Sometimes our greatest challenge in marriage is doing the very thing or things we know we should already be doing. We know the truth about little things our spouse needs and specifics that God expects from us, but we’re so busy taking care of ourselves that we don’t take the time to put into practice what we already know to be true. In my teachings, I often suggest that we would do well to stop studying our Bibles and to just begin obeying the truths we already know. This is just as much true for me as it is for most of you out there.

Imagine if you just began ‘doing’. Imagine how your wife might feel if you turned off the tv and stopped to touch her and show her simple attention. Imagine if in the midst of a frustrating moment where your husband had let you down, that you told him all of the things you really respected about him and took time to build him up instead of belittling him. What if you pursued godliness and represented Jesus on the front lines…at home? Huge things could happen if each one of us would simply obey.

I want to challenge you to just begin simply doing the things you already know:

• Love your wife…send her a card through the mail or buy her a single flower.
• Indulge your husband…give him an incredible night of sex.
• Serve your wife…stop and do the dishes before cleaning the bathroom today.
• Encourage your husband…tell him when you see the man of God in him.
• Represent Christ…as you have been forgiven, forgive. As you’ve been shown mercy, be merciful.
• Ask for help…pray, pray, and then pray some more for your spouse and yourself. 

These were just 7 practical ways in which we can obey commands in scripture and serve our spouse at the same time. So, go do as Jesus said:

“If you love me, you will obey what I command.”

John 14:15 NIV

No. the answer is not to lock the kids in their bedrooms while you blog away happily to your wee heart’s content!   (not that I haven’t been tempted on more than one occasion! ha!)

I have compiled a list of activities that have staved off the rod more than once in my household.  Some days I am better at keeping them active then other days. Eh, it’s a process in growing not only as a Christian but also as a mum! This I have learned over the years, busy wee hands and wee feet keep this mama happy.

Side walk chalk in the rain.

Unless you are the wicked witch of the west, you are not going to melt in the rain.  Personally, I tend to get a bit of cabin fever if I am indoors for too long.  This activity is one of my favorites just for the mental health benefits.  Malachy loves the fact that the rain makes the chalk like paint.  Plus you don’t have to worry about the chalk dust staying on their wee hands, they will wash their wee mitts in the puddles!

Dancing and stomping in the rain

Goes along the same lines as the aforementioned rainy art   I have found my inner Gene Kelly on many occasions.  My 12 year old may raise an eyebrow, but even he still enjoys this deep down.

disclaimer : some 6 year old boys have been known to take this opportunity to make mud pies and place said mud pies on their noggin! yes, we do (thankfully) have an outside hose!

It goes without saying that a bathtime is needed before returning to indoor activities!

Have a tea party.

Honestly your older sons may not be as into this activity as your younger ones and daughters.  That being said they won’t turn down the treats.  This can be a labor intensive, but fun, activity of baking scones and cookies and making wee sandwiches.  If your kids are not at an age to appreciate the “process” an alternative is also a pack of chips a hoy or Oreo cookies with some proper tea.  If you have funny hats and boas for the little ones, all the better.  I have found that even without the extra accroutments, my kids have a lot of fun.

Take turns reading stories to one another.

depending on the age of your children, you may be doing the bulk of the reading.  the point is this helps instill a deep love of family and reading.  Helps when reading is associated with those “warm and fuzzy” feelings of childhood.

Go to your local library.

I am lucky enough to have a library that is probably about 2 minutes down the road if that.  There are often programs in place for the kids.  Even when there isn’t, it’s good to see different walls and breathe different air.  My littlest ones enjoy the kids area where they can play with each other or other kids after they have picked out their books. (you should see the stack the my 2 1/2 year old comes out with!!  Could she adore Max and Ruby anymore??)

At the end of the day rainy days are opportunities.  It’s any opportunity to build relationships with and memories for our children.  I would love love love to hear your ideas and experiences for rainy day, or every day, activities with your children. Please share with us all your fun ideas.

