How 2 Pray 4 Your Kids…
- That they will know Christ as Savior early in life.
2 Timothy 3:14-17; Psalm 63:1; Matthew 5:6; John 17:3 - That they will have a hatred for sin. Psalm 97:10
- That they will be caught when they are guilty. Psalm 119:65-72
- That they will be protected from the evil one in each area of their lives: spiritual, emotional, intellectual, physical. John 17:15
- That they will “own” their attitudes in their inter-personal relationships. Matthew 5:16; Philippians 2:14-16
- That they will desire the right kind of friends and be protected from the wrong kind. Proverbs 1:10-16; 1 Corinthians 15:33
- That they will be kept from the wrong mate and kept for the right one. 2 Corinthians 6:14-17
- That they, as well as the one they marry, will be ure until marriage.
- That they will respect those in authority over them. Romans 13:1
- That they will learn to submit to God and resist Satan in all circumstances. James 4:7
- That they will be single-hearted and sold out to Jesus Christ. Romans 12:1-2
- That they will experience God’s forgiveness for their sins and find full, rich and abundant life in Him. 1 John 5:16; Colossians 1:13-14; John 10:10
My friend, Pastor Marcus Borten (You’re right. His name keeps coming up. He’s one of our Elementary School Pastors here at Canyon Ridge Christian Church) put me on to a very interesting resource I wanted to pass along to you from a really good mission organization. This magazine is affordable and written with kids (and parents) in mind.
Check out their website: http://seelocalglobal.com/for-kids.html It might be a great thing to order and have for any road trips this summer (and through the rest of the year).
I grew up in Oklahoma. For almost 50 years, I watched the skies and the TV weather guys every spring and summer (and sometimes into the fall) to track the storms that usually started in the southwest and traveled up I-44 to the northeast of the state. Short of war, I can’t think of anything as brutally indiscriminate as a tornado. Meteorologists are getting better all the time at predicting when and where a tornado will set down – they have made incredible advances in technology for this at the National Severe Storms Laboratory (which is located in Norman, OK, just a few miles south of Moore, OK) - but nobody can be 100% certain about a tornado’s path and exact timing. You don’t control a tornado. Still, the technological advances have saved thousands of lives in my home state by providing early warning.
Monday, I watched in horror as The Weather Channel and other outlets streamed Oklahoma City television news crews reporting on what they were seeing, just minutes after the deadly tornado swept a path of destruction a mile wide through Moore, OK. This is the same Moore, OK that was devastated in 1999 when an F5 tornado ripped through with 300 MPH winds, causing $1 billion of destruction and taking the lives of 36 people.
My wife and I held our breath as the story unraveled. Third graders and their teachers trapped in a school building that had been demolished. Details were sketchy and mainly unverified. Hundreds of deaths were predicted. The death toll as of Tuesday was 36, but as the Recovery Crews continue to sift through the rubble, that number is likely to rise.
I was at a loss for words as I cried out to God for the families who had been ripped apart with death and loss of property. Block after block of homes were flattened. Lifetimes of memories went away in a matter of 40 minutes. Homes were scattered like match sticks across the landscape. Interstate 35 was closed and unnavigable in stretches. Emergency responders found it almost impossible to get through to offer help. Reporters were overcome with emotion. Anchormen and -women maintained professional composure and control, even though it was obvious they were trying to make sense of the senseless, and keep the panic from showing in their faces.
I could go on with a lot more, but I’ve already exceeded the normal blog allotment of a couple or three paragraphs. And you saw the same images I saw. I’d love to offer something profound and awesome, but I can’t wrap up the meaning of this whole thing in a couple more sentences. It would take a lot more than that, and more philosophical surety than I’ve got. Besides, there are lots of answers to this out there in cyber space and blogville. Some of them are even pretty good. What I feel moved do is to say that regardless of how you resolve the important question, “Why did this happen?”, there’s another question that may be equally as important.
Since none of us knows when some kind of horrible crisis, tornado or otherwise, will come roaring over the horizon and in 40 minutes or less turn our lives upside down, the question is, “How might I live so that when (not if) this happens, I will meet it with integrity?”
The answer has more to do with how we live before the crisis than what me might do when it arrives. We act out of our character. And crisis doesn’t produce character, it reveals it. (OK. That’s not an original thought… But it’s still true.) So if you want to be able to meet a crisis with integrity, you train yourself to live out of a growing integrity, daily. Then when the crisis comes, you act from within your authentic self, instead of having to try and manufacture character out of thin air. And growing into that kind of authenticity is a product of growing into the design and image of the One Who made us. You do that little by little, mostly. Minute by minute. Thought by thought, choice by choice.
I’ll land the meandering plane with this challenge: every time you see a report of the Moore, OK tornado on TV, in the newspaper, on the Internet, or hear about it on the radio or in conversation, you lift a prayer for God to grant grace, mercy and peace for every person who has been effected by it, AND let it be a reminder to consciously focus on the character development God wants to partner with you to accomplish. Minute by minute. Thought by thought, choice by choice.
I’ll bet you’ve never heard that line at your house… NOT!
Since I’m an old guy, I’m not sure “the Web” is still hip enough to use as a synonym for the Internet… I’m sure someone will let me know.
My friend, Pastor Marcus Borten, put me on to a couple of good resources I thought I’d share with you. The first is a sight that can help you make educated decisions about movies to say yes or no to for your family. You’ll find it at http://www.ok.com. It offers a quick general look at the age-appropriateness of current and recent movies, as well as a quick look at how good others thought they were. Each movie listed has a synopsis and review that can give you more detailed information. It’s a smart resource. Not perfect, but smart.
The other one is http://www.familyshare.com. It offers an almost-encyclopedic storehouse of ideas for families that come from a Christian perspective without promoting a particular brand or denomination of church. It’s still in its beta form, but looks like a really good resource with many practical tools.
Click them up and see what you think.
And while I’ve got you, do me a favor and invite a friend to follow me here at CRCCFamily411.
One of the two most important times of the day is Bed Time. But it can also be a whirlwind of threats and battles and conflict of wills.
My friend, Pastor Marcus Borton, sent me a link for a really practical blog that will give you some good handles to leverage at Bed Time. Here you go. Just click on the link:
