30 Hour Famine pics…

Here are a few pics from the 30 hour famine-

Students put the cards in the door hanger bags

Cail and Alaina- hungry and hanging bags.  At least they’re happy!!!

 
We made it 30 hours…now let’s eat!

Thanks to all who donated food. We Filled the Van!!!

The line seems to be getting less blurry…

For years, we have tried to teach students to understand that sex should be part of marriage, and not taking place outside of it.  And students were understanding that…sort of.  Many students would abstain from sexual intercouse, but had no problem with any type of other sexual contact, including oral sex.  And we struggled to help them see the line where it needs to be.  Based on the scientific definition of sex, oral sex is sex.  And now it seems that students are beginnning to understand…

A federal survey of more than 2,200 male and female students ages 15 to 19, found that teens who described themselves as “virgins” were less likely to engage in oral sex.  Click here to see the article

But it’s also scary that more than half of the teens included in the survey admitted to having participated in oral sex.

So where do we go from here?  How do we make the line less blurry?

30 hour Famine Event Info

Many of the students have signed up to participate in the 30-hour famine this weekend.  I thought I should post the information about the event.  I gave students a postcard with all the info on it on Sunday and am posting that card here so parents can have all the info.  If you have any questions, please feel free to email me.

Here are some key things you need to know:

- Students will stop eating at 1pm on Friday (make sure you eat a good sized lunch, very important

- meet at the church at 6pm Friday night

- Bring necessary items (see below for list) to stay at church until event ends after Saturday Evening Service

- We will be going to local neighborhoods on Friday Night and Saturday afternoon to hang bags on doors and then collect bags of food, respectively.

- We will end with a feast after the service on Saturday night

Reactive or Proactive

Let me start by saying I don’t know where this will end up.  But I want to talk about parenting for a little bit. Are you a reactive parent or a proactive parent?  You probably have never thought about it that way before.  Let me try to explain it this way.

If you are a reactive parent, my guess is that you let your child/teen do whatever they want and then you try to clean up the mess when it happens.  Sometimes that involves getting angry, or frustrated, or punishing them.  Let me ask you this:  Do you know who your kids hang out with?  Do you know what your son and daughter do on their dates?  Do your kids hide things from you so that you don’t react? 

This method of parenting is definitely easier because you don’t really have to parent unless something goes wrong.  But what happens when your child makes a decision that you can’t fix?  How  do you react to that?

Are you a proactive parent?  Do you try and palce your child in situations that will help them succeed?  Do you take teaching moments in various life moments? Do you do things or make (yeah, you are still allowed to make your teens do something- they are your kids) your teen do things that are going to help them in the long run?  This may mean that you don’t get to be the “cool” parent or their friend for a while, but I don’t think either of those should be the goal.  I struggle with parents who say, “My teen didn’t want to do that” like they are leaving it up to the teen to decide what is best for their future.  Did you know what to do all the time when you were a teenager?  Let me answer: NO!!!  That is why God put parents in your life- to guide you, to direct you, to make you do things that you didn’t want to do because they knew it would pay off in the future

It’s like preventative maintenance on your vehicle.  You do things to your car- change the oil, the air filter, spark plugs- to make sure that it functions in the best way possible, and for as long as possible.  You don’t just wait until something breaks and you’re left on the side of I-270 before you fix it. No you try and take care of your car.

Aren’t your teens worth more effort than your car?

Who you are DOES make a difference

I got this video in an email from one of my former students.  What an impact!!! It is kind of long (like 6 minutes), but well worth the watch!!!

 

Sometimes Texting can save your life…and stuff

A Columbus, Ohio teen didn’t go to school yesterday, and it just may have saved her family from getting robbed.

Lauren Durnbaugh, 13, stayed home from school yesterday while her mom went to work.  Apparently the back door to their house was unlocked and some intruders entered, with intent to rob the house.  Lauren hid under the covers of her bed, and send this text to her mom, “OMG. They’re in the house. I think we’re being robbed,”

Her mom proceeded to call the cops and rush home, thus saving their home from being robbed and her daughter from serious injury.  At one point, the two robbers were even sitting on Lauren’s bed, unaware that she was huddled up under the covers.

Click here for the whole story