Psalm 118:24

²⁴This is the day that the LORD has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Recently I learned a very important lesson about how God uses my husband to guide and direct me.

Lately God has been using my husband as a tool of great discernment for me in relation to my purpose and calling in my life. There have been several times when I’ve been cruising along in a certain direction, then wham! I meet resistance with my hubby. When this happens I go to God in prayer seeking why the roadblock? Now I wasn’t always so level headed. I use to not go to God – expect maybe to complain. Instead, I got frustrated, and though I might have acquiesced to his decision, mentally I resisted it. This was a typical response, especially when my husband’s response put me on the defense because of how his discernment came across. Walls went up and defense mechanisms locked into place. We ladies can be so sensitive. I’m learning to look past the guy talk and seek why the resistance in the first place.

But recently instead of resisting him, I listen then take it to God in prayer and ask why we aren’t on the same page. What I am finding is that often my husband is right. God is using him to provide direction in life. If I wouldn’t have listened, I would have been way off track and moving outside of God’s will. But as I sought, God made it clear what adjustments I needed to make. Glad I sought and didn’t pout!

Often when we are emotionally close to a situation or it is a “sensitive issue” full of insecurities or fears, as I have been at times with my calling, it is easy for our discernment to be clouded because we are quick to rationalize or justify. So when my discernment gets jaded, God puts my husband to the task. If we trust God to direct us He will. If we aren’t really listening, He will use another means to keep us from going down the wrong path – and I am finding that means is often my husband – which makes complete sense because my husband has a lot of influence in my life.

I write this because I think often when we disagree with our husbands our first response is to be steadfast in our way; well it was for me anyway. We may do it their way – but inside we think we are right. That resistance keeps us moving forward in the direction God wants to go. We stop in the middle of the road and pout instead of redirect.

When we get resistance from our significant others, we need to stop and question. Is God trying to tell me something in this? Is He trying to redirect me? I’m finding it an extremely valuable reflection. It has kept me from going my own way, and therefore kept me aligned with God’s will. It is an effective built in check and balances system.

Let us not forget that God uses our marriage on many fronts and one is to steer us in the right direction.

Praise the Lord for kids! I have three of them myself. As my wife likes to say, “I just love kids – but I couldn’t eat a whole one!”

The fact is that the three kids who call me “Daddy” are not really “my” kids. They are the Lord’s.

Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.

Psalm 127:3

Children are a reward, and a blessing, but they are also given to us as a deposit. We are to manage them, put them to use, protect them, and help them to grow – like an investment… an investment for the Lord.

And, when you have an entrusted investment, the Owner will one day want an accounting.

As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth.

Psalm 127:4

How are children like arrows? Both arrows and children must be “straight” in order to work right – not crooked, not “perverse.” Bent arrows are no good.

Second, arrows are made to be shot – they are made to go where the archer cannot reach. Arrows go into the quiver first, but they are not meant to stay in the quiver forever.

If you are a Christian parent, there are three things you should BE for your kids:

BE an encourager.

When a child does something good, tell him about it. When a child has something to say, listen to her.

Fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord.

Ephesians 6:4

Most parents are pretty good at the admonition part. Admonishing comes in when kids do wrong. We are often quick to tell them about the wrong, but not so quick to tell them when they do right. That’s the “nurture” part – the “building-up.”

The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice: and he that begetteth a wise child shall have joy of him.

Proverbs 23:24

Do your children bring you joy? If so, let them know about it!

There is that speaketh like the piercings of a sword: but the tongue of the wise is health.

Proverbs 12:18

Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.

Ephesians 4:29

Parents can encourage their children by talking to them, and they can encourage their children in how they talk to them.

Sarcasm is prevalent in our culture today. If your kids have been exposed to school or television at all, you have heard these phrases come out their mouths just dripping with sarcasm: “Yeah, right;” “Whatever;” “That’s just great.”

