Fun With Kids and Work

Fun With Kids and Work - Parenting Like HannahChristianity is actually an interesting mix of grace and work. Step outside of any preconceived ideas and take a look at the New Testament with fresh eyes. When you do, it becomes obvious we cannot save ourselves and we are saved only by and through the grace of God.

On the other hand, Jesus and the disciples worked like crazy. Yes, they attended the occasional dinner party and fished from time to time, but they also worked hard. They were constantly traveling from place to place teaching, healing and serving others. The Apostle Paul even continued to run his tent making business while he preached. Even the early Christians were so busy working deacons were created to help handle some of the work load that had fallen on the elders.

The problem in life is that most people ride the pendulum. If they believed work was required too much when growing up, then they preach only grace – Christians can sit back and have fun – no work expected. If you grew up in an environment with too much grace, then your pendulum probably swung the other way. The truth lies in the balance. We are saved by God’s grace, but God wants and expects us to work in a variety of ways and for a variety of reasons – for our own good and the good of the Kingdom.

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Adding Meaning to Christian Service

Adding Meaning to Christian Service - Parenting Like HannahChristians tend to think serving others automatically produces amazing spiritual growth. While there are things we do easily learn from service, guiding our children and teens through the service is more likely to produce meaningful, lasting spiritual growth in their lives. In fact, if we don’t make it intentional, studies have shown any growth from a short term mission trip (for example) only lasts a year before the person’s spiritual gains return to pre-trip levels.

The problem with Christian service is that often our preparation is almost entirely focused on logistics. How will we get there? What will we do while we are there? What will we wear? Because we focus so much on externals, often those serving begin to focus only on the externals too. Was I comfortable? Did I have a good time? Did the people I was serving make me feel appreciated?

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Kids, Sports and God

Kids Sports and God - Parenting Like Hannah

This post comes with a warning label. Over my lifetime, I have seen countless kids drawn away from God because of intense participation in a sport. Rarely, have I seen a child who received massive college scholarships or went professional, in spite of untold hours spent in practice, travel and games. Your child is more likely to become injured and have to drop the sport before college or become burned out and no longer want to play.

If I were to advise you, I would say steer clear of anything more than the lowest level of involvement in any sport. Try to find teams and coaches who encourage and demand godly behavior from their teams. Stay away from coaches who encourage lying, cheating, doing questionable things to your body to “enhance” performance, etc.

If you decide to involve your children in organized sports, I would highly encourage you to find ways for them to serve others and share their faith by using their sport. Better yet, have your child develop his sports skills as a hobby and then use those skills to serve God by using them to serve others and share his faith. Here are some of my favorite ways for athletic children to serve others while sharing their faith and their passion for athletics:

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Helping Christian Kids Develop Empathy for the Poor

Helping Christian Kids Develop Empathy for the Poor - Parenting Like Hannah
My daughter’s TOMS

When you read the letters in the New Testament, it becomes obvious a large part of the work of the early Church was helping those in poverty. The causes of the poverty may have varied, but the message was clear – Christians needed to show God’s love to the poor.

If you live in a city like Atlanta and are middle class, there is a very real chance your child has never really been exposed to poverty in a meaningful way. Even if you occasionally volunteer to help the poor, your child may only have the vaguest idea of what life is like on a daily basis for those living in poverty.

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Service Project for Teen Writers or Scrapbookers

Service Project for Teen Writers or Scrapbookers - Parenting Like HannahDo you have a teen who loves to write or scrapbook? There is a service project your teens can do that will make an unbelievable difference in many lives. All they real need is a heart for people and either a willingness to write or enough artistic ability to craft a scrapbook or book.

When my grandfather started to get really old (he lived well into his 90’s), I asked him to write down his memories. After he jotted them down, I edited them into a coherent story and combined them with old photos. I took the results and had them made into a book by one of the many sites that produces photo books.

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