On the parenting front, if you are not a parent, a single, or not able to have kids, this is still for you because you were parented. Somewhere along the line you were a kid and had parents. There are two things I want you to do this morning, write down tips on what you need to do to help others, and write down things you were missing. This is not to turn around and tell your parents what they did wrong, but it is a space and a place for Father God to come restore and heal you. God is your Father and Restorer and it’s a place to meet with God.
Another thing on the forefront is to acknowledge parenting is hard. It takes two, which is why God put us in partnership. If you are a single parent, you know it takes a community around you. It’s difficult and challenging. Sometimes, mom and dad have to figure it out together.
Parenting is tough. It is unique, but it is God’s will. God’s plan A is family to glorify God and raise children in a way that they experience the fullness of God’s heart. Genesis 1:27-28, “God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” God created male and female and He blessed them. It was a good thing. Then, He said go and bear fruit and multiply, and care for these precious ones that they might glorify God in the earth. May every generation be better than the one before it. May every generation far exceed where their parents were in that journey and find the grace in God. There is no Plan B; parenting is Plan A for His glory.
Just a reminder, especially to parents of little kids, children are a blessing from the Lord. Remember, God created us male and female, and He blessed them, He let them know they were worth everything to Him. The psalmist picks this up in Psalm 127:3-5, “Behold, children are a gift of the Lord; the fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one’s youth. How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them; they will not be ashamed when they speak with their enemies in the gate.” This is God’s delight, His design, and His desire. Whether you are experiencing this or not as a parent, you have promises from God that He will bless your children. It is His design and desire.
The question is: will you bless your children? Will you affirm and love them the way God intended? The one thing your kids need to know is that there is a mom and a dad, two people on the earth that will be for them, always, no matter what. No matter the ups and downs, the failures, the successes, there is somebody that values them above all others, and that’s you. That is why we don’t compare our kids to other people. “Why can’t you be like so and so?” Of course it is fine to say, “Look at that attribute in that person’s life.” To point to Christlikeness, but at the same time, you do not compare your kids to other kids. It devalues them. It makes them feel as if they are not the most important person to somebody on the earth. Everyone wants to know, “Who is going to love me? Who is going to value me?”
Mom and Dad – you are that person. There is no one else that God has chosen to be the number one cheerleader for your kids.
This does not mean your kids are perfect or don’t have problems. It doesn't mean they aren't challenging or a wipeout. They need to know there is somebody on this planet that will love them like nobody else and will advocate for them no matter what, and it is you. That is one thing you can be for your children.
I have tried to do this in different ways with my own kids. One of the simple ways is I try to cyclically communicate to my kids that they are my favorite in the world. So, Abby is 20 years old, and Abby is my favorite 20 year old in the whole wide world. There are hundreds of college kids around here, and they have plenty of great attributes and things they do that are awesome, but you know what? I don’t really care, because Abby is the most valuable 20 year old in the whole world to me. I love her more than any of them.
No matter who I invest in, no matter who I love, no matter how many great kids that are around, she is still the most important 20 year old in my life because she is mine. Lauren is about to turn 18 next week. My favorite 18 year old in the whole wide world is Lauren Grace Seibert. I love her more than any other 18 year old in the world. If you are 18 years old, I love you too, but not more than her. Caleb just turned 16 last week. He is my favorite 16 year old in the whole wide world. It doesn't matter if he is goofy or wonderful, good or bad, he is my favorite 16 year old in the world. Daniel is my favorite 11 year old in the world. As I mentioned earlier, when I tell each of them that, they get sheepish and say, “Oh, you know, thanks Dad.” They love it, but feel embarrassed about it. Daniel has always been the one to say, “I know, Dad, thanks.” He’s confident; let’s make sure it’s Christ-centered confidence.
I try to consistently let them know they are a blessing. One of the more embarrassing things I do is anytime we have a birthday gathering, I try to tell the story of their birth. Depending on what age is how excited they are about that, especially in how I describe that experience. I try to do it, even if it’s embarrassing because I want all these kids to know this is a special person to me.
Mom and Dad, it’s okay to brag about your kids. You say, “I get so tired of so-and-so bragging about their kids,” You know what? I don’t. I’m done with that. I love hearing other parents brag about their kids. You brag. Somebody be their cheerleader. Somebody think they are the best in the world and be on their team. Because every kid needs it, and so do you.