Sarcasm can be contagious. Kids bring it home from school or their friends’ homes, and before long the parents are doing it, too. We may think sarcasm is funny, but the Bible says it is corrupt communication. The purpose of sarcasm is to make the other person feel like they’ve said or done something dumb. It tears down; it doesn’t build up, and it doesn’t encourage. God wants parents to be encouragers, not discouragers. God wants children to honor their fathers and mothers – to speak to them respectfully – to not talk back. Children should never speak to their parents in a way that indicates a belief that their parents do not know as much as they do.

Parents should BE encouragers, and parents should BE enforcers.

Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thine heart in the way.

Proverbs 23:19

Hearken unto thy father that begat thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old.

Proverbs 23:22

It is very important for Christian parents to teach their children to listen – to hear.

Listening, hearing, and obeying do not come naturally to children. In fact, doing what is right in general does not come naturally to children. Do you know what does come naturally to children? Foolishness.

What makes a child carry a full-to-the-brim glass of red Kool-aid onto beige carpet? Foolishness.

What makes a kid who has 3 hours to clean her room spend 2 hours and 45 minutes listening to music, and then try to do the cleaning in 15 minutes? Foolishness

Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child…

Proverbs 22:15

When I think back to my earliest memories, I have to admit that no one ever had to sit me down as a little child and teach me to lie. No one ever had to teach me to be selfish and greedy, to or hit my brother. No, those things came naturally to me. I did not jump up and down, and say, “Can I go to church now? Please!” (Thank God my mother made me go – she was an enforcer when it was time to go to church.)

As Christian parents we need to encourage our children to listen when they are in God’s house, and especially when God’s Word is being read or taught. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God (Romans 10:17; Galatians 3:5).

Getting children to hear the Word of God, whether they think church is boring or not, is a heart issue – not an entertainment issue. In Bible times, children were expected to come to church to hear the Word.

Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly: Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts: let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet.

Joel 2:15-16

God’s will in the Old Testament was for children to be in even the most serious of church meetings – and for people of all ages to be together in the congregation.

When the letter to the church in Ephesus was read in the church – in the assembly – it was read out loud to grown-ups and children alike. Ephesians 6:1 is directed straight at children, whom the Apostle Paul knew would be listening: “Children obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.”

Children have to be trained, and this includes being trained in how to behave in church. Training involves an enforcer, and parents are the God-ordained enforcers of their children. Being an encouraging parent is a not always an easy job, but being an enforcing parent is even tougher.

Proverbs 22:15 starts off by saying that foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child, and the rest of it does not say that a good talking-to will drive it far from them. It does not say that being grounded will drive it far from them. It does not say that a “time-out” will drive it far from them. It does not say that sending them to their rooms will drive it far from them. It does not say that taking away their X-Box will drive it far from them. It says that the rod of correction will drive it far from them. I know this may sound archaic, but if I’m not enforcing discipline, then I don’t love my children.

For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.

Proverbs 3:12

Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell.

Proverbs 23:13-14

As a father, if do not discipline God’s child, placed in my trust, with a rod of correction, then I am placing that child’s life in danger.

Parents should BE encouragers. Parents should BE enforcers. And parents should BE examples.

Being a Godly example may be the toughest thing that parents have to be for their children.

The just man walketh in his integrity: his children are blessed after him.

Proverbs 20:7

“Integrity” is living what you believe. It is inconsistent for me to encourage my children with principles I don’t really believe. And it is inconsistent for me to enforce rules on my children I am not willing to follow myself. Parents need to be careful about saying one thing and doing another. As Pastor John Wilkerson says, what I allow in moderation, my children will practice in excess. What I dabble in, my children will dive into.

If you are reading this, and you happen to be a child, however, I want you to know this: When a parent places a rule on you, but does not follow that rule himself/herself, this is not an excuse for you to be disobedient.

Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples, Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat: All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.

Matthew 23:1-3

The Pharisees appointed themselves to be the ones to tell people what God said they should do – they had authority. Jesus told people to do what they said, but not what they did. As a Christian child, you may be under an authority figure who is less Godly than you are. But there are blessings in obedience. Generally, God will not fight a battle for you that you are trying to fight on your own in the flesh. If you try to make your parents miserable through showing them disrespect, you may get what you want, but God may see to it that you do not want what you get. One of the worst judgments God can place on you is to let you have your own way.

