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Important read for parents which might explain a few things. -
An accessible and easy version of “christianity” makes it as easy to say good bye to God as to turn the channel when Dr. Phil is on.
Your kids soul cries out for adventure and Kingdom.
PAC parents - take your teens to Africa next year.
“Use your inside scream.” — Unphased anonymous mom to screaming toddler in St. Vital mall.
When Waldo isn’t enough anymore.
I hear this every now and then:
“We would choose to enroll our kids at Westpark but we have chosen French Immersion.”
There are no doubt good reasons why someone would make this decision. And if you have good reasons then this post will only strengthen them.
These could be reasons like:
(Check out this study (French Immersion 30 years later) and this paper to read some relevant findings)
However, I rarely hear those reasons.
This is the reason I hear most:
“It will be easier for them (the student) to find a good job.”
This reason bugs me since it is basically an economic reason and thus is potentially at odds with Kingdom values. It echos a little too much of the encouragement I have heard some parents give to kids who are eager to pursue missions or ministry full time. Mom and pop encourage junior to not pursue those God given dreams because God given dreams often don’t pay that well or have fantastic retirement packages.
Where and when this happens - it is messed up and I don’t hesitate to say so.
A primary role of the Christian parent is to portray discipleship as the adventure of following Christ step by step to places you’d never go yourself and trusting him to provide as you obey. These are the bed time stories you need to tell. Tell about times daddy was scared to say something to his friends about Jesus but still did and look what Jesus did. Tell the kids about the underprivileged who are better off because daddy and mommy only live off of 75% of what God gives them. Don’t use bedtime to tell little Johnny stories about how if he plays his educational cards right he can be easily employed by the federal government and hit his magic 80 by 50 years old and then live out his days watching the TSX ticker at the cottage.
I talk, or in this case write, a good game. But it is a daily struggle for me to live in the “Holy Wild” of obedience. And part of the struggle may even come as I to try to have what my parents didn’t enjoy materially because of their choices. I never want to put 300k+ on a 1986 Plymouth Voyager.
But at the end of the day, I usually lean towards their example than away from it. I can only imagine how much harder it would be if I had parents who didn’t set a good example in this way. I’m forever grateful to my parents for choosing obedience over security. Not too many 30 year olds (my dad) leave their post as principal of a public high school to haul their 2 young kids across the country to drain their savings getting that most marketable of diplomas at bible school for 4 years. Not too many wives agree this is a good plan.
However, my parents did and it makes a heck of a bedtime story for my kids, I know Larry and Shanon kissed a lot good-bye and confused a few people with that move. But the ripple effects are still being felt.
I wasn’t immersed in French (although I took two classes in university as electives and was 2-3 more away from checking the “bi-lingual” box on an application). I was immersed in something else - and I am grateful.
Talking now about something broader than where Johnny takes grade 1 - because it is entirely possible to take French Immersion and fulfill every call God has placed on you as a parent. At this stage of my argument I am no longer talking about the specific which started me off on the whole thing.
Right now I am talking about examining how your family culture either reinforces or erodes Kingdom living. And you have to examine it lest it default to the pleasant sounding cultural values which upon a closer look are at odds with what God is calling you to.
Great morning at PAC.
Lots of new faces. Lots of old faces. Lots of in between faces.
And of course, Stan Wiebe’s face (he always appreciates a good blog shout out).
Aaron, Beth, and Jen sounded fantastic. Love hearing the voices swell behind me as we sing.
Tamara’s talk really got me thinking about who I allow to give permission to help me see my sin. David’s blindness really shook me. The guy had no clue until Nathan laid it out for him in black and white. That has happened to me a couple times. Scary how what is sinful can become normal over time unless a truth teller confronts us.
One of the benefits of working alongside Ray and Jake is the way they help me see stuff about myself I wouldn’t see on my own. I can only imagine how the Kingdom would be served if every young pastor like me had a couple old veterans to sharpen him or her up.
Now, off for 2 weeks of holidays before coming back Sunday Sept 5 all charged up and raring to go. Feels like ages since I got to preach! But that is gonna change soon.
Alter Ego 8 Picture
Ride started great. Loved the new frame and especially the new shock. My plan was to ride with Don as long as I could.
Those plans died when I got a flat tire at the beginning of Kurt’s Cut - roughly halfway through the loop. Started jogging along - which in cycling shoes is a real treat. Too stupid to pack a tube or pump and no one else had any. So it was a long jog back to the tech. zone although I tried to run hard in hopes of maybe catching up.
Lap results show the group I was riding with put 10 minutes on me during that lap and then 5 more for the next lap where I changed the tube - not so fast on the tube changes. My own watch shows a just under 32 minute lap 3 so I did go hard after the flat was fixed.
Realizing the others were 10+ minutes ahead was pretty demoralizing in a situation where keeping morale up is hard enough. Kept on chugging with good laps and not so good laps. Eventually waging my usual creative battle on cramps.
Kept chugging and more or less trying to enjoy the tunes and the scenery concentrating on the joy of living vs. the pain of racing.
Who knows how it would have gone without the flat and energy burned running the bike out? Probably would have snuck in another lap…
A couple final thoughts:
1. Thanks to the Alter Ego Crew. I wish more people showed up. To me this would be a great day to ride as a group of 4 or a family. Mark your calendar for next year. The logistics were spot on. It all made sense. We started on time. Prizes were generous and food was the best I’ve had yet post - race.
2. This is not worth mentioning except that poor ol’ Cramer takes a bit of a beating for always cutting these trails and then putting them into races so they can turn from “new” to “established” in one day. They make for some difficult races early on but they lead to some incredible trails later.
Not taking anything away from Alter Ego’s work and not even saying Cramer’s way is the best possible way. Just pointing out that if we give him a hard time when he cuts them we also need to give him his due when we benefit from his hard work down the road. 5 of his recent trails (2009 and 2010) were in last Sunday’s course*. His original work + Alter Ego’s creativity and effort came together last Sunday and we all had a great experience because of it.
*They are the rooted climb beside road, connecting trail to top of Giles, trail at top of off camber section, downhill trail leading into the field and short hill, and the section after Canada Cup downhill along the top of the stream / switchbacks.
Yes Lydia, I am that impressionable…scary isn’t it.