Today’s post is the 3rd in our 4-part series of free printables to help you train your children for worship. If you missed either of the first two posts, below are the links. 1: A Devotional Guide on Worship 2: Family Devotionals on the Acts of Worship Today, we are sharing TWO free printables with you! FIRST, we have a “prayer checklist” that can be used either in a family devotional setting or during a worship service to help a child focus on the importance of prayer. While prayer is not meant to be just a “checklist,” we also need to teach our children that prayer is more than some type…

Last week, we shared the first of four free printables to help you train your children for worship. If you missed that one, which was a devotional guide about worship, click here and you can get it for free. To continue with the free stuff, we have another family devotional guide for you this week. This time, though, it is a SET of devotional guides. There are five in all, one for each of the five avenues of worship. As with the other guides, these are meant to help you have family devotionals that are only about 10 minutes in length and that help by getting input from the children.…

Minecraft. I know very little about this game, except that our son has been begging us to download it for months. It is one of the few times he has truly fixated on something for more than a few days. After doing some light research and seeing that is a fairly harmless game, we decided to let him get the game on Leah’s iPad… …after he signed a contract. That’s right, our 7-year-old had to sign a contract to get and play the game. The short document stated such things as: He would pay for the game himself out of his saving jar. If he complained when told to turn…

In our latest podcast, Leah and I talked about the importance of training our children for worship. Also in that podcast, we mentioned how we are going to be sharing some posts and printables to help you do that. We have settled on four posts–to be released on Wednesdays–and today is the first in those posts. The importance of a family discussing things in the home cannot be overstated. Through family devotionals, a family can gain a great deal of closeness and can focus more clearly on connecting with God. These times are also wonderful training grounds to discuss areas in which we want our children to grow. (By the…

Earlier this week, we had a thunderstorm in the middle of the night. While it did not last very long, it was quite strong. In fact, at about 1:05 AM, I heard the loudest clap of thunder I believe I have ever heard. Immediately, both of our kids were awake, and I was checking on them. The imagery of storms is often used to describe difficult times in life. We speak of the “storms of life” as a way to talk about times of loss, struggle, or depression. Just as children need us during literal storms, they need parents during those storms of life, too. What can parents do to…

[Note: During the month of October, our friends at The Light Network are releasing program to raise awareness about domestic violence. I was interviewed for an upcoming episode of the program “Culture Shock” on the issue of disciplining children. In connection with that, I submit the following article as part of their “blog hop,” helping to promote awareness. To learn more, visit this page on their website. –Adam] I am a fan of sports. I have been geared up for the beginning of the new NFL season, and have enjoyed watching a few minutes of action so far this season. But the off the field news around the National Football…

As I write this I am scooting my chair up to the table and fastening a bib around my neck in order to keep from allowing any humble pie to get on my clothes. Parenting is tough! I have made and continue to make many mistakes. I constantly pray to God for help and forgiveness. But thankfully, with God as my heavenly parent and with His manual close by, in this process of being a father I am learning. Through my own misguided struggles as well as my observations of others, I would like to share with you five major mistakes parents continually make. Some parents worship their children rather…