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Robin went to Monterrey, Mexico on a mission trip. She was expecting to learn a few new things, but she had no idea what God had in store for her:

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Video games can be very addictive.  There is data that shows that many people who start gaming when they were young continue into their 20s and 30s.  They spend endless hours playing really competitive games that lead to nothing.  Of course, there are video games that you can play against each other in the living room, but that interactive playing may or may not happen, even though that is the intention.  There are other really some good interactive board games that will engage your kids’ attention, like Mad Gab, Catch Phrase, Apples to Apples, Imagine If, Clue, Scattergories, Monopoly.  And there are lots of great card games that are fun and force you to think and engage with your kids: UNO, Phase 10, Pit, Spoons, Hearts, Spit, Hit the Deck, Skip Bo, to name several.

You can create some great memories while playing interactive games or reading funny books aloud.  We used to read at the dinner table.  I remember laughing about a story we were reading and discussing the issues the story brought up.

Try to stay away from having every family night be about watching a video.  That is the easy way out.  There are always so many movies to pick from, and we ourselves have had to guard against only watching videos on family night.  Think about an indulgent time spent absorbing Hollywood’s values versus laughing hysterically together throughout a competitive game.  Which would you choose?

Sometimes you all just need to relax and let your hair down.  But if you get in the habit of doing that, and not engaging your kids, you will end up with 16-,17-, and 18-year-old couch potato slugs absorbed by media because all their family time was spent silently in front of a viewing screen.

All throughout our kids’ growing up years, we had a special Christmas morning tradition. After eating breakfast, we got ready to leave the house for what my wife and I felt was one of our most important holiday traditions before opening gifts: We would serve the meal at the local Salvation Army. We did this to send a message to our children that Christmas is about serving, not just indulging ourselves. Inevitably, we would end up having some conversations with people who were really hurting, listening to them and praying for them. Look for various ways to plant seeds in your kids about being others-centered.

One of the greatest things you can do is help your kids want to serve and impact other people. You can provoke this by giving them experiences that are way out of the box. Sending them to summer camp is great, but finding a camp that doesn’t indulge them makes a bigger impact. Look for something that teaches them to be closer to God or gain a skill. Some examples would be leadership camp like Student Leadership University, basketball camp, acting camp or anything that will give them a skill they can use even in their high school years to serve others and become excellent at something.

One of the greatest things you can do is help your kids go on a missions trip to another part of the world. There they can see how other people live who are far less fortunate than we are in America. Start doing this at a young age. (We started taking kids on Global Expedition trips with Teen Mania at just 11 years old.) In 2 days, nearly 300 teens will leave to go on a missions trip with us. Please pray for them.

If MTV is targeting kids at younger and younger ages, then so must we. We must plant in our kids a desire to really make a difference and change the world. Give them opportunities to reach out in a very practical way. This may mean digging a well in India, reaching out to orphans’ in Africa whose parents have died of AIDS on missions, or feeding the homeless, and ringing the Salvation Army bell with you this Christmas to help the community. Whether it’s a two week mission trip or a day of service, they realize that life is more than the stuff they accumulate. Even though they may not become a missionary later in their life, at least this experience gives them a taste of doing something that is definitely not self-centered.

Letting our children have this experience is a test for us as parents, a test of our trust that God will take care of our kids. Allowing them to go out of the country sends our children a message while they are young that they were born for greatness and destined to impact the world.

98 percent of people are followers; 2 percent are the shapers of culture. The 2 percent are the dreamers. One of our biggest responsibilities as parents is not only to protect our kids from culture but to help them be the shapers of culture. A lot of this book so far has shown you how to insulate your kids and proactively instill your values in them. The point of doing that is not just so you can have a ‘good family’ with great values, but to teach your family to take those values and begin to impact and shape the rest of the world.
 
How do we get our kids into the 2 percent who are the shapers of culture? How do we get them to be the dreamers for their generation, inventing the gadgets, writing the songs, driving the businesses, running for political office and sitting on school boards? It starts while they are young. As moms and dads, we need to be about the business of sparking the desire and planting the seed in their heart to creatively dream when they are very, very young.

We have told our kids from the beginning that they were born to change the world. They were born to make a difference. We put them to sleep at night praying over them, “God, use Hannah (Charity, Cameron) to change the world. Use her to make a difference . . . to touch people’s lives.” From the youngest age, that seed was planted in their minds and hearts; they grew up believing they really can change the world and make a difference.

Our goal as parents is not just for our kids to become “good” members of society. We need to raise them to be change agents. We need to raise them to take the values we have instilled in them, harnessed with a passion for God, and inspire them to reach out to people. We multiply the impact we have had on their lives to countless others, as they reach out. Getting them to think deeply about what they want to do to honor God this year is a great first step on their way to becoming dreamers!

