God understands. He will always listen, understand, and respond to our children, no matter what happens in their lives. God is always right there for them. He understands everything they feel and go through, and he’s always ready to encourage them to go forward, to give them wisdom, and to help them out. God is on their side.

The New Testament book of Hebrews tells us that Jesus is fully sympathetic, understanding even the toughest things we go through because he also went through them. Sometimes we forget that Jesus was once a child and then a teenager. (The Bible even records a time when his parents didn’t understand him!) Jesus had to be obedient to his parents, go to school, do chores, and grow up in a community of friends, neighbors, and family. The single incident from Jesus’ childhood included in the Bible – something that happened when he was twelve years old – seems to have been recorded to show us that Jesus had to grow up just like everyone else.

Our children can take comfort in the fact that when they pray and talk to God, they have someone listening who’s on their side, who completely understands how they feel and what they’re going through, and who’s ready to help.

We have a high priest [Jesus] who can feel it when we are weak and hurting. We have a high priest who has been tempted in every way, just as we are. But he did not sin. So let us boldly approach the throne of grace. Then we will receive mercy. We will find grace to help us when we need it. (Hebrews 4:15-16)

Whatever our troubles are, however besieged we feel, God can and will help.

What should we say then? Since God is on our side, who can be against us? (Romans 8:31)

God understand us, and our children need to be taught likewise to be understanding of others, because when they love, accept, and forgive others, always trying to understand and to give them the benefit of the doubt, they become the kind of people that others feel good about and want to be with. When people know that our children don’t gossip, judge, or say negative things about others, those people can be confident that our kids won’t judge them either. When our children learn to be compassionate and understanding of others, many doors in life will be opened to them. Everyone on this planet wants to be loved, understood, and thought well of. When our children know how to imitate their Father with this character trait, and they imitate him from the heart, many of the people they encounter will want to be their friend, will accept them into their group or community, and will hire them, promote them, and honor and respect them. Life works by understanding and compassion.

But love your enemies. Do good to them. Lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then you will receive a lot in return. And you will be children of the Most High God. He is kind to people who are evil and are not thankful. So have mercy, just as your Father has mercy.

If you do not judge others, then you will not be judged. If you do not find others guilty, then you will not be found guilty. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. (Luke 6: 35-38)

Those who have no sense make fun of their neighbors. But those who have understanding control their tongues. Those who talk about others tell secrets. But those who can be trusted keep things to themselves. (Proverbs 11:12-13)

(RICK OSBORNE / Christian Author, Speaker & Bible Teacher)

I remember hearing this saying when I was young and my Granny was still alive. I remember wondering why (if this saying were true as a fact as well as a metaphor) she would hang her unmentionables on our clothes line when she visited. Now I should mention that my Gran was a wonderful lady but she was a very large woman and her private garments would attract attention. However, for some reason she seemed oblivious to this fact.

I’m telling this story because I believe that somehow, somewhere along the way, we’ve adopted the idea that what happens behind closed family doors is no one’s business but our own. Which has again somehow led to the idea that we are free to behave in ways in our homes that we would not act in public.

Although I’ve seen this in many Christian homes, it is not God’s idea of how a Christian home should function. Being a Christian is about who we are and who we’re becoming, it’s not just about what we believe. As we submit our lives to God, he by his grace and the work of the Holy Spirit begins (and never stops) to change our hearts and that change should be reflected in our behavior. The first place that our changed behavior should show up is in our closest relationships – in our family relationships.

The Apostle Paul wrote these words. “Do not rebuke an older man harshly, but exhort him as if he were your father. Treat younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity.” (1 Timothy 5:1, 2)

Notice that Paul assumes that our best behavior would be used on our family members and he therefore exhorts Timothy (and us) to treat other Christians how we treat our family. Would it go over well if you treated the people at church the same way you’ve allowed yourself to treat your spouse and/or children from time to time in the privacy of your own home?

In the same letter to Timothy, Paul outlines the qualifications for leaders in the church and reveals that what goes on at home either qualifies or disqualifies you for leadership. Would others question your ability to minister to others if they saw a video (taken secretly) of you at home?

The only Biblical application I can see for ‘Don’t air our family’s dirty laundry’ is that we shouldn’t gossip about our family members or maliciously share their mistakes with others. Our homes should be a safe place to grow and make mistakes but it was never meant to be a place where we can behave badly because we’ve been led to believe that a Las Vegas like slogan applies, ‘what happens at home stays at home’.

Try this, next time you’re reading the Bible, with each instruction ask yourself “Am I living this at home?” If you’re not, stop and pray and ask for God’s help. Also start checking your home behavior, if you’re about to scream or get unreasonable stop and think if you’d speak that way to your pastor. If you’re doing something that you wouldn’t want to talk about Sunday morning then think about why you’d even consider behaving that way in front of the ones you love the most.

