Interpreting Shaping Influences

Chapter 2 of Shepharding a Child's Heart speaks of the shaping influences in our kid's loves. Most parents spend a majority of their time focusing on this aspect of parenting. Some of the things listed were: family history, roles and values. But, things happen to our children all the time that shapes who they are. And, it is how they interpret them that define who they become.

You can go here to check out the notes for Shaping Influences. We ended up spending the majority of the class on allowing Jesus to interpret the influences for our children. God's wisdom does not make sense for man. The first shall be last. We find life by dying to self. And, something about a camel making it through an eye of a needle and the rich entering heaven. God's ways are not like our ways, so we need to have Him interpret life because we are bound to get it wrong by ourselves.

Next week the chapter talks on Godward orientation which plays into this very well. Pastor Alan's sermon today also related very well to both topics. There is a link to the right that has his most recent sermons, but if you want to go directly here is Reynolda Church's online sermons. Today's message should be up by mid-week.

Chili Gala Postponed Due to Rain

We are anouncing a rain delay for the Chili Gala. With a cold steady downfall throughout today and called for most of tomorrow, we thought that we would not want to be outside. And, we might all feel a bit cramped inside. We had 5 couples planning on coming, which was great, but 10 adults plus children is quite a lot pushed indoors.

We are currently planning on moving this to next Saturday with everything else the same. Make the changes in your calendars!

Shaping Their Hearts to Love Goodness

I received this daily email from John Eldredge's Ransomed Heart readings the other day. I felt it went well with "Shepherding a Child's Heart" that we are now reading. I would be interested to hear others comments on this and how they see it relates or not.

Enjoy.

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Shaping Their Hearts To Love Goodness

09/23/2008

Children need two basic messages when they are growing up:

1. You are loved more than you can possibly imagine, and,
2. You are not the center of the universe.

Without the first, a child will grow up insecure, uncertain, looking for love and finding it difficult to believe that he is worthy of being loved, even by God. Without the second, he will grow up selfish and self-centered, assuming that everyone else’s agenda bows to his own. No doubt you know both sorts of men.

Discipline teaches us obedience, and immediate and unquestioned obedience is a great gift to endow a boy, a quality of character that will serve him the rest of his life. For it is an essential truth of life to know and appreciate the fact that the universe does not find you at its center. Rather, it demands things of you, requires you to live within its limits. No matter how much you wail and bellow, the rain will fall, summer will pass into winter, and a two-by-four will hurt you if you drop it on your toe. Welcome to reality. Learn to live within it. How much more true this is for a man before his God. You are loved immensely, and you must obey. That is the secret to Lesson One in the Christian book of spirituality. You are loved; you must obey.

If a child is allowed to “get his own way,” that child learns he is more powerful than his parents. And that is a frightening place to find yourself at three or four years of age—to discover that you are the strongest person in your world.

Maybe this is what the writer of Hebrews was getting at when he encouraged us to see God’s discipline as an expression of his love. He cares. (Heb. 12:5–11.)

Which brings up a very important point—are we disciplining our sons to shape their hearts to love goodness, or, are we just trying to get them to do what we want them to do so that our lives are easier?

(The Way of The Wild Heart , 71, 72)

Chili Gala

This Saturday we are having a class get together. We will meet from 4:30 to 6:30, so we all have time to get our kids home before bedtime. This is a family friendly event, so bring your kids to let them all play together. Mike and Lisa have graciously set this up and are hosting at their home. Here is a map to there house. Please call them at 722-0709 if you are coming.

Please sign up in class for one of the following:
· Chili (2-3 families to show off your stuff!)
· Loaded Baked Potatoes (The Mebanes)
· Paper Products (The Mebanes)
· Drinks/Ice
· Desserts (2 families)
· Appetizers
· Corn Bread Roll AND Crackers

The Heart of Behavior

This week we talked about the main point of the book - the heart. Jesus made it clear that when He came he did not come to demolish the law, but make it harder. Okay, not really. But when you look at how He defined the law you might come to that conclusion. The law says do not commit murder, but I say... The law say do not commit adultery, but I say... Jesus wants us to know that it is not a matter of just doing the right things, but He wants our hearts.

As parents we so easily get sidetracked with our kid's behavior instead of heart issues. The discussion this past week was centered on what this really looks like. Be sure to check out the notes of this chapter: The Heart of the Behavior.

Submit a Question

We would love to hear any questions you might have. While we welcome questions and comments in the class, sometimes it is when you get home and had more time to think that the really good questions come out. Please fill free to use the form below to write down any question you might have, and we will try to address them within a couple weeks.

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We Have Rules?

Actually, we are just calling them class dynamics. These are in place to help you know what to expect from us, like where we are coming from. There are a couple things we expect from the class as well, but they are only to promote openness and freedom to ask questions.

Authority of Scripture

• Everything written in the Scriptures is true and is exactly what God wants us to know.

Relational God

• God is loving and desires a living, ongoing relationship with each of us.
• The only way to have a relationship with God is through Jesus Christ.

Circle of Trust

• What is shared in the group stays in the group.
• We will not demean others with our words or actions.

Points of Courtesy

• While we encourage the sharing of personal prayer requests, please do not use it as a vehicle to gossip about other people. Please focus on immediate family.
• We want this to be an open group where people feel welcome. Therefore, since we will naturally gravitate to a group of friends, please continue to include others.
• We will end at 12:00, for those who need to get kids home for naps. Everyone is welcome to mingle afterwards as nursery will be provided until church ends at 12:30.

Image courtesy of Wikipedia.

And, We Have Begun!

Hey everybody, we had a good class. It was nice to meet everyone. For those that did not attend, we setup what the class would entail and handed out books. Here is the handout we used for our introductory class. Next week we will start discussing "Shepherding a Child's Heart" looking at chapter 1. Again, the book is supplemental information, if you do not have the book or did not find time to read, you will not be left behind. Things that we found out from this past Sunday...

What a haberdasher is. We have one in the class. Other famous haberdashers include Johnny Carson and Harry Truman.

Wiggles seems to be most of our kids favorite show.

Everyone desired to meet other parents of preschoolers to share experiences, to meet others at Reynolda, and to potentially make new friends. To this end we have started discussion of a chili cookout for families and kids at Mike and Lisa's home. More to come on this later.

Allison and I are looking forward to getting to know everyone better. And, for those who did not make it last week, there is still time to join.

Room 225

Here are a couple pictures of room 225. Furniture has been added to the room which makes it nice. More than likely this will be changed out or have more added unless we are to make people sit on the floor. I thought these pictures would be interesting a couple of weeks from now as the final room comes together.

Allison and I will be making calls this week to remind people that we will be starting up in two weeks. We are looking forward to meeting each of you and diving into what God has for us.