus doesn’t have shiny bronze feet, nor a sword coming out of His mouth as the first chapter reveals. So, in our passage today, it’s not the actual sun, stars and moon that are being discussed. These all represent other things. In the 8th chapter of Revelation, a third of the sun, stars and moon became dark. A third of the earth burned up. Now, if a person is going to take part of this literal, it seems that he ought to take the rest of it literal as well. If a third of the earth burned up, we couldn’t live here. In the sixth chapter a star fell to the earth. If that happened, life would be over. Now, before you get to the lineup of the planets in chapter twelve, it seems that we have to deal with chapter six and chapter eight. These inconsistencies brings wild ideas that only scare people.

 

Fifth, Jesus told the disciples in the parable of the wise and foolish virgins that “you do not know the day nor the hour” of the coming of the Lord (Mt. 25:13). Now, this puts us at an intersection of who to believe. Should I believe the Lord, who also said, “I have told you all things” (Jn 15:15), or this obscure conspiracy theorist, who doesn’t even understand the book that he claims has his proof. If no one knows the day nor the hour, how is it that this guy knows?

 

Sixth, NASA scientists have denied any possibility of a Planet X. This is key to this theory. Without Planet X, his theory falls flat. How is it that he knows something that NASA doesn’t?

 

Seventh, unfounded theories like this makes preachers in general look like idiots. Could this be a reason why some find no practical value in what is being preached today. Wild theories, politics and building hype upon ignorance and fear isn’t what God calls preaching. Where is the call for righteous living? Where is the Gospel call to repent and be baptized as the apostles taught? You don’t find the apostles pointing to the skies to get people to think about their souls. They pointed to Jesus. They preached the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

 

Eighth, someday the Lord will return. The earth will be destroyed. Peter promises that. It will happen. When? Could it happen in five days? It could. It could happen tomorrow. The emphasis throughout the N.T. is to live righteously every day. Live as if each day is your last day. Someday, you’ll be right.

 

Finally, what if this coming Monday was the last day? You’ll find me in worship on Sunday. You’ll find me trying to walk with Jesus, by starting the day with intense prayer and trying to help others the best I can. If we are still here on Tuesday, then what? For some, they’ll use it as a laugh and further reason to ignore God. But for me, I’ll start the day with intense prayer and try to help as many as I can. In other words, whether or not Monday is the last day, I’ll not change much because I’m walking with the Lord each day.

 

Misusing the Bible can be as dangerous as not using the Bible at all. Error, like poison, can seem so innocent but it can be so deadly. Jesus said, “You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.” We can know what’s right.

 

Rather than focusing upon the sun, we need to pay attention to THE SON, the Son of God.

 

Roger

 

17

Jump Start # 2081

Posted on April 17, 2018 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

Jump Start # 2081

Ephesians 6:4 “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.”

We knew him simply as Buster. He was a friend of the family. My kids loved Buster. I loved to watch the interaction between Buster and the kids. Buster got sick, real sick. With the family gathered, we watched Buster pass away. Tears flowed. Questions were asked. A funeral was planned.

Buster was a pet hamster that we got for my son, Jordan. But everyone loved Buster. He was fluffy, furry, bright eyed and especially took to little Jordan. The boys would put Buster in their toy trucks and run him around the house. Buster seemed to have a blast. They played and played with Buster. But he got sick. On a Wednesday, we knew that Buster wouldn’t make it. We all left for Bible class. Little Buster hung on until we all got back. He died in Jordan’s little hands. I didn’t know at the time that the life expectancy for that type of hamster was only one year. I would have never gone down that path had I done my homework. That night, fearing a lot of tears, we put Jordan in bed with us. He fell asleep immediately. Mom and dad stayed awake most of the night with tears in their eyes. The next day, we had a funeral in our back yard for Buster. To this day, all these years later, the kids have fond memories of that short time they had with Buster. They sure loved him.

Our verse today is about parenting. Let’s face it, parenting is tough. It’s more than clean clothes, bedtime and getting them off to school. There are tough lessons that come with parenting. There are some things that the kids will carry with them in their heart and in their memory the rest of their lives.