Perhaps my Granny knew this to be true and was reversing the metaphor when she hung out her large unmentionables to dry. Or perhaps she just wanted dry unmentionables. I’ll ask her when I get to heaven.

For more practical and Biblical Christian Parenting ideas we recommend the Christian resource, ‘Teaching Kids About God’.

(RICK OSBORNE / Christian Author, Speaker & Bible Teacher)

Throughout the Bible, children are considered to be a gift from God and a blessing to the parents who receive them.

Sons are a heritage from the LORD, children a reward from him. (Psalm 127:3)

Scripture contains many prayers and songs thanking God for the blessing of children, including those of Sarah, Hannah, and Mary. Mary had heard the stories of Sarah and Hannah and had learned that children are an awesome gift and a blessing.

Mary said: “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” (Luke 1:46-47)

If you’re waiting for the other shoe to drop, here it comes. Sometimes parenting can seem downright overwhelming. Children need constant care, training, and discipline, and none of us is perfectly up to the task. So at times we feel tempted to consider the gift of children as anything but a blessing. I once heard a mother say to her young teenager (in jest of course), “Watch it, buster! I brought you into this world and I can take you back out again!” That about sums up the way we sometimes feel, doesn’t it?

Unfortunately, sometimes it goes beyond having a bad day or a frustrating moment. Many parents firmly believe that parenting is a burden, that children are rebels and mischief-makers, that teenagers and adults don’t get along, and that siblings would all but kill each other if left alone. I’ve heard parents complain that their kids won’t listen, won’t help, don’t care, and are just huge pains in their backsides. When we believe these things, we lower the bar of expectation and learn to live with substandard behavior instead of looking to God for help and solutions and choosing to believe God when he calls children a blessing. If God gave children to you as a blessing and considers them a blessing, then he’s already prepared to give you every thing you need to experience them as a blessing.

When we choose to believe what God says about our children being a blessing, we raise the bar and look for ways to learn how to resolve conflict, restore relationships, and parent God’s way. And eventually we see peace return to our households.

If you feel worn out and at the end of your rope with your children, stop and pray right now. Give your situation to God and ask him for help, wisdom, and workable solutions. Look up advice online, read a parenting book and/or ask for help from a parent who you’ve witnessed doing a great job. Ask God to return the atmosphere of his blessing to your household and children. Once you’ve done that, start thanking him (and keep doing it daily) for your children, trusting him that he’s heard your prayer, that he’s helping you learn and grow, and that he’s turning things around.

Don’t expect things to get perfect overnight, but continue to stay focused on God’s affirmation that being a parent is a gift and a blessing. Know that if he calls parenting a blessing, then he’ll help get your family to the place where it is. Then watch him slowly but surely return the joy of parenting.

And even if our household usually reflects God’s blessing, we can still all take a page out of Sarah’s book. When things start to slide, remember to check your perspective, laugh, and remind God that he called this whole parenting thing a blessing. Then ask him for the wisdom, grace, and help to cause your experience to match his statement.

Please help spread the word to the next generation. Children are a blessing from God but so is gardening/farming and money. But as with all blessings we need to apply ourselves to learning how to garden/farm, manage our money and parent properly if we want any of these blessings to be a success and a joy.

For more practical and Biblical Christian Parenting ideas we recommend the Christian resource, ‘What Mary and Joseph Knew About Parenting’.

(RICK OSBORNE / Christian Author, Speaker & Bible Teacher)

The story goes that in West Virginia only two months prior to this event the first Mother’s Day had been celebrated. In the previous December a nearby mine explosion had taken the lives of 361 men, many of them fathers. A lady named Grace Golden Clayton inspired by either or both of these events, suggested that a special service should be held to honor fathers.

The first “June” Father’s Day was celebrated on June 19, 1910 in Spokane Washington. Mrs. Sonora Smart Dodd was the driving force behind the celebration. She was inspired by Anna Jarvis’s efforts in establishing Mother’s Day and wanted to honor her father who had reared her and her five siblings as a single dad.

Since the first Father’s Day celebrations, a lot has been written about fatherhood. So I thought it appropriate to merely share some of what has already been said, humorous and inspirational.