Having said that, you must also realize that parents and adults know more than you think they do. If you are young – especially if you are a teenaged child – guard against thinking that you know everything. I have heard this attributed to Mark Twain, although I do not know for sure if he actually said it:

“When I left home at age 17, my dad was a complete fool – a total idiot. He didn’t know anything. After being on my own for a while, I came back home at age 21, and I couldn’t believe how much the old man had learned in 4 years!”

Parents should not be Pharisees – teachers who teach falsely. We will give an account for any little ones we lead astray. There are no shortage of terrible role models out there for children to follow: rappers, rock stars, movie stars, athletes, rich and famous people. People scream and follow them, and pay hundreds of dollars to get near them at a concert. People beg for their autographs. They wave their arms for a touch, and worship them. Many of these celebrities are about as big as a big-shot can get. But they don’t do anything for the Lord.

You won’t see many Godly pastors, children’s workers, nursery workers, Sunday School teachers, or Christian fathers and mothers on MTV or the E channel – but they are on God’s TV screen – they are before His sight. Children need to follow those who have God’s approval, more than those who have world’s approval.

As a dad, do my kids ever see me praying? Do they see me singing to the Lord?

As a mom, I hope you would not put up with your kids using bad language. But when your cell phone goes off, do they hear a rap song or a country or pop song that glorifies sin?

I believe God wants faithful, humble parents – parents who do what’s right when no one else is looking. I believe He wants parents who are different, who are distinct. Parents who are going to stand out, and stand up, for Jesus even if it means being unpopular.

I believe God wants kids who don’t laugh at dirty jokes, and who don’t make fun of teachers and those in authority, even when everyone else is laughing and mocking.

Parents, we don’t have the choice to opt out. Our kids are watching us. Even if I am just one person in the world, I am the world to one person.

But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.

Matthew 18:6

©Millie McNabb

Her aunt was talking to my three-year-old grand-daughter. She asked how Sunday School was. My grand-daughter answered dramatically, “Terribly boring.” I thought, “Bring out the oxygen. We’re losing her.”

I remember being the substitute teacher for a Sunday School class of third-graders. I started with the pre-prepared lesson, but a boy asked a question, and we “followed the question.” I became aware of the children drawing closer to me, as we wended our way through various topics and what Scripture had to say about them.

The “magic” of the moment was suddenly broken, when a latecomer burst into the room, loudly inquiring, “What’s the craft? What’s the craft?”

Prepared materials can be wonderful resources for teaching children and adults. As a teacher we need to add the reality of God to each lesson. We need to share what the lesson means to us. “Let this be a sign among you, so that when your children ask later, saying, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’ then you shall say to them….” Joshua 4:6-7a

What’s the most impactful Sunday School class you remember?

God bless….

Millie McNabb, founder of Christian Values Legacy, offers parenting seminars that focus on passing on your Christian values. Request your free report “Considerations for Intentionally Raising Children to Become Christian Adults” today at www.ChristianValuesLegacy.com.

Last night on Facebook, I saw a friend’s status update and it just…made me want to cry, let me share it with you….
“So-and-So cant decide if she wants to work all year to get in a fashion show next summer or if she wants to go to Jacksonville for a two month mission trip…:/”