Children are a blessing form the Lord, let’s act like it so they can experience God’s blessing over their lives. The other thing to mention with this is we know that everybody is tainted by sin. Each one of your kids is marred by sin as you are. When your kids are not a blessing, like coming out of the womb and screaming, or just all over you and crazy doing stuff. When you are thinking, “I think my kid has a demon...” No, they are born in the beauty of God, but with sin in their lives and they manifest that sin. It is your job to deal appropriately, lovingly and biblically with that, in order to lead them towards more Christ-likeness. It is a journey and they are sinners just like you and I. That is why we have Jesus. That is why Jesus has to be the center of our hearts and the center of our homes, our thinking and where we are leading our kids for answers. He is a Redeemer, a Restorer, a Renewer, and an Empowerer. He is who we are trying to be like, and He is who we are adapting to. With Jesus as the Restorer and the Center, we always have hope, even in the most difficult and challenging situations with our kids.
The question becomes as parents, “What is our role? What does it look like?” I’ve found some Scriptures that have really helped me to build faith, day-by-day, in my own parenting journey. I want to share a few with you. Psalm 128:1-3, “How blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in His ways. When you shall eat of the fruit of your hands, you will be happy and it will be well with you. Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine within your house, your children like olive plants around your table.” When it says “your children shall be like olive branches” that means anointed. They should be anointed by God. They will be like the anointed ones around your table, living in the abundance of God. I claim that every day, I pray it every day over Laura and over the kids.
Another Scripture I pray is Psalm 112, “Praise the Lord! How blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in His commandments. His descendants will be mighty on earth; the generation of the upright will be blessed.” Praise God! My children will be mighty on the earth. They may not stand on a stage, people may not even know who they are but they will be mighty on the earth in God because this is true of those who fear the Lord.
Psalm 103:17 “But the loving-kindness of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him in His righteousness to children’s’ children.” I don’t know if you seem the theme, that the blessing and promises is directly linked to the fear of the Lord. My job as a parent is to fear the Lord. Fear does not mean to draw away from, it means to run to. It means to acknowledge that God’s ways are right, and mine are not... That the way I live my life, the way I think and treat Laura and the kids is Christ-centered, biblically centered, God honoring. Anything that doesn't look like Jesus is out for me and my household. Fearing the Lord is acknowledging and keeping God central in all things so that He might be the power source of life to fulfilling the promises that He has over your kids.
A couple other Scriptures that I quote daily and pray back to the Lord is Isaiah 54:13, “All my children will be taught of the Lord. The well-being of my children will be great.” Psalm 144:12, “My daughters shall be as corner pillars fashioned for a palace and my sons as mature plants in their youth.” These promises are as sure as what I see in my hands. They are as sure as I am looking at you, but I cannot see them. The unseen God who I am trusting, who we have chosen to honor in our house, will be faithful to do that which we have asked.
The issue becomes whether or not I fear the Lord. Am I responding to God? Am I adapting to God? We are not talking about perfection here; nobody on this planet is perfect or will be perfect until Jesus returns or until we meet Him face-to-face. But there is a journey towards Christ-likeness that is an absolute must, mom and dad. Jesus must be the center of our hearts therefore the center of the way we parent and love. I in no way want to put on to my kids that I am perfect, because they know and have seen that I am not. What I want to put on is that I am a repentant man. I want to be known as the best repenter in town, not the best parent.
Because if I learn how to repent, to respond to God, and humble myself to others, there will always be grace for the next challenge before us. Also, I want to be one who submits my life to Laura and the kids. Consistently I will ask my kids questions like, “How do you think I am doing? What do you think I need?” One time, I asked, “What do you think Daddy loves most?” and all the kids say, “You love Jesus, Daddy.” And Caleb said, “But you love sports a lot too, Dad.” I said, “Well, praise God Jesus made it first.” And we went from there.
I remember talking to Abby one time when Caleb was little. I asked her how she thought I was doing. She said, “Dad, I think you are frustrated a little bit with Caleb.” I said, “Ya, I know. It’s a struggle.” But she said, “It’s okay dad, we’ve all seen it for a long time. We are praying for you.” I mean, listen. If you think you are hiding something – you are a fool. You might as well just say it. I am a recovering-frustrated man. I am letting the grace of God change me, and we are talking about that, praying about that. God, would you rearrange and resort me? What they know is that I will repent and deal with it.