“A father is a guy who has pictures in his wallet where his money used to be.” (Unknown)

“Any man can be a Father but it takes someone special to be a dad.” (Anne Geddes)

“When I was a kid, I said to my father one afternoon, ‘Daddy, will you take me to the zoo?’ He answered, ‘If the zoo wants you, let them come and get you.’” (Jerry Lewis)

“A man’s children and his garden both reflect the amount of weeding done during the growing season”. (Unknown)

“There are three stages of a man’s life: He believes in Santa Claus, he doesn’t believe in Santa Claus, he is Santa Claus.” (Unknown)

“When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much he had learned in seven years.” (Mark Twain)

“A truly rich man is one whose children run into his arms when his hands are empty.” (Unknown)

“A new father quickly learns that his child invariably comes to the bathroom at precisely the times when he’s in there, as if he needed company. The only way for this father to be certain of bathroom privacy is to shave at the gas station.” (Bill Cosby)

“There’s something like a line of gold thread running through a man’s words when he talks to his daughter, and gradually over the years it gets to be long enough for you to pick up in your hands and weave into a cloth that feels like love itself.” (John Gregory Brown)

“My father gave me the greatest gift anyone could give another person, he believed in me.” (Jim Valvano)

“One night a father heard his son pray: Dear God, Make me the kind of man my Daddy is. Later that night, the Father prayed, Dear God, Make me the kind of man my son wants to be.” (Unknown)

And one last quote…

“A young boy’s definition of Father’s Day: It’s just like Mother’s Day only you don’t spend so much.” (Unknown)

According to snopes.com, before the current communications revolution, in one given year 83 million calls were made on Father’s Day and 106 million were made on Mother’s Day. However 27% more of the Father’s Day calls were collect.

Mother’s Day came first and it apparently still does, but we should all be thankful for Grace Clayton and Mrs. Dodd who believed that fathers should be honored.

In closing, I would add that perhaps everything about fatherhood has already been said but the words of love and appreciation that need to be said to our fathers can never all be said. In every father/child relationship it is often the smallest things that we do and say that mean the most and linger the longest. Those things don’t take long and don’t cost much, especially if you make the call collect.

HAPPY FATHER’S DAY!

If you have any wonderful stories to add to this blog about what makes your father a great dad, please share them to inspire and encourage others.

(RICK OSBORNE / Christian Author, Speaker & Bible Teacher)

I believe he wants us to raise a generation of Christian kids that will do major damage to the gates of hell. Let me explain.

If Israel could become great and powerful by teaching their children to walk with God and keep the Old Covenant how much more can the Body of Christ grow and powerfully impact the nations, according to God’s promise, if we were to teach our children to walk in the power and grace of the New Covenant.

Can you imagine if instead of losing our kids to the world we kept them all in the church. I’m not talking about just having more bodies to warm the pews. I’m talking about a generation that grows up learning God’s Word, walking in relationship with God and growing in his grace. A generation that is excited about being used by God and about taking ground for the Kingdom of God. Like the generation of Israelites that took the Promised Land only each one of these would be under the New Covenant and filled with God’s Spirit.

Right now we try to protect our children from the evil influences of the world and there is a time for that while they are young.

Unfortunately, our children, (for the most part) are not learning about and growing in their Faith during that time. Think about if we taught our children math and science like we teach them their Faith not one of them would ever graduate. So when they get old enough to see what the world has to offer they wander over there to check it out.

Instead we should be training up our children in the Word of God, equipping them with truth, showing them how to grow close to God, walk with him and influence the world for God and change it for his Kingdom. If we did this we would not have to worry about the world affecting our children. The world would have to start to worry about our children changing them.

If we followed God’s plan and raised kids God’s way, we would all leave this world with the Body of Christ stronger and more powerful than it’s ever been.

Do you know why we have youth groups that have to put all their energies into keeping our teens out of the world or retrieving them from it? It is because we have not brought them up in the training and instruction of the Lord. They do not know God, who they are in Christ or what they believe. What they learn from Sunday school and from Bible stories and the occasional Bible reading won’t cut it.

I foresee the day when we won’t need that kind of youth group anymore. If we stuck to God’s program and taught our children well, when they were young, more youth groups would be more like an army headquarters then a long term care hospital.

Think about this, we currently burn out our pastors because a large portion of the congregation is either new to the Faith or they have never really grown in their Faith. While the pastors are getting burned out trying to get a congregation of baby Christians to grow up just a bit, the children of these same people are headed towards the world.

So we burn out the pastor and lose the children. Then when the children who left the church (who never grew up in their Faith) have children of their own, come back and we start the whole process over again.

If we did it God’s way we would focus on the children and grow up a generation of mature Christians who would work with the pastor, reach the world for Christ and train and instruct their children to do the same. The old cycle would be broken and a new cycle of strength and growth would be established.

What God wants to do through families is raise a generation that can have a bigger impact on this world then the one before so that he can bring about his promise to bless all nations.

For more practical and Biblical Christian Parenting ideas we recommend the Christian resource, ‘What Mary and Joseph Knew About Parenting’.

(RICK OSBORNE / Christian Author, Speaker & Bible Teacher)