Archive for Culture
“When your son asks…” Part 4: How to answer your children’s questions
Posted by: | CommentsIn your endeavor to answer children’s questions, it is important to keep a few things in mind:
Seek to build within your child a Biblical worldview, that is, a Biblical filter for seeing the world. We all have certain lenses by which see all of life through. For the Christian, these underlying assumptions about the world should increasingly conform to the truths of Scripture. As parents, you play a vital role in shaping those assumptions for children, and therefore in answering questions, as in all conversation and instruction with your child, you must consciously strive to help children and teens see the world through the truth contained in God’s word. The Bible is your ultimate authority in instructing your children.
Welcome the questions! Your child’s inquisitiveness is a gift from God and a vital part of their learning and discovery process. However, if you sense that they are asking questions to challenge your authority or avoid obedience, deal with this appropriately. For example, if a simple explanation to a “why” concerning a request does not satisfy a child, say to your child, “First, do what I’ve asked, then I’ll answer any questions you have about it.” This shows your child the importance of obedience, as well as your interest in answering any legitimate questions. A similar answer can be given if the questions come at times which it you are unable to answer. Return to these questions later for further instruction. The time you spend addressing your child’s curiosities, not only teaches them about the world in which they live, but also about how much you love and care for them.
If you don’t know the answer, find it out! Not only should you be honest when you don’t know the answer to your child’s question, but you can also use this as a time to show your child where to turn for answers. Is it a question whose answer can be found in Scripture? Open your Bible, consult a Bible dictionary, or call your pastor or trusted Christian friend for help discovering the appropriate passage. Is it a question about how something works? Check out a book from the library, find a reliable website with information, or call a friend knowledgeable in this area. By so doing, you model to your child the importance of life-long learning as well as share a fun and meaningful learning experience with them.
For more on answering children’s questions, check out the other “When your son asks…” posts:
Part 1: Why Should I Answer Why?, Part 2: The Healthy Lifestyle, Part 3: Death & Tragedy
Update: Haiti Disaster Relief
Posted by: | CommentsA Letter from Pastor Joshua:
Dear Bridge Church,
It appears that the route to helping Haiti lies through prayer and financial giving in the short term. The longer term picture will still require volunteers who are willing to prepare and train for working and labouring in the disaster zone. I have several important updates to communicate to you in this letter.
CALGARY DISASTER RELIEF TRAINING
If you feel that God is leading you to serve in Haiti you will need to be trained in surviving and working in a disaster zone with limited or no modern amenities. our denomination is offering the following Disaster Relief Training:
When? Saturday, February 27, 2010
Where? Richmond Hill Baptist Church, Calgary, AB
Time? 8:30 am -4:00 pm
Cost? Free and includes lunch
How? To register call: 403-242-1256
Accommodations? Two rooms have been reserved at the CNBC Mission Centre for shared overnight accommodations on the Friday evening before the training (no charge if attending training event). 1-888-442-2272.
FINANCIAL GIVING UPDATE
Any giving for Haiti through the Bridge Church will now receive matching funds from the Canadian Federal Government. This policy was first approved for the REd Cross and several other charitable relief organizations. The Canadian National Baptist Convention has now also been approved to receive these federal matching funds. Every dollar you give through the Bridge towards Haiti will now receive exactly one dollar in matching funds from the Canadian Government. This is a limited time offer from the Government. I ask that the Bridge Church remember the instruction found in Titus 3:13-14, “Do your best to speed Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their way; see that they lack nothing. Let our people learn to devote themselves to good works, so as to help cases of urgent need, and not be unfruitful.” It is a good work to do everything in our power to help speed relief workers on their way to the disaster zone.
NEWS FROM THE FRONT-LINES: Report from the Assessment Team
The joint Southern Baptist response the January 12 Haiti earthquake will launch in the coming week with four “strategically selected” medical teams, leaders of the Southern Baptist Disaster Relief Network decided January 26 at the Florida Urban Impact Center in Hialeah, Florida.
Plans to respond to the urgent, intermediate and long-term needs in Haiti were addressed by assessment teams that had just returned from the quake-ravaged nation, along with representatives from Baptist Global Response, the Southern Baptist International and North American Mission Boards, the Florida Baptist Convention, and other Southern Baptist disaster relief representatives.
The group wrestled with logistical arrangements and how to send mission teams and respond to needs in a country where transportation and in-country support for teams is practically impossible. Access to airports and shipping docks are extremely restricted, the teams reported.
“At this point, all we can sleep in Port-au-Prince is 55,” said Cecil Sagle, director of the Mission division of the Florida Baptist Convention.
The group decided the next step will be to send four “strategically selected” medical teams through the Dominican Republic to Haiti next week, along with two representatives from the Florida Baptist Convention, who will continue to make arrangements for trained disaster relief teams to travel in adn out of the country. Another meeting to discuss the logistics of getting additional response teams into Haiti will be held February 11-12 in Atlanta, the group decided.
“Once we get teh mechanisms in place, we will have numbers of teams in there, week in and week out,” said Mickey Caison, who directs disaster operations for the North American Mission Board. Caison added, “Through it all, our efforts will be touching lives, changing lives and giving hope. Our purpose is to carry the message of hope found in Jesus Christ.”