One of the things my kids catch on to through my repentance are the rules of the game. I remember Caleb, especially when he was little, when I would get frustrated and was going to go discipline him he knew one of our rules was that we would not discipline out of anger. So, I would be taking him to his room and he would say, “Dad, you’re angry. You’re angry. You’re angry.” He picked up really quick. He got that. “You can’t spank me. You’re angry. You can’t spank me.” And I would say, “You’re right. By the time we get to your room, I will be over it.” I would get over it, “Forgive me son, for being angry. What you did still has a consequence to it, praise the Lord!”
You see, parents, we are not to be intimidated by our weaknesses; we are to be honest with them and appropriate in our discipline. We don’t pull back out of our own weaknesses. We still honor God and His Word in loving our kids, but we are honest with our own journey.
Fearing the Lord is so important because you are their number one influencer. Whether you want to be or not, you are their mirror. I still remember as a little kid, my dad used to get cream and mix it in his hair every day. He would take his black comb and slick his hair back and be ready for work. I still remember watching him so often that I would go in behind him after he left for work and do the exact same thing. I’d comb my hair back and walk up to my mom and say, “Mom, do I look like dad?” There was something in me that wanted to be like him.
He was a distant father, but a loving father. My brother took his place. Then I wanted to look like my brother. He left for college when I was in 5th grade, he is ten years older. Then, I wanted to look like my peers. That’s when all the troubles in my life began.
Who you mirror matters. Mom and Dad, it is going to be you. Those early years, 10-12 years old specifically, the way you live your life, the consistency in their lives is what most psychologists say develops their values and worldview for the rest of their lives. It is so important that in those early days, it is high touch, high discipline, high love, high encouragement, and high investment. You want to be close to the journey all in those development years so you can enjoy the teenage years. They need you more than anybody else in the whole wide world. That is what shapes who they are.
I have regrets about different things, but one thing I have no regrets about is extra time spent with my kids I have no regrets. I have no apologies. Whoever was mad at me for doing something else with my kids, they can jump in the lake. I have no regrets over extra investment in my kids’ life to the detriment of anything else. We are absolutely committed to the Kingdom of God and sacrificing our lives for others. But, I am not committed to sacrificing time with my family at somebody else’s alter.
Have no regrets. Be close. Be invested. You won’t regret it. Especially as my kids get older and are teenagers, they are truly my best friends. Dads, you are the shapers of their lives. I remember Lauren as a little girl, maybe 4th or 5th grade, was just struggling a little bit. She was a little anxious about a choir play she was doing. I was trying to get the camera and I was over on the side. I saw her up there just anxiously looking about, looking for Laura and I. I could tell and it was breaking my heart. I was trying to wave to her. Finally, she looks over and sees me. All of a sudden, a smile comes on her face, peace, and she is ready to go. She’s ready to perform, once she sees her father’s face of affirmation.
You tend to respond to life with strength when you see your Father’s face. Obviously, God Himself, but parents, we have the opportunity to be that face as well in their lives. You are their number one influencers. Dads, you are the one who puts identity on your sons and daughters. You are the one that calls a woman a woman, and a man a man. You are the one who hugs and holds, and affirms them in such a way that they don’t need the arms of another man until the appropriate time that God has ordained for them. They don’t need to drift off to find love somewhere else, because they are finding it with you.
Every morning as they've grown up, I have tried to walk into the girls’ rooms and say, “Hello Beautiful, it’s time for a great day!” Every day they start off with, “somebody thinks I am beautiful.” Dad, you have the ability with your words and your time to mark them for the rest of their lives. Dads, I wish this weren't true, but let me just say it as it is: God calls Himself Father in the Scriptures. God portrays Himself as male. Though He is both nurturing and consistent and strong, He describes Himself as Father. Until your kids connect with Father God, you are it. How we live our lives and how we establish then mirrors for them what they will need in the future. Let’s not miss the opportunity of a lifetime.
