Are Your Kids Okay?

When I write that question, I mean for you to answer the question internally about each of your children. In the iParent audio file I sent today, I discussed what’s wrong with your kids being just okay. In one sense, okay is a good thing. If they are decent students, good citizens and not engaging in harmful, illegal, or potentially dangerous activities, most people would readily answer that there kids are indeed, okay. In another sense, the spiritual sense, being just okay can be very much not okay. The problem with okay is that today, many parents look at their kids and compare them to the examples they see in the world around us, and have a false belief that their kids are okay, simply because they’re not as bad as those other kids they see.

God doesn’t want your kids just to be okay. He wants us to intentionally and consistently evaluate and train our kids to be AWESOME! God looks at the heart and knows our commitment level to Him. He knows our motives and excuses, even when no one else does. God’s standard is what we should be striving for.

Football Is a Great Sport, But a Lousy God

I don’t know about you, but I am really looking forward to the new football season, how about you? The new seasons of professional and college football are just around the corner and that means weekends parked on the sofa or in the recliner with a nice cool drink, some snacks and the remote! No matter who you root for, it has never been easier to keep up with every tiny bit of minutiae about your team. The coach’s show is on at 9:30 on Thursday night, the practice reports are posted each day within minutes of the close of activities. We can know everything about every player in the starting lineup, including what they had for supper last night.

As much as I love football, I believe the Lord has taught to be more selective about the games I watch. I no longer try to keep up with everything like I used to. I “retired” from fantasy football a couple of years ago. I have decided that it really is okay if I don’t sit and kill the whole weekend watching games that begin at 11:00 on Saturday and keep right on starting and ending through Sunday night. That’s not to mention the football event of the week, Monday Night Football. I realized just how much time I was giving to this activity and I was convicted. There were times that I spent way more time watching or following football than I was spending with my wife or with my kids. I believe that the Lord gives us outlets like football (or lots of other activities, if football isn’t your thing) to enjoy, but like with everything else, balance is the key!

Guys, don’t make the mistake that I kept on making for a good long while. There was a time I realized that I needed to reduce my football intake for the sake of my marriage and family life, but I just kind of ignored it. My mind would say, “I deserve to sit and watch this game between Air Force and TCU, I’ve worked hard all week!” The simple fact is, you might very well deserve it, but bros, you don’t live an individual life anymore! When you married your wife, you became one with her in the eyes of the Lord and anything that robs you of unity with her needs to be eliminated or scaled back drastically. If you and your wife aren’t living in unity, then you’re not going to be the dad you need to be either.

Football is great, and I love it, but football isn’t life. I’m praying that you will find a healthy balance in your activities, whether the thing that robs your wife and family is football or fishing or hunting or gardening.

Hang in there bros!

Happy Birthday, Ally : )

Today is a very special day in the Greenwood household. Allyson Kate Greenwood is 9 today! The world has never known a sweeter or kinder little girl than Ally, and I am so proud of her and the way she’s allowing God to shape her life. She’s such a sweetie!

Currently Reading…

A great little book is currently available from one of today’s most relevant and plugged in authors, George Barna.  It’s entitled Revolutionary Parenting. I’ve been a big fan of research since my days as a phone survey taker back in the day with Perdue Research Associates. Research and statistics about family and parenting are my favorite research areas currently and George Barna is the number one source for accurate, well conceived studies done from a Christian worldview.

This little 150 page book is all about the research done to determine what factors were in place in the lives of kids who have grown into what Barna refers to as spiritual champions. The main idea of the book is that if we want our kids to be spiritual champions, parents have to make the commitment to be Revolutionary Parents! The culture we live in rewards just going with the flow and a community child rearing model, but if we go with the flow, our kids will struggle to find good spiritual health their entire childhood.  We must be different if we’re going to train our kids properly and we’ve got to be okay with being “different”  If “normal” is messed up and “different” can make the difference, I want to be different.  How ’bout you?

The vision of parenting in a revolutionary way is what iParent is all about. If you are interested in knowing what it takes to be a Revolutionary Parent, then you need to get this book!