He's My Partner

Last Sunday night, Turner (5) was racing around our house looking for his "paper" from his 11:00 Bible Fellowship class at our church. He asked us if we'd seen it. He brings home several things each Sunday and Tonya had seen a paper with Turner's friend Ben's name on it earlier in the day.

"Have you looked in your room?", Tonya asked him. "Yes, but I will again", Turner replied.

"Is it in the laundry room?", we asked. "I didn't see it", he said.

This type of search is nothing new to us. Trying to find the boys stuff is common in our house. They move stuff all the time, never to the same place (unfortunately, they get that from me).

After a few minutes of searching, Tonya found the paper Turner was looking for. Though it had Ben's name across the top, it was actually Turner's paper as he happily explained.

"No, that's it. That's my paper", Turner answered. "Those are things to pray about for Ben". Turner happily showed me the list with all the earnestness a friend could express, "We're partners". And then, as tears welled up in my eyes, I realized my five year old son has a prayer partner. My five year old son has a prayer partner (that was worth writing again).  That makes my heart smile.

So pretty consistently since that Sunday, we've prayed for Ben's dog, his brothers, his Nana and his Mom. Because that's what partners do.

The Barnabas Principle

One of my favorite men in the Bible is Barnabas. He was known as an encourager. In the book of Acts (4:36), we're told his name even means "Son of Encouragement". Throughout the New Testament, Barnabas is seen financially supporting the ministry of the apostles (Acts 4); was one of the first to support Saul following his conversion (Acts 9); and is an early missionary to other cities (Acts 11 and following).

As an outpouring of his faith in Jesus Christ, Barnabas is consistently seen serving, doing good works and helping others. He is a supporter, and true to his name, an encourager. He saw what could be, how things could be better, and he did his part to see those things come to fruition. That is the type of man I want to be. That is the type of man we are trying to teach our sons to become.

Recently, I had the opportunity to take my son Parker (8) to the Tennessee vs. Missouri football game. The outcome was a disappointing overtime loss, dropping the Vols overall won/loss record to 4-6. As we exited the stadium, the mood was entirely negative, save for a few rowdy Mizzou fans. Some people walked out quietly in disbelief that the season had turned out this poorly. Others were angry and talking loudly (some using less than appropriate language). Others just seemed disappointed.

In the midst of the crowd, as we circled the ramps leading out of the stadium, Parker looked up at me and quietly said, "Hey, you know what, if we win the next two games, we'll be bowl eligible". In that moment, I realized we're raising a Barnabas.

Granted, Parker didn't understand the ramifications of a what a losing football program means at UT. Losing means financial loss. Losing means a frustrated fan base. Losing means more painful change. But he did know that if you win the next two games, you qualify to keep playing. And that's a good thing.

Here's The Point: All too often we look at a situation and see only negatives. We see pain and hurt and we get frustrated. People are ready to give up on a marriage, on their education, on a family member.

We'd do well to remember that with just two more wins, we'd be bowl eligible. And to follow the Barnabas principle.

More Parkerisms and Turnerisms

Raising two sons, 8 and 5, means we have lots of fun conversations in our home. Here are some more:

After completing some "chores" for Granna to earn some change to help fill his "Because...We Love Jesus" heart (actually a small bank shaped like a heart) for our church's stewardship campaign:
Granna: What are you going to do with this money?
Turner: I'm going to give it to Jesus so He can buy some stuff.
We reminded Turner that everything already belongs to God. He just lets us use stuff.

Following a recent haircut for Parker:
Me: I like your haircut.
Parker: Granna says I have a double crown.
Me: Really?
Parker: Do you have a double crown?
Me: I don't know.
Parker: Let me see. Hold your head down.
Me: Do I?
Parker: I don't know. You might if you had...(as he leaves his thought uncompleted)
Me: You mean I might if I had hair.
Parker: Yeah. But I didn't want to say that.

Great Quote Thursday

People need to be reminded more than instructed- C. S. Lewis

Great Quote Thursday

Nobody gets anything done unless they’re a little nutty, unless they have great energy and great enthusiasm- Bill Self, University of Kansas Basketball Coach

You Lost Me One-Day Workshop

I recently attended a one-day seminar in which David Kinnaman, President of the Barna Group, shared information from his book, You Lost Me. The seminar, and the book, focus on reaching the millennial (20's and 30's) generation, who in many cases are leaving the church and rethinking faith. Following is some of what Kinnaman shared:

The millennial generation is a generation with access to communication but a generation without wisdom.

The best Biblical example for the complexity of our times are the exiles in Babylon, believers living "in but not of" the culture.

The Gospel should be as simple as possible but not any simpler.

If we think college is leading people from faith, then we've not done a good enough job preparing them for college.

The Gospel does not give us an excuse to exclude demographics that are inconvenient for the church.

This generation is not just "sort of" different....our culture is discontinuously different.

All our efforts must point to Jesus. 

Great Quote Thursday

Beyond parents, the next most important role in the life of a young believer is another believer who is not paid to be your friend- David Kinnaman, referring to the importance of peer friendships in addition to the relationships built by student ministry leaders