The girls need the affirmation, the boys need to be called up and called out. All young men are squirrely. It is in their DNA. Dad, it is your job to lovingly drive the squirrel out of them. Hopefully, you have dealt with the squirrel in you first. Always looking for a break, for the easier way out, always looking for someone else to do it that is the nature of guys, un-redeemed before God. Men need men in their lives, they need men close. I’ve shared before the illustration, in Kruger Park in South Africa where they tried to distribute the elephant population. They had taken young elephants from one park and put them in another park. They saw rhinos beginning to show up dead. They thought there might be poachers, or people killing the rhinos. They had caught it on tape that young elephants are killing the rhinos. But, that is not what happens in the animal kingdom. These young bulls had nobody curbing their aggressiveness. They got the idea to put older male elephants back into the park. If an older male elephant is in the park, they had pictures of the young elephants charging at the rhinos and the old male elephant just “BOOM!” knocking the younger elephants down on their tail. They put them in their place and all became well again in the animal kingdom. You got the point, right? Dads, your boys need you. They need you to learn how to overcome pain enough to overcome passivity.
I still remember coaching many teams. Both Daniel and Caleb, like most little boys, when they get bumped or fall down, would start crying. I would walk out, and assess the situation. If I don’t see any broken bones or blood, it looks like it’s time to get up. Laura would anxiously be on the sideline, “Are they ok? Are they ok?” I look at her, “They’re fine.” I look at them, “Get up. It’s time to get up. You can cry on the sidelines, but not on the field… Oh, you still want to play? When you finish crying, you can play.” Now, c'mon, that’s alright. Dad, can you just say amen to that? Moms, we love them, we care for them, but men need to be men.
You are their main influencers and it is our job to create a Christ-like environment, an environment of safety and peace in our households so our kids can flourish. They are taking on the world, the flesh and the devil every day, as we are. Home should be refuge. Home should be a place where there is every opportunity in the world to flourish, to be successful and supported, to walk through life and talk about everything. That is what we are trying to create.
I was asking my daughters, Abby and Lauren, some questions yesterday to get some thoughts for my sermon. I was hearing them articulate and thought, “I’ll just have them share.” I wanted them to come and share with you some things they have learned, maybe in our household or the households of those we have had the privilege of being associated with. I thought that might be helpful to you.
Let’s welcome Abby and Lauren Seibert!
Lauren: Well, we just want to give you a few small things that have either drawn us to Jesus, or to our family. I’m going to start off with our parents taught us how to spend time with Jesus from the earliest age. We are trained how to spend time with Jesus, then when it is your responsibility and your parents aren't asking you, it just comes naturally. We want to spend time with Jesus now. When we were little, it started off when we couldn't read. Mom and dad put in the Jesus video, and it would show a scene of Jesus calming the storm, or when He dies and rose again. Once we went to school and could read, we would sit down and Dad would show us to read one chapter in the Bible, and write something we love about Jesus in your journal and pray for your family. As we grew up, we developed and when we got older, dad would sit down with us and ask us, “How is time with Jesus? Are you doing more than just reading one chapter and writing one thing you love about Jesus?” Mom and dad grew us up to know what it looks like to spend time with Jesus.
Abby: Another huge thing we were talking about is the media. Honestly, I can say that is one of the hugest things, even as I see my friends now. Parents, if you can save your kids at a young age and have their minds purified before they are older, it creates a desire for righteousness. Kind of like, if you are used to eating a certain food and are introduced to something new, you are repelled by it. For us, our parents only allowed our media intake to be righteous things. Even in music, I remember one time around 4th grade, I got in the car with one of my friends and her mom turned on NSYNC. Something in my little kid mind was saying, “I don’t listen to this. My parents won’t let me.” I told my friend’s mom, and that set a precedent for growing up, saying those things are not desirable, I want Jesus. They are what we got used to, and so it is what we desire now.
Lauren: I know dad mentioned it, but another thing is parents, fear the Lord. In Proverbs it says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” We have learned how to fear the Lord by watching our parents. When I think of fearing the Lord, I think of relying on Jesus being everything. We can’t do anything apart from Jesus. Our parents showed us that from disciplining us, to how He was going to provide for us financially, to how we are going to make decisions. When we needed money, we would sit down as a family and our parents would say, “Ok guys, we need this much money by this date. Let’s all pray and ask God what we can do to raise that money and ask Him to provide for us.” In that area, we saw that we have to rely on Jesus. With discipline, when our parents would spank us, we would pray to Jesus and ask for forgiveness. We would ask our parents for forgiveness, and ask Jesus for help to obey. Also, with making decisions, when we would ask our parents for advice we would always hear, “Let’s ask Jesus what He would say.” As we have grown up and are not around our parents as much, because of school and events, we still have learned we go to Jesus first. He is the One that is going to provide what we need. In that way we were drawn to Jesus and not the world’s advice, but Jesus’ advice.