What are your core values? It’s easy to say, “I just want my family to follow the Bible,” or simply quote the fruit of the Spirit (see Gal. 5:22-23). Often, we find that when we say we just want to follow the whole Bible, or a preset list of qualities, we end up practicing none of them. We end up emphasizing none of them. It’s more effective to create a list of about three to five values upon which to build your family name, heritage and practices. What are the actions and attitudes that you want reflected in everything you do? What do you want the foundation of your family to be?

Identifying your list of core values requires that you and your spouse think through the question, What kind of kids do we want to raise? If nothing else, what are the four or five characteristics that you would like to roll off the tongue when people think of your family? More than anything else, what do you want to instill in your kids and see them identify as their code of values?

Katie and I created our list when our kids were very young. We came up with many qualities, or values, and realized the list was too long. In Proverbs 22:1, the Bible talks how a good name is hard to find; it’s more valuable that silver or gold.2 Based on that proverb, we asked ourselves, “What do we want our lives and our family reputation to stand for?” We reduced the list to four values and backed up each value with a passage of Scripture that best embodied each idea.

It’s a common practice in the business world for a business, in order to shape its culture, to establish core values and rally every employee around those values. Doing this begins to actually change the culture of the workplace. You can’t just change the culture because you want to; you must get the people to accept and support these values.

I began to wonder if the same concept might work in my family. So we decided to establish some values. We didn’t just say, “These are our values.” We got the family to really shape their lives around them. After doing all the work in advance, and thinking through what our four values would be, and selecting the Scriptures that best represented who we wanted to be, we decided to make the family core values a great unveiling.

We made it a big event for our family––a defining moment. Cameron was about three, and our daughters, Hannah and Charity, were only eight and nine years old. We told them, “A week from today, we are having a big family celebration. It’s going to be something exciting that we’ve never done before.” When we said that, they would shout, “What is it? What is it?” And we’d reply, “Sorry, we can’t tell you any more. It’s going to be a big surprise.” Each day we would tease them a little bit more. “It’s going to be so great. We are all going to get dressed up!” They would say, “Really? Can you tell us what it is?” Then we’d say, “Sorry, we can’t tell you more. It’s going to be on Friday night, and it’s going to be great! We’re going to have a special meal. Oh, sorry, we can’t tell you any more . . .” We built up great anticipation in the kids.

When the big night arrived, we all got dressed up and had a big meal together. Katie and I cooked something really fancy that we knew the kids would like. Then we had a large mysterious something set up in the living room, covered with a tablecloth. We lit lots of candles to add to the vibe. After the nice dinner, we brought everyone into the living room. We said, “We care about our family name, and we care about all of us going in the same direction together. It’s important. A good name is hard to find; its more valuable that silver or gold. We care about the character of our family.” I took a brick and a hammer and––SLAM––broke the brick in front of them. I said, “See this brick? It’s not strong in itself. What’s inside the brick is what makes it strong. It is what’s inside our family that makes us strong––and what’s inside is our character. Tonight, we’re talking about what will make us a strong family so that we can build something strong together. Mom and I have been thinking and praying about what we, as a family, want to stand for. So we want to show you our four core values . . .” And with a grand swoosh, we unveiled the masterpiece. Plan something similar for New Year’s to kick off 2010!

I have said this in so many ways, but let me say it again: You can influence who your kid’s friends are. Many parents think, I can’t influence anything my kid does at school. That is not true.

You can influence who your kid’s friends are even when they are at school. First of all, when they are young, plant in their heart the desire to have the right kinds of friends. That does not always mean they are going to choose correctly, so you are going to have to help shape who they call, who they hang out with, who they are allowed to interact with after school, which is where most of the shaping would happen. Most important, if you find kids who are really making a positive difference, find ways to get your kids connected with them. At the very least, do not allow them to have a bunch of slug friends that are so submerged with media and the culture that it rubs off on your kids.

Doing an activity like this together will help you get to know who your kids friends are. It is imperative to know who your kids spend most of their time with. What kind of talk goes on at school? What’s being said in the locker room? Who are their best friends? And in particular, what is going on at overnight parties and sleepovers, even when they are young? Are they staying with their friends the whole night?

Most parents don’t imagine they have any control over what are considered “normal” activities. How can parents control who their kids’ friends are or what they do? How can they possibly know what’s being said or done when their kids stay the night at another person’s house? These are all difficult questions, but they are not unanswerable. We need to wake up to the fact that what seems to be the “normal way kids grow up” can actually pose entry points for the culture to begin to shape their minds and hearts.

Parenting was never supposed to be easy. No one ever called it simple, effortless or painless. If you ever put your kids on remote control because you have all sorts of “electronic baby-sitters” available to occupy their time, you can say that it really doesn’t affect your kids, but if they’re still in the process of growing up, how can you be sure? The bottom line: parenting equals sacrifice.
“But I don’t have time,” a parent may say. “I have so many pressures at work; I am trying to provide for my family.” It’s a seemingly rational explanation , but the question is: Provide your family what? More of the stuff that the media machine is trying to sell? Wouldn’t you rather provide a safe, loving environment to impart your values to your kids?

