Jay Adams, The Journal of Modern Ministry (Fall 2006): One factor hindering proper training in this area is the increasing social acceptance of childhood rebellion, and teenage rebellion in particular. Many parents have been duped into thinking that their children will inevitably rebel and that nothing can be done to stop it. This causes hopelessness […]
Read More Today’s Quote – Adolescence (Adams)John Younts, Everyday Talk: The purpose of the family is 1) to maintain and nourish the one-flesh relationship between husband and wife, and 2) to prepare children to leave the home of their parents and establish their own homes.
Read More Today’s Quote – Family (Younts)Title: Big Truths for Young Hearts: Teaching and Learning the Greatness of God Author: Bruce A. Ware Publisher: Crossway, 2009; 234 pp. $15.99 Recommendation (4-star scale): More than one parent has been stumped by the question, “what should I teach my child about God?” Perhaps having read through a basic Bible story book, the young […]
Read More Book Review: Big Truths for Young HeartsAugustine (quoted in Discipleship Journal): Do not imagine that you love your children when you never discipline them, or that you do not [sic] love your neighbors when you never admonish them. This is not love but mere weakness. Let your love be eager to correct, to reform. If there is good behavior, let it […]
Read More Today’s Quote – Parenting (Augustine)Al Mohler always has keen insights into cultural issues and how a believer should view new happenings as they occur. Yesterday he responded to a report from England that many single women are now becoming mothers through artificial insemination — and at much earlier ages (20s and early 30s) than ever before. The entire blog […]
Read More Singleness and ChildrenIt wasn’t quite like hitting the lottery, but to a five-year-old, it was close. My daughter and I had stopped to pick up a couple items from the grocery, and on our way back to the car, we stopped at the coke machine to make a selection. Orange was the choice of the day. I […]
Read More Holiness and coke machinesDo you ever wonder how to stimulate your children (or yourself) to a greater love for missions? A few weeks ago, Desiring God offered a list of 10 ways to help kids love missions. [These ideas might work for adults, too.] Here is the list, without the additional notes of explanation: 1. Pray for missionaries […]
Read More Missions and children“If we understood Hell even the slightest bit, none of us would ever say, ‘Go to Hell.’ It’s far too easy to go to Hell. It requires no change of course, no navigational adjustments. We were born with our autopilot set toward Hell. It is nothing to take lightly — Hell is the single greatest […]
Read More Sunday Leftovers (8/26/07)How shall we parent and shepherd our teens so that they will walk faithfully with God? In his most recent “Taste and See” column, John Piper interacts with two recent books and draws the conclusion that “Good Doctrine Makes Better (Teenage) Saints.” A sample statement: “…even though growing a church by serious teaching of biblical […]
Read More Better (Teenage) SaintsIn the last few years, I have heard an increasing number of times, “I love _____, but I don’t like him/her…” Such a notion is a completely foreign concept in Scripture. To love someone is, by definition, to be both a friend and friendly to that person. No where should that be more evident than […]
Read More Sunday Leftovers (8/19/07)In “How Much is Enough?” Al Mohler demonstrates the cultural bias towards a preoccupation with and dependence on material goods and wealth as god. That theology constantly bombards our souls and is dangerous for both us and our children. So, here are some random thoughts as I reflect on yesterday’s sermon and think about how […]
Read More Sunday Leftovers (8/12/07)“To the physician,” writes, Chuck Swindoll, “it’s merely a two-ounce slab of mucous membrane…But the tongue is as volatile as it is vital…[It is ] verbal cyanide. A lethal, relentless, flaming missile which assaults with hellish power, blistering and destroying at will.” This is the testimony of many Scriptures — Jesus, James, and Proverbs speak […]
Read More Sunday Leftovers (8/5/07)When the phone rings at midnight, awakening you from a deep and hard sleep, it rarely rings with happy news. “Mr. Enns? This is Pastor ________. Your daughter is ok, but she’s been in an accident at camp and has been hurt…We’re getting ready to take her to the emergency room…” With those words last […]
Read More Lessons Remembered After a Midnight Phone CallYesterday morning I read an extended quote from Tedd Tripp’s book Shepherding a Child’s Heart (one of the very best books on parenting). Here is the rest of the quote that I left unread (the entire quote was from pp. 38-40): Remember Proverbs 4:23. Life flows out of the heart. Parenting cannot be concerned only […]
Read More Sunday Leftovers (7/15/07)For the most part, the much dreaded millennium bug was pretty much a non-event. For a 105-year-old woman in Norway, it provided an occasion for a reflective chuckle. Because the computer for a local government agency that offered free daycare to all five-year-olds in Oslo, it pulled all the records of children born in ’94 […]
Read More Sunday Leftovers (7/8/07)
Words of Grace 