But it got me thinking. Obviously this situation is a ridiculous one and the answer is obvious to any Christian. Help people and share the gospel with them, or be self-centered…A durr. But why is it obvious? And what happens if it is not so obvious? As a high school student about to apply for colleges, there are lots of choices and decisions I have to make now that will impact the rest of my life. I have to choose a college, major, financial aid, in the next 5-10 years I’ll be looking for a wife, and on and on. How can I know how to make these decisions according to the Will of God? What does He want in my decisions? Do I wait for a still small voice in the back of my mind to tell me to go to Covenant College? Or is it in 3 Corinthians, Thou Shalt Go to Covenant College?
I was listening to a Paul Washer sermon on marriage, and he addressed this quite wonderfully. What is your ultimate purpose in your life? What is God’s ultimate purpose in your life?
As a Christian, your ultimate purpose in life is found in 1 Corinthians 10:31- “Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” Everything you do, even the most menial tasks, do for the glory of God. To glorify Him. To make Him look good and great! When was the last time you drank a glass of water to the glory of God?
Things are great! Don’t get me wrong. Cars, Computers, etc. Are good to use, if you use them rightly. If you use them for the glory of God. Use Cars to show that cars are not your treasure, Christ is. Use computers to show that computers are not your treasure, Christ is. And so on. Everything you do should be based on one question, Will this glorify Him? Will this advance His Kingdom? Make Him look great?

Now, what’s God’s ultimate purpose in your life? This can be found in Romans 8:28-29- And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren. In other words, everything that happens in the life of the true Christian is God working things to the good of that person. That good is obviously not temporal good (if so Paul the Apostle wouldn’t have been beaten, starved, imprisoned, shipwrecked, stoned, and ultimately killed), but rather is explained in verse 29 where we see that God has predestined the elect to be conformed to the image of His Son so that Christ would be glorified. That is, every event in the life of a believer is ordained, predestined, and caused by God for one purpose, to make the Christian more like Christ. More like Christ.
So the truth is, the decisions you make shouldn’t be based on what you want, or what will be easy, or what will make you happy. Your decisions should be based on one thing, What will glorify God and make me more like Christ? Lots of decisions become easy when put to that test.
Paul Washer said, “Lots of times young boys will come into my office with that goofy smile and say, ‘I’m in love with so-and-so. I want to Marry her.’ And I’ll ask them why and they’ll say, ‘Because she’s beautiful! We can talk. We have a great time together and we get a long. She’s perfect for me!’ Then I’ll say, ‘Let me get this right, you want to marry this girl because she meets all your selfish silly conditions?’ ‘That’s not what I’m saying!’ ‘That’s exactly what you’re saying.” Marriage is not based upon what a person looks like, how compatable you are, how well you get along, or anything like that. What happens when that wife you married because she was beautiful is no longer beautiful. Or what happens when that wife you used to be able to laugh and talk to, wont laugh or talk to you anymore? What happens when (and it will happen) someone more beautiful who you can talk to enters your life? A secretary or bank teller? Marriage is based upon one thing: God has called a man to be with a woman to glorify Him and to make them into the image of Christ. If your wife’s beautiful and perfect, Hallelujah. Praise God. If she’s anything but, it doesn’t matter because that’s not what your marriage is based on. Because let’s be honest, God isn’t going to give you a wife who’s perfect. Why? Well, what’s God’s puprose for everything in your life? To conform you to the image of Christ. What are the three characteristics that best describe Christ do you think? My three would have to be mercy, unconditional love, and grace. I think those three are about what anyone would say. So what will your spouse be like? She will be someone who teaches you how to be merciful, how to love someone even though they don’t live up to your conditions, and how to be gracious. She will fail in ways you would wish she would not, she will let you down time after time after time after time. Because God’s going to do what it takes to make you into the image of Christ.

Same thing with anything really. The college you chose, the church, the home, the car, whatever choice you have in your life. Simply ask yourself, What will glorify God and make me into the image of Christ?

Just recently, Lisa and I took the family down to Kentucky to work with a couple. We had been asked by their church to come and help to sort out things with them. We spent a lot of time in private sessions with the husband and wife talking through some deep pain from an affair in their marriage.

However, on the way down, I relived a little bit of my own pain from Lisa’s affair. Driving down I-65, from Indianapolis, we past numerous places and things that immediately brought back up vicious reminders of our affair in my mind. It was incredible how quickly I digressed and began thinking evil thoughts and wanted to hurt the other man. I was shocked to see that within 30 seconds or so, I had already begun thinking about how I could kill him and get my revenge. But, that’s where it ended and that’s where it ended fast. I was able to quickly get my mind back under control and remember the forgiveness offered to me by the Son of God and begin to relax.

