Wednesday, April 2, 2008

The Strong Family by Charles Swindoll

I found a book this afternoon that I thought might be interesting to read. It's called The Strong Family and Charles Swindoll wrote it. I've always been a fan of Chuck and Lucy Swindoll so I thought I might take into account what this book is about. I really like it so far and I thought it might also be fun to blog about some of the highlights. There are 18 chapters so I'll try to sum up each chapter for the next 18 days. We'll see if I can stick to it. =)

Chapter 1 - An Endangered Species
This chapter (based off Deuteronomy 6:1-24) discusses the responsibility that we, as parents, have to nurture and grow our children in the Lord. He talks about Moses and his responsibility of leading the Isrealites to the land of milk and honey. One of the key verses is Deuteronomy 6:1-5. We need to make sure that we are genuine with our faith because our children are always watching what we do and how we live our lives. You can't fake a love for Christ (although sometimes I think people can be pretty good at it!). "Parents who model this love will forever impact their children for good."

Charles states that the home should always be a place where God can be openly discussed and talked about at any time. (Amen!)

This chapter also talked about family devotions and how sometimes, they don't go over well. Kids can get busy with their own lives (just as we adults do!) and not take into consideration how important a devotional (a genuine devotional) can be. Swindoll gives some neat books and ideas on how to "pep up" devotional time. In the long run, it is our responsibility as parents (not the church's, not a teacher's, not a Sunday School teacher's responsibility) to educate our children in the Lord, making sure they observe us (parents) reaching out to those in need, feeding the homeless, reading our Bibles, praying...being AUTHENTIC.

"St. Francis of Assisi reportedly said, 'Preach Jesus, and only when necessary, use words.' "

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