Family
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Video Summer Series Update : The Videos Are Ready!
For several months now, we have been letting you know about the Video Summer Series. If you are unfamiliar with what this is (or just need a refresher), here is what we wrote previously: In our first post, written on December 23, 2013 we shared the “Big News” about the Video Summer Series, letting you know that it would be a series of 10 videos, each 20-25 minutes in length, that would be available for free for congregations to use anytime they wanted. We also released the theme, “Building Godly Families,” and the list of 10 speakers. In the follow-up post from March 5, 2014 we let you know that…
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Two Blogs You Need to Check Out, Even Though They are Closed
Lebanon Road is a wonderful place to be. Our members are so kind, and the support given to each other is remarkable. A couple of years ago, our congregation went through a series of tragedies that could have broken us. However, with faithful elders and an infinitely faithful God, we did our best to work together through a series of heartaches. While I’m certain that not everything we did was “just right,” I think we can say that we did the best we could. I will not go into too many specifics, but two who were involved in some of these tragedies decided to blog through their grief and healing.…
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“Can We Go to His Grave?” : Helping a Child Process Grief
He died a few weeks ago, and we knew his death was coming. He had been ill for some time, and we had both called and visited with him. Of course, it was still sad, and we miss him, but his passing was not unexpected. Then, out of nowhere, just a couple of nights ago, our eight-year-old starting crying as she said her nightly prayer to the Lord. Her tears were out of missing this elderly man who always gave her a hug and handed her candy. So far as I know, she hadn’t cried since the day we found out about his passing, but now she was sobbing as…
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10 Things You Can Do to Start a Family Devotional Tonight
One of our most popular posts of the last few months was also the longest. It was a transcript of a lecture I gave at the annual Bible Lectureship at Freed-Hardeman University. The post, which can be found here, shared many practical things to keep in mind for leading a family devotional. But maybe you are still on the fence. Maybe you know you need to start a family devotional, but you are still afraid of actually making that first step. Here’s the thing: it doesn’t have to be a giant leap! No matter the age of your children, there are several things you can do that will get the ball…
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Everyone Pitches In : Why Work Isn’t Bad for Your Kids
Last Saturday was beautiful. The weather was gorgeous, and we actually had a day at home. So, we took advantage of it all and planted our garden. We had prepared the ground earlier, but it still took about 2 hours to get everything in the ground. (Now if we can just keep it alive…) You may have noticed the use of the word “we” in that opening paragraph. That “we” was not just Leah and me. It was all four of us. The kids pitched in at times, too, and helped us get several different kinds of veggies in the ground. Now, some people read that and are considering calling…
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A Bad Marriage is Overlaid with Good Intentions
Okay, so the title of this post isn’t as catchy as “The road to hell is paved with good intentions,” but it gets the point across. It is easy for a marriage to have a shiny exterior, where everyone on the outside thinks things are just fine. Under the smiles, though, there is rottenness and bitterness at every turn. Your marriage may not be that negative, but it could be headed that way. How? Too often we can talk about what we “intend” to do with our spouse, but we don’t do it. All those intentions, without action, could be rotting the inner strength of the relationship. Now, I’m not…
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How Leaving Things Unattended Can Kill Your Marriage
Her name was Sunandha Kumariratana. Due to a bit of an oddity in the law at the time, she was one of the queens of what was then called Siam. On May 31, 1880 she died at the tender age of 19. Her young age makes this tragic, as does her royalty. But what made her death even more tragic was that there were witnesses. No, it was not an execution or even a situation where people just could not get to her in time. Instead, on a boat trip to the royal summer palace, the boat capsized and two members of the royal family died, including Queen Sunandha. The…
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Not Everything is “Sexy” : How Our Speech Devalues a Beautiful Gift
Turn on the TV, and you’ll hear the word describing nearly any product you can think of. Walk down the corridor of a local mall, or eavesdrop on a conversation at a restaurant and you are likely to hear the word over and again. It is “sexy.” For years, we have been told that “sex sells.” But we aren’t just talking about advertising in this post. People across our culture–Christians and non-Christians alike–now feel like something has to be “sexy” in order for it to be a good product. I’ve heard cars described as “sexy.” Cell phones? Yes, you can get one in a “sexy” color. Go to the fitness club,…
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7 Ways to Be Diligent in Daily Bible Reading
So often, we hear about the need to be regular and diligent in our Bible reading. From sermons to books to other outlets, we are often told that we should spend time daily in the reading and study of God’s Word. And, no matter how good our intentions might be, most of us will fall off the track sometime. It may seem like an odd time of year to write this post, since daily Bible reading articles usually come out around the turn of a new year. But why do we have to rely on the turning of a calendar to get into the Scriptures? Today’s post is not meant…
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6 Ways to Keep Facebook from Harming Your Marriage
As we wrote about recently, I have a love/hate relationship with Facebook. I’m glad I restarted my account, as it is much easier to manage. I have noticed, though, a massive drop-off in the amount of traffic to our blog since the restart, but that’s okay. Facebook is a great tool, but far too many people (mis)use it in ways that are harming their homes. It has been reported recently that fully 33% of all divorces mention Facebook somewhere in the divorce filings. Certainly, there are ways to enjoy the good uses of Facebook without it leading to divorce, but it can be very easy to be trapped in a…
