Thursday, Jan 15, 2009

TWG - January 15, 2009 - Want good kids?

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TWG – January 15, 2009
To Listen to Today’s Reading http://timewithgod.mypodcast.com
Joshua 1; Psalm 124; 1 John 1

Today is January 15, this is time with God, I’m Pastor Dennis - I’ve been waiting here for you. Welcome to our life transforming community. We are doing something of eternal significance. We are redeeming the time. That is one of the basic premises of TWG. We believe that what we do every day is so important that we must do the important things each day. That is why we read the word every Day

And another busy day in the books! After publishing TWG, I ate breakfast and ran to church. It seems like it was run, run, run all day long. Bill was there working on the new hallway. Carl stopped in to drop off his laptop so I could work out the new Awana program. I spent an hour on the phone to technical support. Then I got the bulletin ready because Susan came in. She’s leaving this morning in less than an hour to head to Washington for a week! Pray for me! (I’m helpless) Then I got to work on some more power point stuff and who knows what else. I can’t remember. Because soon it was time to go home and pick up kids for Awana. I picked up two more kids this week! They had a blast. I put a picture of Christina and Candida having loads of fun in Sunday School on the blog at http://timewithgod.mypodcast.com. Check it out.

Today’s thought comes from Pr 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

Every parent worries about rebellion. Children were born to challenge their parents. Mom and dad have so much on their plate: a job, the house, groceries, cooking, cleaning, finances, car repair, in-laws, friends, school, church… a child has only one job; for 24 hours he’s a kid! So while a parent is juggling the demands of life and is literally drowning in busyness, the baby is leisurely doing what children do best, being a kid! No wonder they get into mischief. They have a mind and a heart of their own. Left to themselves they often walk the way of rebellion. What’s a parent to do? I have seen guys as big as an NFL defensive end collapse like a wet noodle in the presence of his four year old. He’s a whopping 240 pounds. She’s 50 pounds sopping wet, and she rules the roost! He’ll do whatever it takes to placate this 50 pound ball of fire! There’s something seriously awry here! When you grow up and have kids, one of the requirements is that you MUST be the adult. Play the man (or woman). Act your part. You only get one go around with the kids and if you mess it up, they may turn out worse than Ozzy Ozborn! That should put the fear of God in your heart! What? You LIKE Ozzy? NOT! So if you want your kids to turn out right, you need to take action now. There is a way to raise your children that will lead them on the path of righteousness. Train them in the way they should go. In order to produce a product, you have to know how it should turn out! You can’t hope to scribble on paper and get the Mona Lisa! That means two things. #1 How do you want their character to turn out? Loving, honest, faithful, hard working etc. You have to aim for godliness or you’ll get Ozzyness! #2 What do the talents, personality and temperament of your children tell you about their intended path in life? If they love music, for Ozzy’s sake, don’t make them play sports! Train them in the way THEY should go. And that leads us to training. We all know about training animals, soldiers or athletes. We put them through their paces daily until they are experts. That’s what it takes to train children. Training is not so much reactive as it is proactive. Don’t allow your training to just be punishment for failure, you must spend regular chunks of time every day teaching them the character skills they need. That’s what is so good about AWANA or Sunday School. You can capitalize on that stuff at home daily. Interestingly the word “train” means “to dedicate.” And it pictures an Old Testament dedication ceremony. If a citizen wanted to dedicate a house or a child or his family to the Lord he would offer a bull on the altar of sacrifice. He would be saying, “This child is yours God! Since I can’t literally give him to you, I’m offering this animal in his place. He’s yours!” Dedicate your children to the Lord and yourself to raising them right and when they are old, they will not depart from that way.

Dear Father. I want to learn from the best Father of all how to be a parent. Teach me your ways and help me to pass on your truth. I want my family to be like You.

The LORD is good; His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations.

Posted by Dennis Kreiss at 10:46 AM |   

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