I have had the opportunity over the past couple of weeks to be in a high school classroom again. One of the things I have been deeply reminded of is how attacked youth are. A few examples -
One girl told us that her parents never loved each other. Seems her mother informed her that she, the mother, simply wanted to satisfy a fleshly desire and then got pregnant.
And can I say you can see the impact of those words all over this young lady.
One student has been in three schools in two years. Mom met a man on the Internet and moved from another country to marry him. Dad was killed when this student was very young.
And I suddenly understood why this student had SO MANY walls around for protection.
One has a father that works in the oil field and over the past year he had been home a total of approximately 30 days, non-consecutive.
And I understood why this one was so proud for being single for 3 whopping weeks and declared how he/she did not need a significant other while discussing who he/she was going out with next.
A group of young men whose vocabulary is extremely limited to four letter words about a three letter topic. Who, from what I could tell, have had a lot of money spent to keep them entertained.
And I understood why they tried so hard to be part of the group.
I spent time with a new teacher sharing what I had learned during my decade in the classroom. The thing that shocked her the most was when I told her for some kids she would be the most consistent adult in their life and that is a weighty responsibility.
I don't have a clever way to end this one. Just an encouragement to pray for these kids. Pray for the ones you see in the check out line. The ones you see in the fast food drive thru. Pray for your kids at church, because they walk around with a huge target on them. Let's get in the fight with them, and let's fight for them when they can't fight for themselves.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
WIPING THE MUD OFF
We have been in the muck and mire of parenting the last couple of days. Mother's Day 2011 brought on the MC 1 meltdown of 2011. Emotions ran high, words became ugly, and tears flowed freely and that was just from him. At the time I was flying solo, so we crash landed into a mandated nap.
Over the last couple of years we have made some big changes that directly impacted him. He changed schools. Mom quit her job, limiting his funds. We have changed churches twice. After talking with him this week, I think a big part of him feels unsettled. Throw in state mandated testing, the prospect of summer school, developmental changes (with the hormones to go with it) and you have tinder ripe for burning, and burn it did. The flame it appears to most fan is that of rebellion. Over and over again it was "you won't let me do what I want to do." Submission to parental authority waging a full scale attack on his fleshly desire.
I get it. We have made changes in his life he had no control over. We have made decisions, for his good, without letting him in on the decision making process. In an attempt to gain control, MC 1 is assuming that some privileges are his rights. I know. I have been there. I have done the same thing before the Lord God. Things have happened that I had no control over. Things, that even though they were for my good, were hard to adjust to. I have rebelled when I felt out of control. I have claimed privileges as rights. Like MC 1, I have been corrected. Tears flowed, emotions sky rocketed, and words were harsh...and that was from me. But just like HH and I with MC 1, the Father lovingly says to you and I,
I am here to help you.
I am for you.
I love you.
Rebellion can masquerade itself. It can as blatant as walking away from the whole thing or as subtle as grabbing that next piece of brownie. My lack of trust causes me to want to control things and do it my way. Any thing. My food. My money. My time. My attitude.
MC 1 has to know, and at times be reminded, HH and I are for his good. We support him. We encourage him. We also set boundaries for him. We correct him. We discipline him when we need to. We remind him who has the final say. Above all, we love him.
If you are in Christ, our Father does the same thing. Our best parenting is only a shadow of the parenting He provides for us. Our most sincere, most loving intentions towards our kids are just mere scratches on the surface of God's love for us.
We... I, like MC 1, have to believe that. We have to believe He is for our good. Not that we get our way, but that in doing it His way, He gets the glory. Above all we have to believe He loves us. Many days we have to choose those. The world and the prince of it will whisper lies to you otherwise.
No one wants to be your friend.
No one ever talks to you.
No one ever asks you to come over and play.
In talking through these same phrases with MC 1, we were able to pull the truth out from amongst the thorns of the lies that were trying to hold him down. You and I can do the same. It takes time.
It takes work.
It takes helpers.
Ultimately, though, it is our choice.
Our choice to believe.
Our choice to accept.
Our choice to submit.
In Christ or out, you have to know He loves you. He desires to parent you. Not as earthly parents do, good or bad, but as a the perfect Father He is. There is no evil in Him. There is nothing but love. Tough love at times, but perfect love always.
