Have you ever had a project that you just struggled to get started on? Maybe we don’t know exactly what to do, or maybe we are concerned it won’t turn out well. Maybe we just don’t want to expend the energy. I know family worship can feel that way sometimes. We want to continue to challenge each other to do this though! For Father’s Day, we gave out copies of the book Bible Reading With Your Kids at Village. (If you didn’t receive one, talk to one of the pastors) This is a straightforward, quick tool to help us as dads read the Bible with our families. We’ve posted before on family worship and how to get started. This is a great follow-up book that gives practical helps in the area of Bible reading. It can feel daunting to navigate different ages and still get through a text. After a night of mayhem, you may be thinking of throwing in the towel. Keep working at it! Keep reading the Bible with your family.
On vacation this year, we visited Mt. St. Helens and saw the power of a volcano unleashed. Miles and miles of trees were knocked down. The side of a mountain blew apart. The pent up energy had amazing power. While that was devastating, men, we hold a God given power to be unleashed in our homes that is constructive. The most significant stat when it comes to whether our kids walk with God or not is the example of dad. Let’s embrace that and do something about it. I believe as we are faithful in this, we will unleash a volcano of godly power!
To help equip godly men, we are going to read through this book together. Each week we will blog on the next chapter and post some thoughts and ideas that come from that chapter. Pastor Andrew and I will alternate posts to hopefully give different perspectives as he has young children and I have middle elementary through youth. So will you join us on this adventure? Check back every week or subscribe and let’s discuss together how to lead our homes in this amazingly effective tool of discipleship.
So grab the book and read chapter 1 for next week. Let’s do this!
The voting is done and the results are in. I am sitting on the couch in a quiet house (fairly rare with 3 kids!) praying and reflecting. This has been a troubling and divisive campaign season that has tested friendships and brought out strong emotion. Godly men and women have come down on different sides of important issues. Articles have been written and shared as we fought so hard at times to be heard and for what we believe in. However, it was not just the candidates’ character put to the test, but each of ours as well. That test did not end today. Tomorrow as we see family, friends and co-workers and as we interact with posts and statements on social media, our faith and discipleship will be on display for better or worse. Some of my friends will be tempted to gloat and vent the anger and frustration in their hearts. Others will be grieving and hurting. The real question to consider though is this. How are we to act when we wake up since we are followers of Jesus? What difference is the light in us going to make to people on both sides of this election? Jesus answers this for us by giving two commands that cover all other commands. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself (Mark 12:30-31). That’s the key! Love God and Love Others. Simple, right? So how do we do this?
On Sunday, we spent our last hour praying for our country and the upcoming elections. Prayer is a tangible way we wait on the Lord and trust Him. Below are the prayer points we used for our time. I encourage you to keep praying throughout this week! Let’s keep trusting in the Lord no matter the results. 
These pieces formed a rough cross to remind us that the 3 tools of Read, Sing, and Pray point our families to the Gospel and to Christ. The last lesson from that illustration that I want to mention is that it wasn’t perfect! I grabbed a few pieces and eye-balled it and nailed them up while preaching. It still pointed us to the cross though. You don’t have to be perfect to have fantastic family worship. The tools are usable. You can do this! Dads and moms, what we spend time trying to do with our families speaks volumes about what is important to us and what is real in our lives. The cross may have been a bit crooked, out of proportion, or used different sizes of wood, but it was still a cross pointing us to Christ. Your worship times may be rough some days, interrupted other days, meet skepticism at times, and feel like a complete battle other days. Keep on going. You are teaching through your actions! It is making a difference.
Village family suggested making it Read, Sing, Verses, and Pray – RSVP! You could just share a verses each is working on, or an Awana verse. Growing up though, my parents made this a challenge and a competition. (Of course I’m not competitive at all . . . as long as I win!) We had a list of verses we were working through. Each night we had the opportunity to say 5 verses from where we were at on the list. If we said them all word perfectly, we got to move forward one place in the list the following night. So then it would be 4 of the same verses, and 1 new one. This really helped cement the verses into our brains. Then on one day a week (probably Saturday), we could keep going in the list until we messed up on a verse. It was great motivation because I could really pass my brother and sister!! You could move up in the list 4 or 5 spots if you knew your verses! It was a great way to memorize God’s Word together and make it fun too. I still remember those verses and struggle to re-memorize them in something other than KJV. Perhaps it’s something to consider once you have RSP down – RSVP! Share any ideas you might have. We can do this dads and moms. It’s worth it!
