Salvation For the Next Generation

Updated on Monday, August 30, 2010 at 1:01PM by MAD21

[Editor's Note: This post is the second contribution to a wonderful series we are doing on Biblical virtues and praying for our children. I firmly believe that as parents, it is part of our responsibility, and an honor, to pray to our Father in heaven on behalf of our children. I pray you are blessed and encouraged by the words of these posts and that you will join me in my passion for growing strong, confident, loving, honorable and faithful children of God.]

By Nick (My Experience As...)

First let me say thank you for the opportunity. I used to write nearly every day but lately I have been so busy that I haven’t done any writing. This is helping me more than I can say.

If you know me then you can skip this paragraph, but if you don’t it might be helpful to get an idea of where I’m coming from.  I am a father to 4 children. I love them dearly and believe each to be a gift from God. I mean this quite literally as my wife had two miscarriages and a tubal before we had our first and we were both struggling with horrible depression until God spoke to us through our pastor.  This is a powerful story that I’d invite you to read on my blog. I’m also a youth pastor and have well over 50 students I pray for all the time. My heart breaks for most of them because I know they have heard the truth, but have not responded to it.

I believe we need to pray for our children daily. I don’t even mean our natural children, but all those of this generation of students.  I have made a strong effort to get the names of all of my students, even those who came once and haven’t been back, into the hands of people in my church.  I ask them to pray for the kids every day, and I know they are covered in prayers. We pray for protection, and peace. We ask for strength and wisdom. We seek blessing and perseverance on their behalf.

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One Word At A Time: Children

By MAD21

"A child is a revelation from God.
Prophets receive visions, mystics ponder the ineffable,
great preachers deliver God's word.
The greatest revelation comes through flesh and blood.
Every child is a fresh, unheard-of image of God,
and children keep coming and coming because the world
has not yet conceived of all the fullness of God's glory."

- Mike Mason, The Mystery of Children

I was a little surprise addition to our family. An unexpected challenge to my parents who thought they were already done having children. I have 11 and 13 years between my brother and sister and I, which technically puts me in a new generation (and considered and only child in some ways). I always told people I had the best of both worlds. I had a brother and sister, but I lived alone in the house with my parents by the age of nine. However, if I had had a choice I have to say I would have preferred to have had a sibling closer to my own age. It's one of the reasons it was important to me to have more than one child. I didn't want my kids living their lives without siblings they were close to, who were closer to the same stage in life.

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Praying For Our Kids to Love God's Word

[Editor's Note: I am so excited to bring you the first contribution to a new wonderful series we are doing on praying for our children. I firmly believe that as parents, it is part of our responsibility, and an honor, to pray to our Father in heaven on behalf of our children. As we work our way through this series, we will talk about teaching work ethics; salvation; love; purity; respect; self-control; perseverance; a love for God's word; and other virtues and life lessons. I pray you are blessed and encouraged by the words of these posts and that you will join me in my passion for growing strong, confident, loving, honorable and faithful children of God.]

*****

By Jason, M.Ed., M.A.R., Headmaster

"More to be desired are they than gold,
   even much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey
   and drippings of the honeycomb." Psalm 19:10

"Oh how I love your law!" Psalm 119:97

When someone really treasures something, it's not hard to tell.  Whether it's the Ravens fans who always wears purple or the young man in love who can talk about nothing but his beloved, people generally show their true affections plainly.  

If you talk to my boys for long, it's not hard to figure out what they treasure.  Right now, it's Legos and Matchbox cars.  I like Legos and Matchbox cars, too, but you can probably guess that my boys' love of their toys sometimes leads them to fight with each other. 

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Gone Before We Know It

By Michelle (Graceful, Faith in the Everyday)

Feet padding soft, silhouette standing bedside while storm crashes. He crawls in, asleep in seconds, arm flung over head, hair frizzled flat, thighs pale-moon soft. I watch him sleep, drinking in that bit of baby still left.

He cries while we watch Free Willy, worried about the whale -- brow crinkled, tears brimming lashes, mouth agape in wailing oh.

“We forget he’s still just five,” says Brad as I shush and console, stroke sunset curls, murmuring reassurances that Willy will indeed prevail.

It seems I’ve forgotten all along, so bent was I on surviving the trials of mothering infants and toddlers. And now, on the eve of too-late, I grip tight, finally not wanting to let go.

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Life Is Funny: Look Mummy!

By MAD21

I took my daughters to a birthday party this weekend. It was the usual thing: cake, presents, swimming... and games. One of the games the kids played started them off in pairs and a roll of toilet paper. I'm sure you've probably seen it... one person is the mummy that stands totally still, and the other one wraps them up in toilet paper. The first group to wrap their team mate up with the entire roll of toilet paper, wins.

Let's just say that my six and four year old OWNED this game. You would have thought that they had practiced before hand they had it down so perfectly. But they have only played this game one other time, and that was a year ago with the same friends.

We all laughed so hard. It was awesome. As great as it was to see the girls cooperate to win a game, it was even better to see the smiling eyes and cheeks peering out from under the toilet paper, listening to the giggles of her older sister as she ran around and around covering every last inch of her body.

I suppose on some level this was a way for my oldest to get back at her sister for knocking her tooth out last week. I can live with this payback.

My friend and fellow blogger Wendy at Weight..What? has a fun carnival at her blog called "Life is Funny." Every Monday we talk about something in life that we find funny. Be sure to go visit her blog to read her post along with links to other blogs who are participating.