Over the last couple of years we have made some big changes that directly impacted him. He changed schools. Mom quit her job, limiting his funds. We have changed churches twice. After talking with him this week, I think a big part of him feels unsettled. Throw in state mandated testing, the prospect of summer school, developmental changes (with the hormones to go with it) and you have tinder ripe for burning, and burn it did. The flame it appears to most fan is that of rebellion. Over and over again it was "you won't let me do what I want to do." Submission to parental authority waging a full scale attack on his fleshly desire.
I get it. We have made changes in his life he had no control over. We have made decisions, for his good, without letting him in on the decision making process. In an attempt to gain control, MC 1 is assuming that some privileges are his rights. I know. I have been there. I have done the same thing before the Lord God. Things have happened that I had no control over. Things, that even though they were for my good, were hard to adjust to. I have rebelled when I felt out of control. I have claimed privileges as rights. Like MC 1, I have been corrected. Tears flowed, emotions sky rocketed, and words were harsh...and that was from me. But just like HH and I with MC 1, the Father lovingly says to you and I,
I am here to help you.
I am for you.
I love you.
Rebellion can masquerade itself. It can as blatant as walking away from the whole thing or as subtle as grabbing that next piece of brownie. My lack of trust causes me to want to control things and do it my way. Any thing. My food. My money. My time. My attitude.
MC 1 has to know, and at times be reminded, HH and I are for his good. We support him. We encourage him. We also set boundaries for him. We correct him. We discipline him when we need to. We remind him who has the final say. Above all, we love him.
If you are in Christ, our Father does the same thing. Our best parenting is only a shadow of the parenting He provides for us. Our most sincere, most loving intentions towards our kids are just mere scratches on the surface of God's love for us.
We... I, like MC 1, have to believe that. We have to believe He is for our good. Not that we get our way, but that in doing it His way, He gets the glory. Above all we have to believe He loves us. Many days we have to choose those. The world and the prince of it will whisper lies to you otherwise.
No one wants to be your friend.
No one ever talks to you.
No one ever asks you to come over and play.
In talking through these same phrases with MC 1, we were able to pull the truth out from amongst the thorns of the lies that were trying to hold him down. You and I can do the same. It takes time.
It takes work.
It takes helpers.
Ultimately, though, it is our choice.
Our choice to believe.
Our choice to accept.
Our choice to submit.
In Christ or out, you have to know He loves you. He desires to parent you. Not as earthly parents do, good or bad, but as a the perfect Father He is. There is no evil in Him. There is nothing but love. Tough love at times, but perfect love always.
Choose to be His child.
Choose to come back.
Choose to be adopted.
He has already chosen you.
Let Jesus wipe the mud of this world off.
Let Him sanctify you with His words.
Just as MC 1 cried, let the tears fall before Jesus, and let Him use them to clear your vision as to who you are in Him.
Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.
John 17:17 (NKJV)
Monday, May 16, 2011
Sunday, May 15, 2011
OLDER
Not me.
Not yet.
Them.
Over the past couple of months, each one has had a birthday.
And for each year, they have gained,
I am pretty sure I have gained five.
But as I am going to grow older, and clearly I am,
I can't think of a better group of MCs
to grow old with.
Love you guys.
Thursday, May 12, 2011
REMEMBER THAT OTHER KID...
we have.
'Member him?
Well, in the midst of the mud, we had to parent his future. We had a meeting a couple of months ago about his academic future. Actually, I took the meeting, relayed the details to HH, and we made plans for what we thought should happen next. We had a follow-up meeting earlier this week. I took that one, too. I think I am going to start carrying a Polaroid of HH with me. I'll set him out at meetings and such, as proof. Sorta of like Ross did when he asked Phoebe to show Ben his picture while he was in Japan, where he met that Julie woman and derailed the entire Rachel relationship for a bit. As you can tell, I watched way too many episodes and, it would seem, too many reruns.
Back to the kid, he has a learning problem called I don't wanna (IDW).
MC 2 I need you to count to 20...I don't wanna.
I know he can count to 20. We work on it every day. But when his I don't wanna kicks in we might make it to 15. Sadly, it only seemed to manifest itself on testing days. So the initial meeting was a bit touch and go as to what the district thought would be best. Lucky for them, I knew we had the final say. One thing we did was have his speech tested.
