Rejoice in the Lord!-05.29.2014

Family Connection

05.29.2014

“Rejoice in the Lord always, I will say it again:  Rejoice!”-Philippians 4:6 (NIV)

Last night our middle son, Joshua, graduated from High School.  We couldn’t be more proud of him and are grateful to be his parents.  We are rejoicing as parents that our second son has graduated from High School, but we are also rejoicing with him that this chapter of his life is behind him and he can continue to move towards his future.  We are rejoicing!

What do you have to rejoice about?  What things are you celebrating with your family?  What are you thanking God for? 

It is good for us to look for things to rejoice over because it can help us focus on the goodness of God and His faithfulness to us.  When we help our children rejoice, it can help them keep from becoming self-centered and grumbling about what they don’t have.  When we rejoice, it can help us keep from becoming self-centered and grumbling about what we don’t have.  When we rejoice, we keep our eyes on God and His goodness and thank Him for what He has done, what He is doing and what He will do.  To paraphrase the Apostle Paul, we should keep rejoicing!  I don’t mind repeating myself, we should keep rejoicing in all of the things the Lord has done for us!

Twitter-@BrettHumphrey11

bhumphrey@sunvalleycc.com

Colossians 3:23

Family Connection

05.22.2014

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.”-Colossians 3:23 (NIV)

Today I was meeting with a parent to talk about him joining our ministry as a volunteer.  We talked a lot about life and what we do in our respective jobs.  One of the things I said to him is that I want to live a life of significance.  It would be easy to get up, go to work, go home, hang out with family, go to bed and then repeat that all over the next day; but that isn’t good enough.  At the end of my life, I want to make sure that it has counted for something significant. 

As parents we don’t just want our lives to be significant, but we want our children to be significant as well.  We want so much for our children.  In fact, we want more for our children than we had.  But if we follow Jesus, at the end of it all we want to make sure our children meet, know and follow Jesus and live godly lives.

Sometimes this can be overwhelming for parents when we think about what we want to accomplish, how we want our children to live for God.  However, the good news is we don’t have to do all of this on our own.  Not only do you have this ministry to walk alongside you to help teach your children how to meet, know and follow Jesus.  God, the Holy Spirit wants to help you do this as well.  As parents, one of the most significant things we can do for our children’s spiritual formation is to model our own walks with Jesus to them.  We don’t have to preach at them, instead let our actions be our words.  I love how this quote by St. Francis of Assisi illustrates this point-“Preach the Gospel at all times, and when necessary, use words.”  

My prayer for all of us is that we can preach the Gospel to our children by our actions, each and every day.

Brett Humphrey-Pastor H

Twitter-@BrettHumphrey11