Family

  • Family,  Parenting

    The Most Difficult Thing about Being a Father

    If you ask a number of dads what the most difficult thing about their role is, you’d like get several different answers. Some might say that being consistent in discipline is the hardest part. Maybe the most common answer–especially among dads with kids in high school or college–would be “letting go.” I don’t want to say my answer is “the” right answer, but I want to share what I have found to be the hardest part about being a dad for, now, almost 20 years. The most difficult thing for me has been knowing how woefully inadequate a picture of my kids’ heavenly Father I have been. When a child…

  • Family,  Parenting

    A Short Reminder for Father’s Day

    I remember hearing or reading on one occasion that Father’s Day is just Like Mother’s Day except for the fact that fathers don’t get nearly as many presents as mothers. If that is true, maybe the title of this post should be “A Reminder that Sunday is Father’s Day.” Maybe that would have reminded/encouraged some people to buy something before next Sunday (if you are reading this when it is scheduled to be posted). Fathers come in various shapes, sizes, and colors. They speak different languages and dialects, live in a variety of places, and have varying backgrounds. Each has his own unique interests, talents, etc. They don’t all like…

  • Family,  Parenting

    The Lasts

    By the time you read this, Donna and I will have watched our two youngest grandchildren receive a high school diploma. It doesn’t seem all that long ago when we were excited about first steps, first words, and a lot of other “firsts.”  Now, for the past few months, we’ve been experiencing a lot of “lasts.” We have had to deal with all of the emotions that go along with the fact that we’ve seen our last two grandchildren participate in various things for the last time. As I thought about all of this, my mind went back to some years ago when I experienced what I have referred to…

  • Church Life,  Family,  Parenting

    The First Letter of Immodesty

    Well, it’s immodesty season. As the weather warms and schools let out, all you have to do is scroll social media if you want to see immodesty. People are taking off shirts, putting on thigh-high shorts, going out in bikinis, and not ashamed to spread it to the world. (And many parents don’t mind sharing these pictures of their own children with the entire internet, either.) It’s sad. But there is another layer that is even more tragic. If someone says something–maybe in a Bible class or small group setting–the comments are so telling: If they don’t want to see it, they shouldn’t look. I just want to be comfortable.…

  • Church Life,  Family

    Long Shadows

    I have been spending a lot of time lately watching the results of past actions, decisions, and events. When your baby baby (the youngest), approaches high school graduation, there is a lot of time spent reflecting on all of her accomplishments and shenanigans. Pictures are unearthed that you may not have seen for years to prepare for a slideshow. Those pictures evoke memories of all sorts of emotions and, with the benefit of hindsight, you can see how they helped shape the person your child has become. Some of the foreshadowing is not surprising. Having always been bright and bubbly with a flair for the dramatic, it is no surprise…

  • Family,  Homeschooling,  Parenting

    She Has Done Well

    Forgive me for being very personal today, but the Bible teaches that we are to give honor to whom it is due, and that honor is certainly due to Leah. In just a couple of days, she will no longer be “homeschooling mom Leah.” With Turner graduating on Friday, Leah has now finished that chapter of her life and, as the title of this post says, she has done well. Now, she doesn’t believe she has done well. She sees the things she didn’t do. She sees where our kids still fall short at times. She sees holes in their education or blunders they have made and she takes that…

  • Family,  Parenting

    A Candidate for the World’s Most Clueless Husband (and a Rebuttal)

    As Mothers Day approaches, I am reminded of a conversation I had with a lady during which she mentioned her late father-in-law. Somehow the subject of retirement came up. During that part of the conversation, she related to me something he had told his wife when he retired. The following may not be a word-for-word quote, but it is pretty close: Now, I’ll get to do what you’ve been doing all these years I’ve been working – absolutely nothing. My first reaction (which I think I might have actually said aloud) was that surely no man could be that clueless. Actually “clueless” might be the polite version of what I…

    Comments Off on A Candidate for the World’s Most Clueless Husband (and a Rebuttal)
  • Church Life,  Family Finances,  Trust God,  Worship

    Property Poor Church Members

    I recently came across an article in a religious periodical published in 1918. The title of that article was the same as the title for this post. The article mentions a man who served as an elder in a local congregation who owned a great deal of property. According to a statement he made, the value of his property was $160,000. His weekly contribution to the local congregation of which he was a member was seventy-five cents!  When this man was encouraged to increase his contribution, he said that he could not do that because he was “property poor.” He even claimed that his financial “stress” made it necessary for…

  • Church Life,  Family

    The Future of the Church

    You guessed it! I have just spent this last weekend with about 10,000 other people at the Opryland Hotel in Nashville for the Lads to Leaders/Leaderettes Convention. And what a busy (and crowded) weekend it was! There were all kinds of schedules to remember, preparations to be made, outfits to be selected, practices for events, and the list goes on and on. It was a little chaotic and tiring, but at the same time it was just wonderful! Gathering with so many other Christians for the purpose of spiritual growth and encouraging that growth can only be described as wonderful. Since our congregation actually does the year-round program, so many…

  • Church Life,  Family,  Parenting

    Thank You Lads to Leaders

    Other than when Covid canceled the Lads to Leaders convention in 2020, I have attended every convention since 2001. The one that will occur this weekend, though, will be different in a way. It’s my last time to attend as a parent. Now, I went before we had kids. Leah and I helped the group from 9th Avenue before Mary Carol was even born. But since the kids were old enough to do anything, they’ve been there (Mary Carol even got one award before she could read!). We’ve watched our kids grow and mature. We’ve dealt with losing a tooth just minutes before speech time. We’ve had the kid getting…