Don’t Just Teach Them, Show Them

There are opportunities that come up throughout life where as parents you get the opportunity to “put your money where your mouth is”.  By that I mean, you teach your kids to do certain things because there are things that you know you want your kid to do.  But then there are times where you get the opportunity to show your teen what to do, instead of teach them.  This is one of those opportunities.

We are participating in Sycamore Creek Church’s 24 Hour Prayer Event on Friday May 8th- Saturday May 9th.  We have been asked to take one of the early Saturday morning hours.  So we as a youth family, are taking the 1am prayer hour. 

Now this provides a great opportunity for parents to show their teen how much they value prayer.  At 1am students are not allowed to be driving on the road in Pickerington (it’s the law!) so here is my challenge to parents

Step up and bring your student and join me for an hour at 1am to pray for the people in our church, the needs of our church and for each other! I know some of you have things to do on Saturday, so if you can’t make it at this time, find a different time!

Don’t let an opportunity to “Put your money where your mouth is” pass you by!

To get where you are going, you have to know the destination

I have been chewing on the thought of what I want a student to be like when they graduate from the student ministry at Sycamore Creek Church.  (I posted my thoughts here).  But as I have thought about it, that question really applies to parents as well.  So let me challenge you to think about this-

“What do you want your child to be like when they leave your home?”

After all, most parents would agree that one of the goals of parenting is to prepare your child for a life outside your home.  But I am concerned that parents don’t think strategically (myself included) about how to get their child to where they want them to go.  And one of the big reasons is that parents may not have thought about what they want their child to be like at that point.

Maybe I am wrong, and you have thought about it.  But if you haven’t, seriously think about the destination.   I mean-

- How do you want your child to handle difficult circumstances?
- How do you want them to handle failure?  Success?
- What character qualities do you want them to have?
- What kind of person do you hope to see looking back at you?

Once you begin to see the destination, you can then begin to figure out the path to get there.  No longer will it be “fly by the seat of your pants” type of thing when you know the destination.  It becomes about reaching that goal and doing everything you can to get your child to that point.

Now I have to go and do the same thing for my kids.  The Destination can be set right now…

One Liners Starts This Sunday!

One-Liners.  Those classic quick response thoughts that we use all the time.  Every one of us has a few of these that we use all the time. Some of my favorite one-liners have to be “Even a blind squirl finds a nut once in a while”, or “your mom!!!” (classic, but don’t use it on your family!), and probably my new favorite one “Ooh, that’s going on facebook!”

But as I thought about it, it hit me- we do this with the Bible too!  We have our go to verses, those verses that we use in situations when we don’t really want to take time to formulate a response.  We say things like “All things work together for good”, or “Don’t judge or you will be judge”.  Classics!

But do we understand these verses?  I mean is there a deeper meaning to some of the most used verses in the Bible? Maybe there is a promise we are missing, or maybe we are using them wrong. 

So over the next few weeks, we will be exploring one verse each week to see what we can learn from some the most famous Bible “One-Liners”.

So if you have a teen, Have them join us at 6pm for Cross Current at Sycamore Creek Church and learn a little bit more about the One-Liners

Maybe you will rethink leaving your kid at home alone for a week…

This is what I am afraid would happen if I left my kids home for a week by themselves…

Middle School Sexuality

A survey by Seventeen Magazine and O, the Oprah Magazine has given us some very interesting insights into the sexual activity of middle school and junior high students.  Yes, that is what I said- middle school and junior high! Now understand we should be teaching our children the biblical concept of sex inside of marriage!  But sex is a huge battleground that a lot of our students are giving in to the pressures and it can cause all kinds of issues, both long-term and short-term.

Here are a few stats from the survey:

- Three-quarters of teen girls who have lost their virginity say they have engaged in sex without protection and that most moms are not even aware of it
- 14% of mothers suspected their teen daughter had engaged in oral sex; nearly 30% of teen girls 15-18 years old have engaged in oral sex
- By age 12, 12 percent of students have engaged in vaginal intercourse, many of which say that it has been done without protection.

Now let’s be honest-many of the moms reading this are scared to death. This shows how important it is to have open dialogue with your teenager…or even earlier!

Now here are some (sort of) positive stats to encourage you:

- 3 in 5 teen girls said that “the talk” with their mothers has influenced their sexual choices “positively”
- Girls who talk to their moms about sex are half as likely to get pregnant
- About one quarter of the teen girls that talked with their moms stated that the conversation has made them wait

Listen, the whole point is that your teenager is going to find out about sex.  Don’t be the last one to talk with them about it!

If you want to read the entire article about this survey, click here

YEC- One Night Only

We have changed our original plan for YEC!  With Spring sports in full gear, we have realized that many of our students would not be able to attend YEC if we go down a day early.

So in the spirit of YEC, we have adapted our schedule to allow more students the chance to attend.

Here is the new YEC Schedule:
When: Friday, April 10th
We will meet at Sycamore Creek Church at 4:30pm and will return at 1:30am Saturday Morning
Where: Nutter Center at Wright State University
Cost: $20 plus money for a fast food dinner

If you are interested in going, please let Scott know as soon as possible.

What is YEC?
YEC is an event put on by the Southern Bapstist of Ohio yearly.  This year’s theme is “Unchained”.  Students will be challenged to live in Christ’s Freedom.  Looking at the schedule, they have some great stuff lined up.  If you want to see the schedule or learn more about the actual event, click here