The meeting this week was much more optimistic. His IDW syndrome seems to have died down and he has made great improvements in a few short weeks. His results for speech were at a level that required intervention, but not full on therapy. To our district's credit, they started with him the same day as the meeting. There was no rebuttal when I informed them we weren't retaining him. There was encouragement and ideas as to how to help him be successful next year.
So, little one is moving on.
As my sister said yesterday, we will wove him regardless of the fact that he thinks a leaf is a weaf.
And we wove you too!
'Member him?
Well, in the midst of the mud, we had to parent his future. We had a meeting a couple of months ago about his academic future. Actually, I took the meeting, relayed the details to HH, and we made plans for what we thought should happen next. We had a follow-up meeting earlier this week. I took that one, too. I think I am going to start carrying a Polaroid of HH with me. I'll set him out at meetings and such, as proof. Sorta of like Ross did when he asked Phoebe to show Ben his picture while he was in Japan, where he met that Julie woman and derailed the entire Rachel relationship for a bit. As you can tell, I watched way too many episodes and, it would seem, too many reruns.
Back to the kid, he has a learning problem called I don't wanna (IDW).
MC 2 I need you to count to 20...I don't wanna.
I know he can count to 20. We work on it every day. But when his I don't wanna kicks in we might make it to 15. Sadly, it only seemed to manifest itself on testing days. So the initial meeting was a bit touch and go as to what the district thought would be best. Lucky for them, I knew we had the final say. One thing we did was have his speech tested.
The meeting this week was much more optimistic. His IDW syndrome seems to have died down and he has made great improvements in a few short weeks. His results for speech were at a level that required intervention, but not full on therapy. To our district's credit, they started with him the same day as the meeting. There was no rebuttal when I informed them we weren't retaining him. There was encouragement and ideas as to how to help him be successful next year.
So, little one is moving on.
As my sister said yesterday, we will wove him regardless of the fact that he thinks a leaf is a weaf.
And we wove you too!
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
WIPING THE MUD OFF
We have been in the muck and mire of parenting the last couple of days. Mother's Day 2011 brought on the MC 1 meltdown of 2011. Emotions ran high, words became ugly, and tears flowed freely and that was just from him. At the time I was flying solo, so we crash landed into a mandated nap.
Over the last couple of years we have made some big changes that directly impacted him. He changed schools. Mom quit her job, limiting his funds. We have changed churches twice. After talking with him this week, I think a big part of him feels unsettled. Throw in state mandated testing, the prospect of summer school, developmental changes (with the hormones to go with it) and you have the tender ripe for burning, and burn it did. The flame it appears to most fan is that of rebellion. Over and over again it was "you won't let me do what I want to do." Submission to parental authority waging a full scale attack on his fleshly desire.
I get it. We have made changes in his life he had no control over. We have made decisions, for his good, without letting him in on the decision making process. In an attempt to gain control, MC 1 is assuming that some privileges are his rights. I know. I have been there. I have done the same thing before the Lord God. Things have happened that I had no control over. Things, that even though they were for my good, were hard to adjust to. I have rebelled when I felt out of control. I have claimed privileges as rights. Like MC 1, I have been corrected. Tears flowed, emotions sky rocketed, and words were harsh...and that was from me. But just like HH and I with MC 1, the Father lovingly says to you and I,
I am here to help you.
I am for you.
I love you.
Rebellion can masquerade itself. It can as blatant as walking away from the whole thing or as subtle as grabbing that next piece of brownie. My lack of trust causes me to want to control things and do it my way. Any thing. My food. My money. My time. My attitude.
MC 1 has to know, and at times be reminded, HH and I are for his good. We support him. We encourage him. We also set boundaries for him. We correct him. We discipline him when we need to. We remind him who has the final say. Above all, we love him.
If you are in Christ, our Father does the same thing. Our best parenting is only a shadow of the parenting He provides for us. Our most sincere, most loving intentions towards our kids are just mere scratches on the surface of God's love for us.
We... I, like MC 1, have to believe that. We have to believe He is for our good. Not that we get our way, but that in doing it His way, He gets the glory. Above all we have to believe He loves us. Many days we have to choose those. The world and the prince of it will whisper lies to you otherwise.
