Skip to main content
Category

Children

4 Commitments We’ll Make as Grandparents

By Children, Family, Parenting

This is a premature post. My boys will probably balk at it, but I’ll be honest. I’m a people watcher. That’s especially true when I’m out of town where I don’t know anyone.

This week I’m in Florida to perform my oldest son’s wedding. He and his soon-to-be wife have been together for many years, so we feel she’s already part of the family. They say they want to enjoy life together a few years, but we know they both love children, so, even though we would encourage them to take their time, we suspect they’ll have children within the first few years of marriage.

That means we’ll someday be grandparents and it has made me more conscious of what it will be like at that stage of life. Cheryl and I talk about it often.

Today I saw a family out with a grandmother. It was a beautiful family. The kids seemed well-behaved. The parents seemed attentive. The only problem, in my opinion, was an over-bearing, controlling grandmother. Every time the children did anything she corrected them. She consistently over-ruled the parents with the children. She didn’t appear as a loving grandmother, but rather as a family friend who grew impatient with the couple’s children.

I’ve already told my boys, but I feel I need to tell you for accountability purposes. Here are 4 commitments Cheryl and I hope to make as grandparents:

Read More

Friday Discussion: Non-Negotiables in Parenting

By Children, Family, Organizational Leadership, Parenting

Recently I was reposted my parenting model I’ve called “Grace Parenting”. You can read the article HERE.

One of the principles in my model is to Major on the Majors, Not on the Minors and I stated that there are certain non-negotiables I think a parent should enforce in their parenting. A reader commented on the post, asking, “What are the non-negotiables?”

Great question! For my family, these were mostly Biblical characteristics I wanted my boys to possess as adults, things most people would agree are a part of having a good, moral character.

Things such as:

Read More

Receiving Undeserved Love: Ecuador Day 3

By Children, Church, Culture, Missions

If you’ve been following my blog this week, I’m in Ecuador with a group of pastors on behalf of Compassion International.

We were blown away today as we entered a village in the mountains of Ecuador. It took an hour to drive the curvy dirt road, our bus got stuck, and we walked a short distance to the village. Upon rounding a corner, we saw a crowd waiting for us. Hundreds of children from the village had formed a receiving line where they gave us a rose (Ecuador is famous for their roses) and a homemade card welcoming us to their village. It was slightly overwhelming.

Have you ever received an overwhelming undeserved show of affection?

I can’t help but share this picture. This little boy warmed my heart (as did many others). I’m not sure he knew how cute he is!

Read More

Day 2 of Compassion Ecuador Trip

By Children, Church, Encouragement, Missions

Day 2 of visiting Compassion Projects in Ecuador was my favorite so far, and it happened because of one little boy. He’s one of the boys in this picture. When I went to take his picture he asked if his “best friends” could be in the picture too. I loved that!

Anyway, this little boy was asked what he liked best about Compassion International sponsorship program and he said, “God blessed me with the opportunity to meet my sponsors.” Wow! That’s the part about Compassion I like the best! It’s an open book. Today I saw the records…I saw the documents…I saw the paperworks side…but more than that…I saw the kids who many people sponsor. If you sponsor a child with Compassion International, you can make a visit to that child…and they feel “blessed by God” when you do.

By the way, if you do sponsor a child…

Read More

Connecting with our Community…Partnering with our Schools

By Children, Church, Culture, Encouragement, Family

I love the vision Grace Community Church has to impact our community. Our people serve their community throughout the year. The largest project, and the one that draws the most attention, is our annual Operation Serve held each fall where hundreds of volunteers serve in a one (sometimes two) day blitz of community needs. I’ve written about it before HERE. This past year over 1,300 people logged some 10,000 hours of service to our community meeting all kinds of practical needs.

Well, another project is stirring interest. Our community, like many others nationwide, have experienced struggles adequately funding school systems. Enter Operation Serve School Edition.

April 9th we hope to have hundreds of people volunteering in all 35 schools in our public school district. Operations Serve School Edition invites the community to participate with our church in landscaping, painting, cleaning, and completing other things the school needs done, but the budget simply can’t provide. The schools are compiling lists now and materials are being acquired.

To accomplish such a large task, we are also partnering with 5 Star Radio Group. They are providing publicity to recruit volunteers and providing tremendous moral support the day of the event with live remotes.

It’s catching on already. Here are a few articles already talking about Operation Serve School Edition:

Operation Serve: School Edition
Church aims to renovate entire school system
Church To Fix Up 35 Schools In 1 Day: Grace Community Church In Clarksville Seeks Volunteers
Besides the fact that we meet in a school…actually two schools…and doing a church our size and age would be very difficult without this partnership, it makes sense to partner with our schools because:

Read More

One Place I Receive Motivation

By Children, Encouragement, Family, Life Plan, Parenting

I always joke that Cheryl keeps pictures on her desk so she can look at the ones she loves, but I keep pictures on my desk so I don’t forget the people I love. (Don’t email me…it’s a joke…kinda!) Seriously, men and women are wired differently. I’m convinced there’s never a moment Cheryl is not thinking about her family. That’s why she’s so much better at remember special occasions and where we keep our favorite socks!

It’s not that I love Cheryl or the boys less than she loves us, but most men are more task-oriented than we are relationally oriented. When I’m in a zone of work, I’m not usually thinking about anything else. Sometimes though I like to stop, turn from my laptop, and receive motivation for why I do what I do. Apart from giving God glory with my life, my greatest motivation is to leave a strong legacy for my wife and two boys.

Today I was deep in thought, but I turned around and saw this picture. It was the spark I need to keep pushing forward.

Read More