11. The Tommy Bowden "era" of Clemson football surely took 10 years off my life. I'm not sold on Dabo, but at least there's hope we won't continue to underachieve as we have in the past....Maybe now we can just expect and accept mediocrity.
12. My Grandfather and I shared the same birthday 60 years apart.
13. The best teachers I ever had taught me tons more outside of a classroom than they did inside of one. Thanks Walter Hogg, John Huggins, Billy Keels, Booker Ingram, David Gillespie, Tom Weaver and Jody Lipford.
14. I'm totally convinced my wife is a direct descendant of Job from the Bible. No way anyone could stay with me for as long as she has without patience that defies understanding.
15. I've never left the United States of America but I'm hoping to rectify that soon. My favorite places to visit in the US are Manhattan, Washington DC, and San Francisco. I don't particularly care for Las Vegas.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Dad as Pastor Part 1
So how does a man serve as the Pastor of his home and provide the spiritual leadership his wife and children need? Here are some specific ways you can follow the servant leader example of Christ with your family.
1) Take your family to church regularly. Many folks will say that you don't have to attend church to be a Christian, and while that is technically true, it misses the point. If your goal is to pattern yourself as a servant leader in the model of Christ, then you have to look to his behavior. Luke 4:16 tells us that it was Christ's regular practice to be in the synagogue on the Sabbath. If it was important for Jesus to be in a house of worship on the Sabbath, then I think it's safe to say that it is important to your family too.
2) Make it your business to serve your kids at every opportunity. Christian leadership is really about being an effective servant to God, your family, and your fellow man. Don't sit back at the dinner table and wait to be served. Be proactive and serve everyone else. Wash the dishes, fold some laundry, help the kids make the bed. Be service minded and your kids will too.
3) Don't miss an opportunity to teach your kids. A big part of a pastor's job is teaching the congregation. If you want to be the pastor in your home, you've got to teach too. Too many times fathers are quick to criticize and find fault. While it's part of a father's job to point out error when appropriate, we should always try to pair that with a message about the way something should have been done. Always be ready to say, "here, let me show you how to do it" or "now let me explain the reason why we don't..."
4) Love their mother. The Bible describes the church as the bride of Christ. If you want to demonstrate Christian leadership in your home, then you've got to obey the command that tells husbands to love their wives as Christ loved the church. Serve your wife. Sacrifice for your wife. Never do anything major without first considering what effect it will have on her. The way you treat your wife will impact the type of husbands your sons will make and set the bar for what your daughters will expect in a potential mate. For those of you guys who are divorced or had a child when you weren't married, it is still very important to treat the mother of your children with courtesy and respect. (I don't care how much she does to make you angry)
5) When it comes to complaining, shut your pie hole. If you want to be the spiritual leader in your home put a sock in it when it comes to complaining in front of your children. A habit of complaining and murmuring is one of the worst things you can pass down to a child. A hopeful and content attitude is one of the hallmarks of a man who has put his trust in the Lord. Let your walk demonstrate that you have a peace that passes all understanding. (Philippians 4:7) Trust me, it will show through and it will make a ton of difference in all of your relationships, especially within your family.
I'm sure some are wondering why there is no mention of prayer, bible reading, or devotionals in this list above. There will be more to come on those subjects later in the week.
1) Take your family to church regularly. Many folks will say that you don't have to attend church to be a Christian, and while that is technically true, it misses the point. If your goal is to pattern yourself as a servant leader in the model of Christ, then you have to look to his behavior. Luke 4:16 tells us that it was Christ's regular practice to be in the synagogue on the Sabbath. If it was important for Jesus to be in a house of worship on the Sabbath, then I think it's safe to say that it is important to your family too.
2) Make it your business to serve your kids at every opportunity. Christian leadership is really about being an effective servant to God, your family, and your fellow man. Don't sit back at the dinner table and wait to be served. Be proactive and serve everyone else. Wash the dishes, fold some laundry, help the kids make the bed. Be service minded and your kids will too.
3) Don't miss an opportunity to teach your kids. A big part of a pastor's job is teaching the congregation. If you want to be the pastor in your home, you've got to teach too. Too many times fathers are quick to criticize and find fault. While it's part of a father's job to point out error when appropriate, we should always try to pair that with a message about the way something should have been done. Always be ready to say, "here, let me show you how to do it" or "now let me explain the reason why we don't..."
