Non-Christians regularly throw around words that should not be part of a believer’s vocabulary.  No matter how flippantly people may say, “Oh my God,” Christians should never use our Creator’s name irreverently.

You already knew that.  What is interesting, is that there are words in the Christians vocabulary that society treats as swear words.

One such word is “submit.” Depending on where you say the, “submit,” people may look at you like you just used profanity.  Say “submit” and the hair on the back of culture’s neck stands straight up.

Christians, on the other hand, should treasure the word “submit” and talk about it often.  Repeatedly, the Bible tells Christians to submit.  Wives should submit to their husbands.  Children should submit to their parents.  Employees should submit to those over them in the work place.  Citizens should submit to the government.  Church members should submit to their pastors and leaders.

The New Testament word for submission is the Greek word, “ὑποτάσσω / upotassō.”  It means “to voluntarily yield to in love.”

We submit for our own benefit.  God tells children to submit to their parents that it may go well with them.  When we submit, when we place ourselves under the authority of another, we stand underneath a shelter that God Himself has built.

In September of 2006 George Barna released what must be among his most influential studies. Following interviews with more than 22,000 adults and 2,000 teenagers from across America, he revealed that the majority of twentysomethings who are raised as Christians subsequently abandon the faith. The study found that “most twentysomethings disengage from active participation in the Christian faith during their young adult years—and often beyond that. In total, six out of ten twentysomethings were involved in a church during their teen years, but have failed to translate that into active spirituality during their early adulthood.”

Another survey, this one commissioned by LifeWay, found that “Seven in 10 Protestants ages 18 to 30 — both evangelical and mainline — who went to church regularly in high school said they quit attending by age 23.” Still another study from Church Communication Networks said that up to 94 percent of Christian teens leave the church within a few years of leaving high school.

These statistics are alarming, and particularly so to those of us who are raising children and earnestly praying that the Lord would save them. It has often been my prayer that the Lord would save my children while they are young, long before they desire to taste the world’s pleasures as unsaved adults. According to these reports this is unlikely. Statistically speaking, I can have little hope.

Each of these studies appears to show that Christians are doing a very poor job of reaching the children in their midst. Ironically, the statistics are used to support solutions that reach from one end of the spectrum to the other: they vary from more programs for teens to fewer programs to teens to abolishing all programs for all children.

These statistics are widely quoted, widely believed, but I remain unalarmed by them. I remain skeptical about the results. Allow me to explain myself.

Read the rest here.

The below picture is of my dad on the day of his farm sale.  My dad is the one with the yellow gloves and he is talking to his pastor.

My brother, Danny, is on the right.  He’s laughing at something.  With Danny, it’s usually best to not ask what he’s laughing about.

It would also be good to review this post which explains in detail how to win my daughters (bearing in mind that the book give-a-way is over).

HT: Denny Burk for the video.

Charles Surgeon’s chapter, “Like Cat, Like Kit,” taken from Spurgeon’s Practical Wisdom {or Plain Advice for Plain People} is a timeless reflection on motherhood that you might consider sharing this Mother’s Day.  Notice Spurgeon’s insights on both the importance of motherhood and also why balanced discipline is so important.

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MOST men are what their mothers made them. The father is away from home all day, and has not half the influence over the children that the mother has. The cow has most to do with the calf. If a ragged colt grows into a good horse, we know who it is that combed him. A mother is therefore a very responsible woman, even though she may be the poorest in the land, for the bad or the good of her boys and girls very much depends upon her. As is the gardener such is the garden, as is the wife such is the family. Samuel’s mother made him a little coat every year, but she had done a deal for him before that : Samuel would not have been Samuel if Hannah had not been Hannah. We shall never see a better set of men till the mothers are better. We must have Sarahs and Rebekahs before we shall see Isaacs and Jacobs. Grace does not run in the blood, but we generally find that the Timothies have mothers of a godly sort.