It wasn’t always that way. There was a time when those thoughts were regular and even sometimes seemingly unstoppable. The misery of the hatred I felt in my heart was frustrating. I tried and tried to get it under control, but it just seemed so impossible. Sometimes, the thoughts would just run through a crazy cycle that I felt I’d never get out of. I can remember this going on for hours and even days. It hurt so bad. The depression would settle in, and I’d be out of it for a while. When I’d come back out, Satan would give it a few days or hours and then bring me right back down there. I remember specifically, towards the very beginning of finding out about the affair, that I couldn’t even get a job. I walked into an interview and the woman interviewing me  looked at me about halfway through and said, “Derek, you look depressed.” Wow! I didn’t even know her. I didn’t know what to say. I was so overwhelmed with my life, that I didn’t have a clue how I looked and talked. I was a mess and even the world could see it. The pain was numbing me.

Finding peace and calming down could take anywhere from an hour or two to two or three days when news of the affair first came out. This struggle lasted for quite a while. So, thinking about the 30 seconds of rage I was feeling is pretty amazing to me. It may seem like a fast drop into thoughts that deep and sinful, but it’s a huge accomplishment to me. I’ve come a long way, and God is healing my brokenness. How?

Well, through that time when the affair was still so fresh, God helped me to deal with the wounds. Instead of running from them, He helped me to get in and forgive during the worst of it. When the rage would hit me as thoughts of the betrayal surfaced, he’d take me back in and remind me of all of the times I betrayed Him and turned my back on Him. He wasn’t doing it to rub it in my face but was showing me what He’d done for me. Then, He’d ask me to do what He did. He asked me to forgive as I’d been forgiven. He asked me to show mercy as I’d been shown mercy. He asked me to love as He’d loved me. He showed me how as I turned those thoughts over to Him slowly. 

I didn’t heal overnight. In fact, I’m not done. I’m still healing today. I plan to forgive and love for the rest of my life, as I expect He’ll be doing for me all along the way. I plan to take one step at a time and learn to love as he loved and to hand over that mercy and forgiveness he offered me, even when it seems impossible.

Some say they never want to think about all of it again, but I think that’s a huge mistake. I don’t want to think about it all of the time, and I’d never encourage that idea. But, I think we do need to remember it. We need the reminder of what happened, where we’ve come from, and where we are, so that we can remain humble and merciful twenty years from now, as we all know He’d want us to be.

“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.”

Colossians 3:12-15 NIV

8th week’s vital statistics: -0.8 lbs current weight: 221.8 lbs, or 15 st 11.8 lb, or if you like 100.6 kgs. this is a total of 17 lbs down(1 st 3 lb or 7.7 kg)!

Has it seriously been eight weeks already? Eight weeks of facing the scale, exercising, and meticulously documenting what goes into my mouth. If only I was meticulous what was coming out of my aforementioned mouth and what was going into my mind.

How grateful I am for my accountability partner, Zo, who helps keep me on track spiritually as well as spurs me on to exercise. Conversations with her have kept my mind on the reality that it’s not just a weight issue but a dependence issue. Who do I depend on? God or Papa John? Previously, I would have to say Papa John and his friends Bob Evans, Ronald McDonald were my comforting friends. How glad am I to say that I am gathering my grace and comfort from my Father in a more consistent manner.  Also,  I am cognizant of where my heart and thoughts are leading.  How fabulous is it that our Father, through the Holy Spirit and godly friends, always leads us back to his arms!

Isaiah 40:27 – 31

27Why do you say, O Jacob,
and speak, O Israel,
“My way is hidden from the LORD,
and my right is disregarded by my God”?
28Have you not known? Have you not heard?The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
his understanding is unsearchable.
29He gives power to the faint,
and to him who has no might he increases strength.
30Even youths shall faint and be weary,
and young men shall fall exhausted;
31but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.