Here are a few of them:

Dealing with death: Pets die. Grandparents die. Happily ever after only happens in the Disney movies. Death is part of life. Some try to ignore it. Some in trying to soften the tears and the pain, say things that just aren’t true. The death of Buster and the death of my mom were not the same. Buster was a pet. As much as we want to say that there is a pet Heaven or hamsters are in Heaven, we know Biblically that’s not true. Be careful how you say and present things. Don’t crush soft hearts. Don’t say things that later will only confuse them or mess them up spiritually.

Years ago, I was preaching in the Phoenix area. Someone in the congregation had passed away and their visitation was taking place on Sunday afternoon. I went with some folks. There I saw a young father from the congregation. He was standing some distance from the casket, bent down talking to his two young sons. He was pointing to the casket. They had all kinds of questions. I watched. In time, the dad walked up to the casket, holding each boys hand. That image of a godly dad explaining one of the hardest things to understand has always stayed with me. I expect what they talked about has stayed with those boys.

But I have also known the opposite. I had a grown man call me years ago. His grandmother had passed away. His question wasn’t about death, but funeral homes. What are they like? What do I wear? Dozen and dozens of questions. I found out that he had never been to a funeral home in his life. His family had sheltered him and now he had to go and he was sacred.

Teaching about death is hard. Dealing with the death of a beloved pet is hard.

Dealing with disappointments: This too is a part of life. A friend in the neighborhood moves away, a school closes. You must move your family. These things can bring an emptiness in our hearts. It’s hard for young children to understand why their friend has to move. Life’s lessons like this will help prepare your child for other disappointments that he will face. A scholarship doesn’t come his way. A promotion is given to someone else. A medical test reveals there is a problem. A company is sold. This is our world. It can be ugly at times. It can be hard. These are the things that breed fear and worry. These can be the very storms that causes our house to collapse if it is built upon the sand.

Parenting through disappointments. This is where your lead in spiritual thoughts helps. A friend of theirs moves. Say a prayer about that friend. Help your child to write them a letter. Call the friend up and have your child talk to them. Reminding your child about disappointments that happened to God’s people, yet their faith remain strong will help. It will help later on in life. It will help to have their foundation built upon the rock. The rock never changes. The rock is always there. The rock will hold them up. Many children never learn these lessons. And as adults, they don’t do well with disappointments. This is why alcohol flows like rivers in this country. “I need a drink,” has replaced, “I need the Lord.” Dealing with disappointments is a fundamental parenting lesson that is tough.

Dealing with failures: This may be one of the hardest parenting lessons. Your child has told you a lie. Your child did something wrong, mean and hurtful to someone else. You child is a bully. Your child was caught stealing. Alcohol or drugs were found in your child’s possession. The sins of our children can break our hearts. Those perfect little angels can quickly become little devils. Wrong comes with consequences. Tons and tons of lessons to be taught, reminded and explained here. Concerns about who they are being influenced by. Sometimes drastic things have to be done. Ending friendships. Switching schools. Even moving are some things I have known parents to do.

How we teach our children responsibility and dealing with their own failures will be a bridge to learning what God expects from us. Firm, yet loving. Don’t defend wrong. Don’t justify wrong. Yet, don’t destroy the child. The bigger picture in this is seeing your child as a prodigal in a far country. The call of the far country pulled him into wrong choices. Yet, your role, is leading him back and then you must take on the role of the father in Luke 15. You want your child to recognize that one mistake doesn’t mean he is ruined for life. Help him. Guide him. Use God’s word about repentance and forgiveness. Someday, as an adult, you want him to deal with his failures in a godly way.

Parenting is tough. Clean clothes and getting them to eat veggies is easy compared to what we talked about today. Hang in there. Keep talking. Keep taking them to church services. Keep up with them. You are learning as you go along. Ask older Christians for advice. Don’t be too big to admit your mistakes. None of us are perfect. Invite God into your home and pray every day for those children.

Sweet little Buster. He is a fond memory that is treasured by our family. Laughter and tears…good times and tough times—every family has them. Walking with God makes all the difference.

Roger