Little children give their mother the headache, but if she lets them have their own way, when they grow up to be great children they will give her the heartache. Foolish fondness spoils many, and letting faults alone spoils more. Gardens that are never weeded will grow very little worth gathering ; all watering and no hoeing will make a bad crop. A child may have too much of its mother’s love, and in the long run it may turn out that it had too little. Soft-hearted mothers rear soft-headed children ; they hurt them for life because they are afraid of hurting them when they are young. Coddle your children, and they will turn out noodles. You may sugar a child till everybody is sick of it. Boys’ jackets need a little dusting every now and then, and girls’ dresses are all the better for occasional trimming. Children without chastisement are fields without ploughing. The very best colts want breaking in. Not that we like severity; cruel mothers are not mothers, and those who are always flogging and fault-finding ought to be flogged themselves. There is reason in all things, as the madman said when he cut off his nose.

Good mothers are very dear to their children. There’s no mother in the world like our own mother. My friend Sanders, from Glasgow, says, “The mither’s breath is aye sweet.” Every woman is a handsome woman to her own son. That man is not worth hanging who does not love his mother. When good women lead their little ones to the Saviour, the Lord Jesus blesses not only the children, but their mothers as well. Happy are they among women who see their sons and their daughters walking in the truth.

He who thinks it easy to bring up a family never had one of his own. A mother who trains her children aright had need be wiser than Solomon, for his son turned out a fool. Some children are perverse from their infancy ; none are born perfect, but some have a double share of imperfections. Do what you will with some children, they don’t improve. Wash a dog, comb a dog, still a dog is but a dog : trouble seems thrown away on some children. Such cases are meant to drive us to God, for he can turn blackamoors white, and cleanse out the leopard’s spots. It is clear that whatever faults our children have, we are their parents, and we cannot find fault with the stock they came of. Wild geese do not lay tame eggs. That which is born of a hen will be sure to scratch in the dust. The child of a cat will hunt after mice. Every creature follows its kind. If we are black, we cannot blame our offspring if they are dark too. Let us do our best with them, and pray the Mighty Lord to put his hand to the work. Children of prayer will grow up to be children of praise; mothers who have wept before God for their sons, will one day sing a new song over them. Some colts often break the halter, and yet become quiet in harness. God can make those new whom we cannot mend, therefore let mothers never despair of their children as long as they live. Are they away from you across the sea? Remember, the Lord is there as well as here. Prodigals may wander, but they are never out of sight of the Great Father, even though they may be ” a great way off/’

Let mothers labor to make home the happiest place in the world. If they are always nagging and grumbling they will lose their hold of their children, and the boys will be tempted to spend their evenings away from home. Home is the best place for boys and men, and a good mother is the soul of home. The smile of a mother’s face has enticed many into the right path, and the fear of bringing a tear into her eye has called off many a man from evil ways. The boy may have a heart of iron, but his mother can hold him like a magnet. The devil never reckons a man to be lost so long as he has a good mother alive. O woman, great is thy power! See to it that it be used for him who thought of his mother even in the agonies of death.

In 1831, twenty six year old Alexis de Tocqueville was commissioned to travel to the United States of America.  His official assignment was to evaluate the prison system, but Tocqueville was motivated to understand why the U.S.A. was so immediately prosperous.

Tocqueville stayed less than two years, but he returned with many notes and by 1835 he had published his incredible, Democracy in America.  It came out in two volumes and the edition that I own is just under 1000 pages.  But, what is pertinent for this post was an important paragraph near the end of volume 2 in which Tocqueville makes a statement with which few of us, recognizing God’s good hand in this provision, would disagree!

And now that I am nearing the end of this book, in which I have described so many considerable American accomplishments, if someone were to ask me what I think is primarily responsible for the singular prosperity and growing power of this people, I would answer that it is the superiority of their women.  (Volume 2, Part 3, Chapter 12, final paragraph).

