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Dancing With Our Daughters Today

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I was running late to catch a plane from Detroit to my home in California and when I'm in a hurry I get tunnel vision and in this case my tunnel vision was to the departures terminal.

When I get tunnel vision I tend to overlook, miss or otherwise not notice what's going on around me. While hurrying across the bridge from then rental car shuttle drop to the departure area something out of the ordinary caught my attention. It was two people dancing.

I stopped and moved closer to the window and right there on the freezing curb there were three people standing next to a taxi. Two dancing and one watching. It wasn’t break, disco, or ballroom. Just your standard run of the mill dancing. To my knowledge there wasn’t any music, they were making their own.

After a closer look I realized it was a father dancing with

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You Don't Have To Do It All

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Have you ever felt like you were burning the candle at both ends and you were running out of wax? Have you ever felt like you had to much on your plate? Have you ever felt like life was moving to fast and you couldn't catch your breath? If so, you may be doing more than you were designed for.

The great news is, we don’t have to do it all (even though we may sometimes feel that way). The bad news is, we often try and do it all. We try and tackle every opportunity that comes our way without asking if it’s our “responsibility” to do so. Maybe the things you are doing are meant for someone else to do. Maybe the things you are doing

3 Reminders From The Tough Side of Ministry

Ministry is tough stuff, isn’t it? Some days things are great and other days it’s just enough to put one foot in front of the other. I guess that’s true of life in general but there is a uniqueness that’s associated with ministry.

Some of us may be in the middle of a difficult week. discouraging month or depressing year and feel like we have given up more ground than we have taken. Negative emails, face to face disagreements or general attitudes of discontent from others. Maybe some folks haven’t complained at all, they just left, disappeared, gone! They left your church or ministry and you take that personally and internalize it.

Heck, I go into minor depression when someone unsubscribes from my blog! Here are the quips that fly around my mind, “What did I do wrong? Did I not meet their needs? Where are they going? Why wasn’t I good enough? Am I ok? I guess I really

The Hardest Word You Will Ever Say

It's one of the easiest words in our language, yet it's the hardest to say. Yes, I’m talking about no.

 

If we all knew the right time to say no then we would all know when no was the right thing to say. Does that make sense?
 

Saying no isn’t as easy as it seems. Let’s face it, some personalities have a hard time saying no. Mary and I are two of them! We aren’t talking about saying no to unimportant things. We are talking about saying no to good things, even great things.

How about saying no to an opportunity to feed the homeless? How about saying no to serve on the board of a battered women’s shelter? How about saying no to going on a mission trip or helping someone in need? These people, these opportunities

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10 Ways To Protect Your Kids Online - Part 2

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Remember our verse from part 1? Proverbs 27:12 says: “A prudent person foresees the danger and takes precautions. The simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences.”

Or, “A prudent parent foresees the danger ahead and takes precautions. The simpleton parent goes blindly on and suffers the consequences.” As parents, we need to see the dangers ahead, and we must take precautions.

What can you do to protect your child online? Here is part 2, numbers 6-10.


6. Teach your child to never give out personal information.

Free! That’s the word. It’s captivating. It’s intriguing; and it’s free! Usually, sites that are trying to get information start by asking a simple question. Maybe it’s your first name, your age, or the last grade you completed in school. This may be followed up by a few more seemingly innocuous questions, like the name of a favorite animal or the name of a pet.

Continue to remind your children

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Ten Ways to Protect Your Kids Online - Part 1

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Proverbs 27:12 says: “A prudent person foresees the danger and takes precautions. The simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences.”

I have started reading this verse a new way, “A prudent parent foresees the danger ahead and takes precautions. The simpleton parent goes blindly on and suffers the consequences.” As parents, we need to see the dangers ahead, and we must take precautions.

What can you do to protect your child online? Here are numbers 1-5 out of 10.


1. Use Internet filtering software on your computers.

Your kids may not be looking for inappropriate content, but if they spend enough time on the computer, it will come looking for them. An ad or pop-up alert may get their attention, and before you know it, they are off and running. A simple Google search for a project they are researching for school may return a successful search for what they are looking for, but occasionally it will also include undesirable sites.

Internet filtering software or content control software can