Thank you Lord for being our source of strength.  I am continually amazed at how in every day moments you are there to pick me up and keep me on the path.

Happy Feet is just a great movie all the way around.  Having so many dimensions in this movie that could apply to Christian life, I thought it best to start out with one character who was just that… a character!

Robin Williams in just about any role is going to guarantee some over the top acting and incredible one-liners.

The charismatic character Lovelace provides us a great avenue for discipleship with our children.  If you have seen the movie, you will remember that Lovelace is the area’s latest guru or “Wisdom Attraction.”  He claims to have been taken by aliens and bestowed the gift of wisdom from them in the form of a necklace-or as you can see from the picture, more like a coke can ring.

As the main character searches for his own understanding of the world, we learn more about this Lovelace as he serves as guide to the land where the aliens took him and bestowed this knowledge.  As it turns out, Lovelace reveals the truth about his necklace and claims to wisdom.  Rather than the gift being bestowed upon him, it was something that he swam into and developed a story around.  In reality, the one thing that had given him so much fame was now choking the life out of him.

So what lessons could we talk to our children about?

1.  Everyone has something in their life that they develop a “story” to explain. In Matthew 23:28, Jesus tells the Pharisees of the day, “²⁸In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.”  It seems our little friend Lovelace would fall into this category, although he didn’t appear to be all that wicked.  Like many of us, Lovelace developed a grandiose story of how we developed a weakness.  In our day, many people seek out “wisdom” from individuals who have such apparent flaws rather than seeking wisdom that comes from Christ.  Encourage your children to remember that it is through our weakness that we are made strong.  Christ can do amazing things with those things in our lives we see as being failures or obstructions.

2.  Eventually, lies will come to choke you. I was told early in life that when you lie, you must tell five more to cover it up.  Looking back through my years, I can definitely see where this saying is true.  Proverbs 12:19 says it best,

” ¹⁹ Truthful lips endure forever,
but a lying tongue lasts only a moment.”

You most likely can think of people in your life or in the public eye whose lies eventually caught up with them.  As I think of a couple who have recently been debunked by their own lies, I realize that they too had begun to be choked by the lies they were living.  Use Lovelace to help explain this life lesson about lying and the repercussions this sin sows into our lives.

3.  The Truth changes lives. One of the more poignant developments in this movie is the race to save Lovelace from the death grip of his “necklace.”  In one of the scenes, the coke ring is snapped and a revived Lovelace takes the stage yet again.  He becomes free of his captor as well as free from his lie.  Isn’t the same true in our own lives when we embrace the truth that is Christ and confess the lies that are choking our lives?  Our children must understand that although we will be offered fame and attention by lying about various aspects of our lives, eventually, like Lovelace, we will no longer receive life from those ways.  It is only through the honest confession of those sins/lies in our lives and the embracing of Christ’ truth that we can be free.

As a dad, I love using everything I can to help teach solid Christian values to my children.  One of the things I have quickly learned as a father is the world uses television to “proselytize”  to our children right under our noses.  The movie Happy Feet presents fathers a great opportunity to teach about several Christian values in a way that will hopefully speak to your child on their level.

If you would like more in this series, please be sure to check out the other articles in Using Movies to Witness.

About the Writer:

Trent Cotton has spent a number of years in management and business consulting. After spending some time in the field, he joined the HR department, beginning in recruiting and eventually serving as the Department Head of HR for one of the major lines of business. With such a varied background, he works to bring all of these together to help churches and other Christian organizations incorporate some common business practices into their ministries to enable them to better serve the Kingdom. He currently works for SourcePointe, an HR Outsourcing Agency while continuing to own and operate Christian Management Consulting as a ministry. In his free time, he also writes a lot on Church Development as a Church Consultant.

As a husband and father of three, Trent Cotton has a passion surrounding the role Christian Men are to play in their families, communities, churches and businesses.  This particular blog is dedicated to helping men take back the role that we have lost in society.