Abby: Going off of that, I just got back from a trip to Bangalore with the college group. One morning, while spending time with Jesus, I got a picture and I feel like it is so neat for parenting. It’s a picture of us looking up to heave with our arms raised. God’s presence and love is pouring into our lives. In return, all we do is look down and extend our arms and grab others. I think that is such a key in parenting. It’s a place now, where we are able to trust our parents and their advice because everyone knows we are not perfect, they are not perfect, but with the presence of God and them demonstrating that for us, it is a place of trust. We know they are listening to advice from the Lord and therefore it puts a trust, willingness in us to trust, and to listen.
Lauren: Another thing is family time. No matter what, even if your kids don’t act like they want to spend time together as a family, it really is worth it. Even now, in high school, we have family time. Every Monday night is our family night. Often times, big tests would be on Tuesday and my friends and class would want to have a study party at our house. I would always say it had to be after family night. Even though they would sort of laugh at me and say, “What’s family night?” I’d say, “It’s where we play games together and have dinner,” They would joke the next day about knocking on our door and interrupting family night. I realized that people really do want that, they want to be a part of a family. That has really shaped it.
Abby: Parents, I just want to encourage you, even if your kids are little and they don’t seem like they want to do family night to go ahead and force them. When Lauren and I were little, for some reason, dad always wanted to play kickball. Lauren and I hate kickball. Even as little kids, when dad would say it was kickball. And it was boys against girls, so we are set up to lose. The boys were little, but somehow they still always won. Now, I look back on those memories and absolutely love it. Another thing we would do is go on lots of bike rides – I have so many memories screaming at my little brother to get out of the street. But now, me and my brother are best friends. So, parents don’t be afraid to make your kids do things they don’t want to do because in the end, you will always have good memories.
Lauren: Parents, another thing is don’t be afraid to pursue your kids. Really be in tune with their hearts. I remember when Abby was graduating from high school. It was a really special time for Abby, and there was a lot of attention on her as she was graduating. I had written her a song and our family gathered to watch dad’s song to Abby. I was having a really hard time with school during that time and starting to feel some comparison between Abby and me because all this attention was on her. I drew back and went to my room to do some homework and started crying and thinking, “Is dad proud of me or not?” Dad noticed I had slipped away, and he came after me. He just started talking to me and saying, “Lauren, I want you to know I am just as proud of you as Abby.” Speaking that affirmation into kids’ lives is huge. Right when dad said that, all those lies in my head broke off and I was free to be who I am, enjoy Abby, and celebrate Abby. Your words have so much power to break off lies that maybe your kids believe.
Abby: Another thing that has really helped us is being discipled at young ages I really want to honor those who have discipled me. Your role models really shape who you become like. It really makes me sad when I see little kids dressing up as Hannah Montana or somebody else. For me, having godly women in my life has been key. My parents have always been my primary influencers, giving me feedback and speaking the truth. Having someone else, also, really helped me. I remember as a young kid, picking up my discipler's mannerisms and phrases. We have such an incredible community here; I would encourage you to find someone who can pour into your kids’ lives.
Lauren: Keep your kids accountable, because if you train them to know what godly life looks like, and are disobeying without consequences, they will tend towards unrighteousness. Because I got spanked for disobeying, I got disciplined for being unrighteous; I was obviously naturally drawn to righteousness because you don’t want to get in trouble or disciplined. If you want your kids to be drawn to righteousness, teach them and train them from an early age in what it looks like and keep them accountable for it. It will be worth it.
Abby: On a side note, when we were talking about this, I remembered a story about my little brother Daniel. He was probably five years old, and my parents had told him no more TV for the day. Caleb was probably nine at the time, and finds Daniel upstairs with his head in the wardrobe with the sides around his head watching TV. He said, “Daniel! What are you doing? You’re not supposed to be watching TV!” Daniel got mad at him and screamed back while Caleb went downstairs to tell mom. My mom is disciplining Daniel and talking to him. At the end, she said, “Now Daniel, who is always watching you?” and he responded, “Caleb...” And we quickly corrected him, “No, Daniel, Jesus is always watching you.” But that really set up a place in our hearts where our parents are a place of trust and safety because we have learned to be accountable to Jesus. He is the One that satisfies us. Now, there is an overflow of love and trust because they have taught us to put Jesus first.