The Assessment Group acknowledged that many in the Convention are passionate about responding to the immediate needs in Haiti. The Assessment Group hoped to reassure many churches within the Convention that the response in Haiti will be long-term, but in the meantime they can minister to Haitians in their own communities and pray for people in Haiti who are afraid to return to homes that are still standing because of the danger posed by aftershocks.
The Assessment Group pled for patience as they try to solve logistical nightmares. Partnering Baptist churches in the US are asked to purchase and contribute “Buckets of Hope” to send to Haitian families: five-gallon buckets packed with rice, cooking oil, black beans, flour, sugar, spaghetti noodles and peanut butter. Even after Haitians use the supplies, the bucket can serve multiple uses for a family. However, it will be very difficult for Canadian National Baptist Churches to transport these buckets and supplies to the USA and then to Haiti, so the CNBC is finalizing a plan whereby Canadian Baptist Churches can fund raise specifically for these buckets. More information will be available very soon.
While our Convention will mobilize to meet urgent needs, they also will be very focused on long-term assistance to help Haitians rebuild their lives and communities. This is where the Bridge Church comes in.
What does The Bridge need to do? Already we see that News reports of events in Haiti are beginning to taper off. Already, the world is beginning the gradual process of forgetting the Haitians as other more urgent news begins to consume us. However, the dire situation facing the Haitians is not quickly forgotten by them. Many still fear aftershocks and will not return to the fragile homes that are still standing. We must remember our friends in the south so that we can help them. All of us are able to pray. I ask that you begin praying now for God to sent His people to help the hurt and suffering in Haiti. Also, I ask that you start praying right now about whether or not God may be laying it on your heart ot go and serve. If so, you will need to attend the Disaster Relief Trainng in Calgary. If you have an interest in attending this training, be sure to speak to one of the Elders this Sunday. Pray for Haiti.
In Christ,
Joshua
Kamloops Boy Demonstrates Societal Cluelessness
Posted by: | CommentsAdolescent Assault is never a good thing in my book. But then again, I’ve learned to read things according to a different Book. I was pleased and troubled to read a recent article from Kamloops’ The Daily News about a drunk and disorderly teen, a kind hearted bus driver, and courageous strangers who endured this boy’s obstinacy. You can read the article for yourself here:
At some point we’ve got to reintroduce the ancient and timeless truths of God, Sin, and Salvation back into our futile thinking and worthless educational systems if we are ever going to leave our city, this province, and the country of Canada as a whole to the next generation. I believe that Canada is an amazing place with beautiful scenery, amazingly rich and ample resources, and great adventure. This small corner of God’s world deserves to be entrusted to a generation that will cherish it and protect it, and leave it to a distant generation that we may never meet. But we’ll never get from here to where our grandkids are if we don’t start evaluating the world around us through a different perspective.
Going back to the article: the bus driver was generous and kind, and he offered a drunken boy a ride home. This must surely violate certain rules put in place by the Kamloops Public Transit Authority. But the bus driver knew that those rules served a higher purpose: the service of the city. So he did what was right- he offered to serve the people of this city through the offer of a free ride to a drunken boy. This is the proverbial good Samaritan before our very eyes. The passengers who stepped in to restrain the boy are also heroes. There is much to commend after reading this article.
Time for a transition from positive to negative. At this point other bloggers may begin their critique of the boy this way: “Unfortunately, the boy harassed the bus passengers…” Unfortunately. This is the impression one also gets from reading the article: a sad and unfortunate young boy who has turned wild on us. How unfortunate that so many are so clueless about the real nature of public intoxication and drug abuse. Ours is a culture that is inebriated on a number of different intoxicating idols -alcohol being only one of them. Society as a whole is rushing after things that will not in the long term profit any of us.
Take the credit crisis that is driving a world-wide recession- is this not a classic example of individuals pursuing selfish interests apart from reality? Is this not the same escapism that the boy is guilty of? The boy is dissatisfied with life, so he gets drunk. In his drunkenness he behaves in a disorderly and criminal manner that threatens the well-being of others. Now look at the economy credit crisis. Hundreds of tons of goods made by real people with real jobs and real families to feed are moved around from store to consumers with nothing more than a credit card I-O-U. This refusal to deal with the reality that there is no money to pay for such things infects the bureaucracy of the government and subsequently the US housing market, and eventually a world wide-recession breaks out and thousands are left without jobs and no way to feed their family. Greed and credit-card escapism is not much different than selfish drunkenness. There needs to be a reintroduction of God, sin, and salvation into our society if we are going to ever turn the tide of these types of incidents and prevent them from even happening. The only difference between the boy and our debt-spending society as a whole is that the boy has been caught in the nick of time and no one has been seriously hurt yet.
The defense lawyer stated that this was a “good kid.” A good kid who beats up a bus driver and harasses passengers? I’m not sure how you define good, but that isn’t my definition of ’good.’ This protest on the part of the lawyer illustrates the inebriation of our culture to various intoxicating idols: success, fame, fortune, and various other escapes from the reality in which we live. I’m sure the defense lawyer is just trying to do his job which is to set the boy free. Perhaps this public display of duty will win him more clients in the future. However, in the pursuit of his work, the defense lawyer may not be doing the troubled teen any favors. The lawyer could learn a thing or two from the bus driver and set rules aside in favor of principles.
The title of the article labels the incident this way: “Teen gone wild…” The teen is not nearly as wild as many would like to believe, and our society is not nearly as tame and domicile as many hope.