No one wants to be your friend.
No one ever talks to you.
No one ever asks you to come over and play.
In talking through these same phrases with MC 1, we were able to pull the truth out from amongst the thorns of the lies that were trying to hold him down. You and I can do the same. It takes time.
It takes work.
It takes helpers.
Ultimately, though, it is our choice.
Our choice to believe.
Our choice to accept.
Our choice to submit.
In Christ or out, you have to know He loves you. He desires to parent you. Not as earthly parents do, good or bad, but as a the perfect Father He is. There is no evil in Him. There is nothing but love. Tough love at times, but perfect love always.
Over the last couple of years we have made some big changes that directly impacted him. He changed schools. Mom quit her job, limiting his funds. We have changed churches twice. After talking with him this week, I think a big part of him feels unsettled. Throw in state mandated testing, the prospect of summer school, developmental changes (with the hormones to go with it) and you have the tender ripe for burning, and burn it did. The flame it appears to most fan is that of rebellion. Over and over again it was "you won't let me do what I want to do." Submission to parental authority waging a full scale attack on his fleshly desire.
I get it. We have made changes in his life he had no control over. We have made decisions, for his good, without letting him in on the decision making process. In an attempt to gain control, MC 1 is assuming that some privileges are his rights. I know. I have been there. I have done the same thing before the Lord God. Things have happened that I had no control over. Things, that even though they were for my good, were hard to adjust to. I have rebelled when I felt out of control. I have claimed privileges as rights. Like MC 1, I have been corrected. Tears flowed, emotions sky rocketed, and words were harsh...and that was from me. But just like HH and I with MC 1, the Father lovingly says to you and I,
I am here to help you.
I am for you.
I love you.
Rebellion can masquerade itself. It can as blatant as walking away from the whole thing or as subtle as grabbing that next piece of brownie. My lack of trust causes me to want to control things and do it my way. Any thing. My food. My money. My time. My attitude.
MC 1 has to know, and at times be reminded, HH and I are for his good. We support him. We encourage him. We also set boundaries for him. We correct him. We discipline him when we need to. We remind him who has the final say. Above all, we love him.
If you are in Christ, our Father does the same thing. Our best parenting is only a shadow of the parenting He provides for us. Our most sincere, most loving intentions towards our kids are just mere scratches on the surface of God's love for us.
We... I, like MC 1, have to believe that. We have to believe He is for our good. Not that we get our way, but that in doing it His way, He gets the glory. Above all we have to believe He loves us. Many days we have to choose those. The world and the prince of it will whisper lies to you otherwise.
No one wants to be your friend.
No one ever talks to you.
No one ever asks you to come over and play.
In talking through these same phrases with MC 1, we were able to pull the truth out from amongst the thorns of the lies that were trying to hold him down. You and I can do the same. It takes time.
It takes work.
It takes helpers.
Ultimately, though, it is our choice.
Our choice to believe.
Our choice to accept.
Our choice to submit.
In Christ or out, you have to know He loves you. He desires to parent you. Not as earthly parents do, good or bad, but as a the perfect Father He is. There is no evil in Him. There is nothing but love. Tough love at times, but perfect love always.
Choose to be His child.
Choose to come back.
Choose to be adopted.
He has already chosen you.
Let Jesus wipe the mud of this world off.
Let Him sanctify you with His words.
Just as MC 1 cried, let the tears fall before Jesus, and let Him use them to clear your vision as to who you are in Him.
Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.
John 17:17 (NKJV)
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
WHAT I HAVE HEARD RECENTLY
- a great sermon by David Jeremiah on persecution. Key thought for me was: am I being persecuted for Christ or am I behaving badly, even as a Christian, and reaping the consequences? BIG DIFFERENCE. How do we know the difference? How do you know the difference? Do we tend to lean toward persecution when we don't get our way?
- thoughts by Perry Noble about biblical correction. My question is who corrects when the pastor is it? When the buck stops with him? Where is correction to come from then? And what do you as a church member do when correction, at any level, is lacking or ignored?
- from Matthew Barnett on Life Today: Relevant tries to fits in, revolutionary tries to change the dynamic of the community. How does that affect today's churches? Does it speak into my life in any way?
What I would like to read is your responses to these questions.
Looking forward to them.
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