Jimmy: That’s enough, I want to take my girls out to lunch and just hang out with them. See y’all later… Listen, all the hard work in the early years pays off later on. I also know that there’s also a lot of pain in the journey. And you may find yourself in the middle of it, wishing you knew ahead of time all the pain you were going to feel and now you are asking what to do in the middle of this journey. No matter where we are, the principles of God’s Word still work. It starts with humble repentance on our part. It might take saying, “Honey, early on I was too fearful and too controlling” or, “I was too permissive because I was afraid of my own inabilities as a parent.” A lot of times if your kids understand your heart and your intentions with true humility and repentance, they are the most forgiving people on the earth. They’ll give you another chance if you will humble yourself.
One of my big “Aha!” moments was when Laura and I went into parenting. I read everything I could; we memorized all the scriptures on parenting. We were going to be the best parents of all time. I had already judged everybody else’s parenting, and knew what I didn’t want and what wasn't going to be our house. Abby was born, and has colic for eight months. Literally, she screamed for eight straight months. She never slept for longer than two hours at a time. We had problems early, and tried to respond righteously.
Once she could walk and talk, she was a pistol. She was a strong-willed, hard to believe, but she was in-your-face. We thought, “Oh my goodness…” She was doing crazy stuff, especially when we were at other people’s houses. And you just want to tell everyone how hard you’re trying and that you really are a great parent. I found myself beginning to get really frustrated with her and embarrassed by her. She started to pull away from me, even as a little kid. She was only about two and half years old, but she was pulling away. Of course, there are seasons where a kid is drawn to one parent or the other, but it wasn't that. There was something, a reason she was drawn away from me.
I really sought God. I said, “God, I really love my little girl. What is the problem?” And God spoke very clearly, “You've judged others instead of giving grace. And secondly, this is about you and not her right now. If you are really interested in her becoming who I want her to become, then it doesn't matter what the journey takes or if you are embarrassed. As long as she is the one you are serving, don’t worry about everyone else but her. Serve and love her.” I prayed, repented. I went to her at two and a half years old and repented, crying, she had no idea what I was saying. I prayed over her and hugged her. From that day, we became joined at the hip. Today, she is one of my best friends in the whole world. My other best friends are her brothers and sister and her mom. We are joined at the hip because God did a deep work inside.
All your kids need is humility, repentance and responsiveness to God. That begins the journey of working it out together.
The last thing today, we could talk for hours, but whatever you do, you want to create an environment where you can talk about anything anytime. One of the things we told our kids from the time they could talk, or didn't even understand what we said, we told them there is nothing they couldn't talk to us about. If we overreact and lecture too quickly, you can tell us we are lecturing too quickly. It doesn't mean you’re not going to get a lecture, it just means we will pause for a minute and listen before we lecture. What we have said is we would have open communication, open dialogue about anything and everything. Create an environment of openness and brokenness where you can talk about anything and share anything, where there is not always a lecture or an “I told you so.” The other thing is the “I can’t believe you did that.” Yes, you can! Because you did it, or you thought it, right? Of course you can believe it. Now what are we going to do about it is the real question. “OK, you did it. It was ungodly and it’s wrong, I understand. Let’s enter it together and find God’s solution.” Do you understand? Relate to your kids. Get help if you need it. Create environments of love and friendship. We have always said with our family that when the day is done, we have each other. Everyone in the world that we love and minister to, many of them will be with us, some will not. What I do know, is we are going to push in to each other and not away. When one or any one is pulling away, we are all going after them as a team and pulling them back in. We are a family and God has given us this family. We will hold to it until death do us part. Right?
Listen, not only are we not perfect, but we've got problems. We are always working through something. The goal is no perfection; it is a response to imperfection that is the goal. How do we respond to imperfection? It is what allows life, health and grace in the journey. May we be those who respond well to the imperfections of life. Find Jesus as central, find God’s grace is enough and we journey together as a family until death do we part. Amen.
