Adventurous Parenting

Yesterday was a big day for a lot of campers, including my 8 year old son.  For many young boys and young girls yesterday was the beginning of a never before experienced adventure.  For many of them this is the longest they have been away from mom and dad without having a family member near by.  For others this is the first time spending a significant amount of time in a place that does not have a Wii or Xbox on every wall.  Through this adventure they will learn to trust, stretch, and explore in ways they never have before.  But more surprisingly yesterday it was the parents, in large part, that were as nervous as the notorious “cat on a hot tin roof.”  For many parents the idea of sending a kid to camp for a week is too far out of their comfort zone.  Many families in order to avoid this discomfort will never even consider the idea, as it would cause them much grief and many sleepless nights, while little Johnny or Susie is away.

But here is my concern.  We as parents can far too often model for our kids a lifestyle that is full of caution and restraint.  The idea of stepping out into an adventure or doing something that has not been done before is crippling.  Though all of these parents at one time themselves shoved off into the unchartered waters of parenthood the thought of encouraging their children to have an adventurous spirit is not even considered.  So the call to action:  Parents as we live our lives may we demonstrate to our children a desire to explore what God has surrounded us with.  His creation is wonderful and is intended to be explored.  God has told us that we are His and we know He is faithful so move out of your comfort zone and into His blessings.  When an opportunity to talk someone new arises jump on it.  When a chance to go somewhere you have never been comes up, go.  When an opportunity to live in a place where God’s blessing is needed everyday enjoy His provision.  

Whatever we do may our kids see us as Adventurers. 

What'd I forget

I believe that we can all identify with the feeling, or perhaps frustration, of walking into a room on a mission to retrieve something.  Only to arrive and discover that we have totally neglected to bring with us the ability to recall that which we were in route to.  It is at this moment that while simultaneously swallowing a humble pill we criticize ourselves in an effort to rattle from the fog that is our brain some slight recollection as to why we left the big comfy couch in the first place.  This time of memory stimulation and brain rattling is often limited to only this endeavor.  My provocation for writing this is that we have long forgotten the virtues that have made the church what it is today.  We have misplaced: honor, integrity, loyalty, purity, and gratitude.  These virtues have taken a back seat to such things as comfort, compromise, and ultimately confusion.  We allowed ourselves to slowly, albeit steadily, distance ourselves from such things that require sacrifice and discipline in their practice.  Over the course of the rest of our series, Forgotten Virtues, our hope is that we will be once again be exposed to the virtues that can once again build a backbone in our community that God can use to communicate His grace.  Join us for this series as we remember the “Forgotten Virtues.”  Together we will remember what we came here for.