In a conversation with his pastor, the dad was challenged to read the whole Bible. Up to that point, he had stuck with man-sized books – ones that were not more than a half-inch thick. Then the pastor added, “If you do not know the Word of God, you do not know Jesus the way He wants you to know Him.” Wow! That got his attention.
He had attended church most of his life, accepted Christ as his Savior and Lord and was baptized. But ...read on
It was audition time for honors band and emotions were running high. The assignment required completing a continuous recording of all twelve scales played to tempo. She enjoyed band and had done well across the year. This particular evening, she was determined to raise the bar and play every scale flawlessly. What started out with a confident “I can do this!” mantra rolled into “I don’t know if I am good enough for honors band.” Finally, there was a frustrated scream, “I can’t do this!” She stomped upstairs and slammed her door.
He grew up in a violent alcoholic home. Evenings could get disrupted in a moment by arguments, outbursts of anger and violence. Being loud and intimidating was his takeaway on how to win an argument. She grew up in a more stable home environment where arguments were rare. If a discussion got heated, the practice was to shut it down and talk later. She saw heated discussions as disrespectful. The respective influences of their unique upbringing led to communication challenges over the first few years of marriage.
As has been, and continues to be for so many, several feet of water invaded his home for a number of days courtesy of hurricane Harvey. When the water receded enough to enter the house, here they came. Some were friends and some were complete strangers stepping up to get the soggy furniture out of his home and begin removing the sheetrock and insulation. Large military trucks and boats were bringing more volunteers to his neighborhood to offer help with the cleanup efforts. In the midst of widespread devastation, the love of Christ is shining through.
Reading, ‘Riting and ‘Rithmetic are the three R’s most parents think of as school starts back up. But the home is and always will be the primary education front for the next generation. As George Will documented so well in his article, “The 9/91 Factor,” kids spend only 9% of their time from birth to 18 in school and 91% elsewhere. Thus, school simply supplements what kids are learning “elsewhere”. Dads and moms are charged to accept responsibility as the primary educators in their children’s lives.
The 3-R’s of education in the home are: ...read on
In 1986, a friend accepted an opportunity to get one-year advanced degree in lieu of being a victim of company layoffs. Upon enrolling in an MBA program, he learned that a lap-top was required for the courses he would be taking. Just five years earlier he had been programming Fortran cards for a room-sized computer to process part of his senior engineering project. Technology was moving forward on university campuses.
Today, lap-tops, tablets, smart phones and smart watches are almost givens among school-age kids. Some schools ...read on
Roll call – A consistent happening every first day of school. Even if the teacher mispronounced your name, the proper response was, “Present.” If you responded with a shy, “Here”, or stayed silent due to the humiliating pronunciation of your name, you got moved to the front of the class. Not cool and certainly not a good start to the school year!
Are you present? This is a ‘roll call’ for all dads – Are you ...read on
Well, it is time to put a wrap on summer unless you live in Houston – then you know we have a couple more months to enjoy the heat and humidity. But kids heading back to school is a marker for the end of summer. I hope you have made some memories as a family – maybe a family trip, taking your kids fishing for the first time or a summer camping experience.
Before you get back into the hustle & bustle of school and extra-curricular activities, I encourage you to ...read on
… there, right where He wants you. They were five hours into what was thought to be a four-hour hike off the mountain. The guide was confident they were on the right trail but every step seemed to be taking them further into the wilderness, not out of it. It was raining, it was getting dark and there was not a lot of talking among the men on the trail. Then the trail took a turn ...read on
Success. Pushing for that next step on the ladder. Getting the win at all costs. It is the natural way for man - self-realization. With some success comes the desire to reflect it by way of what vehicle is driven or the part of town a home is in. The temptation is to move from meeting the family needs to chasing after ‘wants’, stuff that reflects success.
Success itself is certainly not bad. But when the motivation for success is to keep up a certain lifestyle, kids may learn some unintended lessons – Instead of learning to relate they may learn to ...read on
In a conversation with his pastor, the dad was challenged to read the whole Bible. Up to that point, he had stuck with man-sized books – ones that were not more than a half-inch thick. Then the pastor added, “If you do not know the Word of God, you do not know Jesus the way He wants you to know Him.” Wow! That got his attention.
It was audition time for honors band and emotions were running high. The assignment required completing a continuous recording of all twelve scales played to tempo. She enjoyed band and had done well across the year. This particular evening, she was determined to raise the bar and play every scale flawlessly. What started out with a confident “I can do this!” mantra rolled into “I don’t know if I am good enough for honors band.” Finally, there was a frustrated scream, “I can’t do this!” She stomped upstairs and slammed her door.
He grew up in a violent alcoholic home. Evenings could get disrupted in a moment by arguments, outbursts of anger and violence. Being loud and intimidating was his takeaway on how to win an argument. She grew up in a more stable home environment where arguments were rare. If a discussion got heated, the practice was to shut it down and talk later. She saw heated discussions as disrespectful. The respective influences of their unique upbringing led to communication challenges over the first few years of marriage.
As has been, and continues to be for so many, several feet of water invaded his home for a number of days courtesy of hurricane Harvey. When the water receded enough to enter the house, here they came. Some were friends and some were complete strangers stepping up to get the soggy furniture out of his home and begin removing the sheetrock and insulation. Large military trucks and boats were bringing more volunteers to his neighborhood to offer help with the cleanup efforts. In the midst of widespread devastation, the love of Christ is shining through.
Reading, ‘Riting and ‘Rithmetic are the three R’s most parents think of as school starts back up. But the home is and always will be the primary education front for the next generation. As George Will documented so well in his article, “The 9/91 Factor,” kids spend only 9% of their time from birth to 18 in school and 91% elsewhere. Thus, school simply supplements what kids are learning “elsewhere”. Dads and moms are charged to accept responsibility as the primary educators in their children’s lives.
In 1986, a friend accepted an opportunity to get one-year advanced degree in lieu of being a victim of company layoffs. Upon enrolling in an MBA program, he learned that a lap-top was required for the courses he would be taking. Just five years earlier he had been programming Fortran cards for a room-sized computer to process part of his senior engineering project. Technology was moving forward on university campuses.
Roll call – A consistent happening every first day of school. Even if the teacher mispronounced your name, the proper response was, “Present.” If you responded with a shy, “Here”, or stayed silent due to the humiliating pronunciation of your name, you got moved to the front of the class. Not cool and certainly not a good start to the school year!
Well, it is time to put a wrap on summer unless you live in Houston – then you know we have a couple more months to enjoy the heat and humidity. But kids heading back to school is a marker for the end of summer. I hope you have made some memories as a family – maybe a family trip, taking your kids fishing for the first time or a summer camping experience.
… there, right where He wants you. They were five hours into what was thought to be a four-hour hike off the mountain. The guide was confident they were on the right trail but every step seemed to be taking them further into the wilderness, not out of it. It was raining, it was getting dark and there was not a lot of talking among the men on the trail. Then the trail took a turn 
Success. Pushing for that next step on the ladder. Getting the win at all costs. It is the natural way for man - self-realization. With some success comes the desire to reflect it by way of what vehicle is driven or the part of town a home is in. The temptation is to move from meeting the family needs to chasing after ‘wants’, stuff that reflects success.
