September 2009 Archives

If you fly on an airplane or travel any distance by ship, your safety hinges on what is unseen. This may not sound accurate, since the pilot flying the plane looks through a window and the captain of the ship stands on the ship's bridge to view the waters ahead. But visual recognition, particularly on long journeys, is not the most helpful means of navigation. In fact, trusting what is seen in these situations often leads to disaster. (It is true that ocean-going ships can use the stars for navigation, but modern electronic positioning is the more dominant form.) For successful and safe directions on long trips in this modern era, trusting what is unseen is vital. For a journey to have a pleasant end, it is important to know where you are in reference to where you want to go. Determining the longitude and latitude of one's position is a safe way to determine where you are. If you use a GPS form of electronic navigation, the longitude and latitude coordinates are readily available from your GPS device. This topic becomes more interesting when you understand that these lines of longitude and latitude are arbitrary and unseen.

Sin is deceptive. Parents, this is one truth that should never be far from your thoughts. Sin never presents itself for what it is. Anger appears to be a just response when one is wronged. A lie seems to be the easy way out of a difficult situation. This is the nature of sin. It seems to be the right thing to do at the moment. No matter how long you live, sin will present itself in this way.

I have had the privilege of speaking with parents here in the U.K. about teenagers the last several days. Despite the different geographic and cultural settings the main issues are the same - how do parents effectively reach the heart of their teenagers? The matters are of the heart are indeed universal. I have been talking about the role of influence in the lives of teenagers. Ultimately, your influence as a parent is the most important tool at your disposal as you help your teenagers to honor God.

It is easy to confuse the absolutes of life with personal preferences. Because of this it is also easy to make relationships with others, particularly our teenagers, more difficult than they need to be. For example, take driving on the right side of the road. This is, of course, the right way to drive; unless you happen to be in the United Kingdom. Here, as you know, they drive on the left side of the road, the "wrong" side of the road. But is it really the wrong side? While is against the law to drive on the left side of the road in the United States, it turns out that this law is actually a national preference rather than a moral absolute. In the UK they have chosen to drive on a different side--to me, the wrong side. But, why is it wrong? It feels wrong to me because it is different.

For the next 2 weeks I will be posting from St. Albans in the United Kingdom.  I will have the privilege of speaking the Independent Chapel there as well spending time with dear friends.

Please pray for productive trip. I look forward to what God has for us.

Today is September 11, 2009.  "Are you safe?" seems like a good question to consider on the 8^th anniversary of the Al Qaeda attack. I remember the morning of September 11, 2001. I left the house early to follow my son to the mechanic's shop where he was to have some work done on his car. I was listening to the radio as we drove through the countryside. The local talk station was playing on my car radio.  About half way to the mechanic's, the morning talk show host interrupted his discussion of some local topic to report that apparently a small plane had just flown into one of the towers of the World Trade Center in New York. The host was more amused than alarmed at that point.  However, a few minutes later his tone was much more than alarmed. As reports began to spread through the various network wire services, an unsettling picture emerged of an unknown number of planes crashing into an unknown number of locations. My son and I returned home to view our first TV images of the attack.  Within minutes of our arrival, the second tower of the World Trade Center collapsed.  We also heard reports of a bomb or a plane hitting the Pentagon. Numerous other unconfirmed reports were still being assessed. It was time to ask - are we safe?

Here some practical ways to implement Tedd Tripp's first important truth for parents--Formative Instruction. This term sounds formal and structured. But actually, for formative instruction to be truly effective, it must be taught in the informal classroom of life. As Instructing a Child's Heart teaches, children need you to provide a constant interpretation of life events. Understanding this truth is essential to your ability to provide formative instruction that is positive and points toward the cross.

I recently had the opportunity to do a radio interview with Tedd Tripp. I asked Tedd what four truths he considers most vital for Christian families to embrace in their parenting. Given that Tedd has become a recognized and trusted authority on the subject of training children, his insights are worth thinking about. In today's post we will consider the first of these four truths--the importance of formative instruction.