David Allan Coe once said that a perfect country music song had to include references to rain, a train, prison, getting drunk, and Mama. In his classic song “Mama Tried,” Merle Haggard hit at least a couple of those as he plumbs his autobiography. In this special Mothers’ Day edition of “The Cross and the Jukebox,” we ask why mothers are so important in this kind of music, and what that has to do with how we view Christ and the gospel. As we listen to the Hag sing about his Mama, we’ll look at how we view single mothers, prodigal children, and the Virgin Mary.

Click here.

If you haven’t noticed the pastor’s family is growing up.  Our oldest, Allison, is wrapping up her junior year and Mary Beth, our youngest is polishing off second grade.  Mary Beth wasn’t even speaking in sentences when we signed on as “bricks in the valley.”

Jamie and I sometimes talk about what we’ll miss the most when our children are grown. We’ve been able to travel as a family, the highlight of which was our sabbatical in Switzerland. It was wonderful, but it isn’t what we’ll miss the most when the youngest is grown up.

I think what we’ll miss the most is the ordinary sound of family around the house.  We will miss having dinner together.  I’ll miss telling the children to quit eating like Assyrians or to pass the food before feeding their own faces. I already miss wondering why Christopher was dressed up like a cowboy to play a board game with Benjamin, as in the picture to the right.  (I will point out that he wasn’t actually “packing heat” since his holster is empty, though I’m sure his sidearm wasn’t far away).

I will really miss eavesdropping on a little girl while she lectures her dolls and when Allison would fall asleep playing with her dolls and Winnie the Pooh.

I think it’s the same deal at church.  What I’ll miss the most isn’t the major projects that we’ve done together, but rather the ordinary beauty of family life as a church.  I will miss standing around the corner while you are excited to see one another at church.

I will really miss doing benedictions.  So many times when I give the benediction, I sweep my eyes across the congregation – - picture what is going on in your worlds – - and pray.

Jamie and I will miss standing at the back door shaking hands and hugging people.

It may sound strange to say, but I will miss going to a funeral and seeing a buffet of excellent food prepared for a hurting family.  (Fortunately, most of you have better manners than our kids at home so I don’t have to rebuke you for eating like Caananites).

In church, we tend to sit in the same places and I will miss being able to go into the sanctuary, even when it’s empty, close my eyes, and picture what it would be like if you were all actually there.

I will miss studying the biblical text while I consider what is going on in your world.  I will miss getting down on my knees by the south window in my study while I pray for you all.

And I will miss a lot more.  But, thankfully, our children aren’t yet grown, and my time as a brick is not yet over, so we have the opportunity to more consciously savor the joy of ordinary life for another couple days, or for a week or so, or as many years as God gives us.

As we live and give witness to Jesus to our children and whoever else, we are handing out seeds, not pearls, and seeds need soil in which to germinate.  A meal is soil just like that.  It provides a daily relational context in which everything you say, and don’t say, feel or don’t feel, God’s Word and snatches of gossip, gets assimilated along with the food and becomes you, but not by yourself – - you and your words and acts embedded in acts of love and need, acceptance and doubt.  Nothing is abstract or in general when you are eating a meal together.  You realize, don’t you, that Jesus didn’t drop pearls around Galilee for people as clues to find their way to God or their neighbors. He ate meals with them. And you can do what Jesus did.  Every evening take and receive the life of Jesus around your table.  (The Pastor, page 195).

After using my Honda power washer (can you say increased carbon foot print?) to blast away any dirt and cleanse my deck, Jamie and I then applied copious amounts of a Benjamin Moore product purchased from Nicholson Hardware (ask for Ron and tell them that Anna sent you).  I recommend brushing it on.

Results?  Notice that in addition to the beautiful honey color, the water from the rain and dew are not soaking into the wood.

I have included the children in my deck picture because it is the first day of school 2010.

(Allison, grade 11; Chris, grade 9; Ben, grade 7; Mary Beth, grade 2)