4) Love their mother. The Bible describes the church as the bride of Christ. If you want to demonstrate Christian leadership in your home, then you've got to obey the command that tells husbands to love their wives as Christ loved the church. Serve your wife. Sacrifice for your wife. Never do anything major without first considering what effect it will have on her. The way you treat your wife will impact the type of husbands your sons will make and set the bar for what your daughters will expect in a potential mate. For those of you guys who are divorced or had a child when you weren't married, it is still very important to treat the mother of your children with courtesy and respect. (I don't care how much she does to make you angry)
5) When it comes to complaining, shut your pie hole. If you want to be the spiritual leader in your home put a sock in it when it comes to complaining in front of your children. A habit of complaining and murmuring is one of the worst things you can pass down to a child. A hopeful and content attitude is one of the hallmarks of a man who has put his trust in the Lord. Let your walk demonstrate that you have a peace that passes all understanding. (Philippians 4:7) Trust me, it will show through and it will make a ton of difference in all of your relationships, especially within your family.
I'm sure some are wondering why there is no mention of prayer, bible reading, or devotionals in this list above. There will be more to come on those subjects later in the week.
Monday, June 13, 2011
The best advice I ever got about being a Dad
You know when you start having kids you get a lot of advice from people. Some of it is bad. Some of it is just tongue in cheek nonsense. Some of it is actually pretty good. The best advice I've ever got on parenting came from my Pastor at Riverland Hills Baptist Church Dr. Ed Carney.
Meeting in his office one day we got to discussing the subject of fatherhood. Ed asked me "You know what your biggest job is as a Dad right?" I paused for a second realizing I had never approached the idea of fatherhood with such a systematic thought process. I knew a list of things Dad's should do...provide financially, protect his children, take them to church, be sure they get an education, etc...
Before I could answer Ed told me, "You have to be the Pastor in your home. You see I'm only their Pastor one day a week for just a few hours. Your family needs pastoral leadership every day, all the time. That's you. That's your job. It's more important than anything else."
As soon as he said it, a light clicked on in my head. I'd read the Bible. I knew much of what it said about the husband being the head of the home, raising your children in the way they should go, not provoking your children to wrath, etc. but this simple word of wisdom put all of it into a new simple perspective to me.
My #1 job as a husband and father is to provide spiritual leadership. That starts with making a commitment to raising them up within the community of church and modeling the Gospel of Christ in my life. My kids know that church is important to Daddy. But more than that, they know Monday through Saturday that God is the real boss in our home. If you don't make that plain then you aren't really living the Gospel in front of them, you are just showing them how to be a hypocrite.
Now you may say, "I don't know anything about being a Pastor. How am I supposed to do that?" Don't let that trouble you. You may not know how, but if you humbly and sincerely submit yourself to the leadership of God, then He will show you how to lead your family.
I'll write some more this week about practical ways you can show practical, pastoral leadership in your home.
Meeting in his office one day we got to discussing the subject of fatherhood. Ed asked me "You know what your biggest job is as a Dad right?" I paused for a second realizing I had never approached the idea of fatherhood with such a systematic thought process. I knew a list of things Dad's should do...provide financially, protect his children, take them to church, be sure they get an education, etc...
Before I could answer Ed told me, "You have to be the Pastor in your home. You see I'm only their Pastor one day a week for just a few hours. Your family needs pastoral leadership every day, all the time. That's you. That's your job. It's more important than anything else."
As soon as he said it, a light clicked on in my head. I'd read the Bible. I knew much of what it said about the husband being the head of the home, raising your children in the way they should go, not provoking your children to wrath, etc. but this simple word of wisdom put all of it into a new simple perspective to me.
My #1 job as a husband and father is to provide spiritual leadership. That starts with making a commitment to raising them up within the community of church and modeling the Gospel of Christ in my life. My kids know that church is important to Daddy. But more than that, they know Monday through Saturday that God is the real boss in our home. If you don't make that plain then you aren't really living the Gospel in front of them, you are just showing them how to be a hypocrite.
Now you may say, "I don't know anything about being a Pastor. How am I supposed to do that?" Don't let that trouble you. You may not know how, but if you humbly and sincerely submit yourself to the leadership of God, then He will show you how to lead your family.
I'll write some more this week about practical ways you can show practical, pastoral leadership in your home.
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