Do you ever fear for the future of our kids?
Do you ever ask yourself what you can do to help them?
Over 12 weeks I’ll be sharing one thing you can do to help the kids in your life grow closer to God.
May God give you strength, wisdom, and joy as you reach tomorrow’s hero!
#9 of 12 Things
Choose Wisely!
One of the biggest dilemmas I ever faced was when directing Camp Good News was what to do with a child when they misbehaved.
On the surface, it should be fairly straightforward, break the rules and you get sent home. But in practice, it was a lot more complicated than that.
You see, if one of our inner-city kids broke the rules, if I sent them home, I would only be sending them back to where they learned that behavior. Sending them home would not provide the desired change we wanted to see in their lives.
So what did we do?
This may not be helpful, but we prayed about it and responded as we felt the Lord direct us. But one thing was certain, sending them home was not an option (unless the camper was putting others at risk).
Grounding is a consequence many parents use when their kids misbehave. Sadly, I have often seen this include being grounded from going to a church kids/youth program.
I understand that we want our kids to feel the “pain” of their decisions, but stopping them from going to a church program isn’t going to help produce the desired behavior, it’s actually going to hinder it.
If you’re honest with yourself, is the main reason you’re grounding your child from going to a church program is that you don’t want them to have fun?
We have to remember that we send our kids to church programs so they can hear the Word and grow closer to the Lord. Who better to mold our kids than the Potter Himself?
Having fun at a church program is part of preparing their heart to hear Him.
If you have to ground your kids from something, just be sure it’s not from things that can help them grow spiritually.
Ask God for wisdom and choose wisely.
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