Last week I began a two part posting on manners – and why they matter.  I am increasingly convinced that we are seeing the loss of civility and respect in our society, and this is perhaps seen most easily in the area of manners.

As I shared last week, this posting began as a result of observing my own children. Left to themselves and void of any discipline, they normally and naturally act out of selfish, self-centered motives. They seek to be first and foremost in their little world. They want to be heard first, eat first, watch what they want to first. They want to sit where they want to sit, do what they want to do and it really doesn’t matter how anybody else feels. (more…)

“Jack.” “What?” My skin crawled. My hackles rose. My indignation was evident. It was a response and a tone that is totally unacceptable from a two year old. You see, I have taught, and repeatedly reminded, my children that when a parent or adult addresses them they are to respond by saying, “Sir?” or “Ma’am?” It is a non-negotiable.

So, with that in mind, I have watched my children over the past couple of weeks with manners in mind and I have determined to be more diligent in teaching them not only how to have good manners, but why good manners matter. (more…)

Being raised in a pastor’s home, I didn’t have the opportunity or blessing of being raised near my grandparents like some people I know. For example, my wife spent the first part of her life living in a house that shared the same driveway with her grandparents and from birth until the time she moved to college living in the same town with both sets of grandparents. She tells stories of eating at her grandparents’ house after church on Sunday mornings, summers at her Grandmother Robinson’s house, planting strawberries with her Granddaddy Dowdy and huge family get-togethers in Gleason, TN. (more…)

This past week I had the rare opportunity to spend several days with my dad at the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention in Phoenix, AZ. Since we’re both in full-time ministry (Is there any other kind?), it can be difficult to see each other. We do talk to each other by phone or by text at least once a day, sometimes several times a day, but that really isn’t the same. That’s why I really enjoyed getting to share a room and spend some time together this past week. (more…)

This week’s edition of Fridays Are For Family deals with a very difficult subject – discipline.  Since God blessed Kim and me with two wonderful, beautiful , sweet, kind, always perfectly behaved (insert laugher here) children, I have wanted to make sure that I am being the parent that the Lord has called me to be.  A big part of that call is to love them enough to discipline them when necessary. (more…)

Since I’m a local church pastor whose wife stays home with our two small children, we’re always looking for simple, inexpensive and memorable ideas on how to have fun together as a family.  We’re constantly looking for day trip destinations where the only expense would be the gas to get the vehicle there and back. (By the way, the “back” is really important. I know this from first hand experience.)  My wife is the master of simple projects that teach our children important truths while at the same time having lots of fun. (more…)

This week’s posting of “Fridays Are For Family” is a little different than what I normally share.  However, I do believe that this post is vitally important to the health – spiritually, emotionally and physically – of your family.

“Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.” Hebrews 10:25 (more…)

Kim and I had to wait for many years before we finally had our first child, Laura Kate – and our lives have never been the same since.  I could have never imagined how a little bitty, baby girl would completely, totally and forever change my life.  I’m still amazed at how such a teeny, tiny person can wrap a full grown man around her little finger.

Now that we have been blessed with two children, Laura Kate and Jack, I really want to make sure that I’m the best daddy that I can possibly be.  I want to make sure that I do the job that Christ has called me to and that my children so rightly deserve.  Part of fulfilling my responsibility as Laura Kate and Jack’s daddy is to help them become the person that God created them to be. (more…)

I don’t know about you, but there are very few things better than spending time with the ones you love, doing what you love to do. I hope that you’re making time together with your family (and by that I mean actually time with your family, not simply sitting at some event  or activity somewhere) a priority in your family.  If you haven’t done so, grab your calendar and take time right now to schedule “appointments” just to spend time together as a family. (more…)

After about a year off, I’ve decided to once again start sharing some scriptural, spiritual, and I pray helpful advice on how to build into your life as a family.  The reason for this is because I believe that the family is the most important institution on the face of the planet.  If you’ll read the beginning pages of scripture, you’ll find that marriage and the family were created even before the church.  So, knowing how much Christ loves the church, that ought to give us just a little glimpse into how important your family is in the eyes of God. (more…)