It’s undeniable that as a parent, you will sacrifice something. You can choose to sacrifice up front: time, sleep, career, hobbies while your kids are small. But I guarantee that you will also reap joy and delight as they grow up. You will gain a lifetime of intimately knowing them and the privilege of helping them grow into seasoned, productive, godly adults. If you don’t sacrifice up front, you will sacrifice later. Think about scenarios such as your child getting pregnant (or getting someone pregnant) as a young person, multiple times. Imagine living through your child’s divorce (perhaps several times) and playing the visiting game with divorced in-laws for the rest of your life. Can you picture a 35-year-old old couch potato camping out on your futon because he can’t hold down a job?

Your kids will be old a lot longer than they are young. I know people in the older generation who have had grown kids causing them misery and regret for their entire adult life. Boy, now that is a sacrifice. Even if you do it for purely selfish reasons, sacrificing up front to spend the needed time with your kids in order to raise them well will protect from life-long sacrifice.

After the new wears off of a marriage relationship, it’s easy to start taking each other for granted. You stop pursuing each other. You get focused on all the busyness of raising children––getting them to do their homework, taking them to sports practices, games and other lessons and rehearsals. There is really no time left for each other. Nevertheless, husbands and wives need to prioritize their relationship in such a way that they make time for each other.

One of the things that Katie and I have done for years is have a weekly date night. We also learned very early in our relationship about having “couch time” every day. After I got home and said hi to the kids and loved on them, Katie and I would sit down and talk about how the day went, and so forth. The kids would see us spending time with each other even though they wanted our attention. They saw that we gave top priority to our relationship with each other.

It’s important for children to see that they are not the center of your universe. If they are the center of your universe (which is common thinking of parenting romanticized), they control your world. They get you to do anything they want. What?! My spouse is more important than my kids? It might sound harsh or heartless, but the fact is, kids feel secure when they see a team of a mom and a dad who love each other and are committed to each other. The kids feel fine being priority number two.

The window to your child’s heart has a much higher probability of opening after you do some activity together that has nothing to do with a serious topic. For example, when you play a nonsensical game or go somewhere fun where your child feels an atmosphere of love and trust and affection from you, the window will probably begin to squeak open by the end of the night, after your time together. Yes, you’re tired. You would have been happy for the conversation to come up earlier, maybe over dinner or coffee, or during one of the activities you were doing. But no, your child wants to bring up a topic now. The prudent parent will see the crack in the window and take the cue. And even though tired, he or she will ramp up again to go through the window, because open windows are few and far between.

So when your kids invite you to do something with them, even if you don’t feel comfortable, and may not want to, the fact that you do it and do it with them, even when it makes you look stupid, sends a message to them. It bonds you to them and proves that they can trust you with their hearts.

One time at the beach, one of my kids said, “Come on, Pop, let’s go dive into the waves together.” I had already jumped in, and now I wanted to relax. I wanted to read, but there was an opportunity for a shared experience with her. “The water feels amazing; you’ve got to jump in these waves,” she said. And so I did. I took the cue and responded to the fact that she was waiting for my presence. The same is true of your children. When they want you to do something with them, even when you would prefer not to, do it anyway, and your child will connect with you on a deeper level and will be more prone to openness with you.

A teenager is going to talk to somebody about what’s going on in his or her heart. The question is, Will it be you? If it’s not you, will it be someone with far less wisdom? Will he or she go to a peer? Studies show that most kids join gangs because they’re looking for the closeness of family that they don’t get at

Your kid’s heart will be vulnerable to those who are listening to them. Is she sharing her heart online on Facebook? It’s tragic when a kid blogs his or her pain for all the world to see because mom and dad, sitting 10 yards away from where the child sits typing away, are too busy to listen. If you haven’t had a heart-to-heart talk with your kids in a while, you need to find out who they’re sharing their heart with. But do it in a very subtle way. Start creating opportunities to show tangible love so that perhaps the window to their heart will be opened to you once again.

Remember when I said that parenting requires sacrifice? Every time you have a late-night conversation with your teenager, you are sending a positive message, and a window to his or her heart starts to creak open. Your tangible interest and love is what draws your child’s heart toward your own. That’s what you want above all else. Because whoever your children open up to are the ones who will have the most influence on shaping their heart and life. If you know that you have wronged your children by maybe attacking their personality or yelling unnecessarily, do not hesitate to come to them seeking forgiveness. When your kids see that you are able to admit your imperfections, they will let their guard down and admit their imperfections as well.

Every dollar you spend communicates what you value. Even if you can afford everything you want (or everything your kids want), it may be smarter to refrain from fulfilling those desires. Do not let innovation and technology drive your purchases. Make decisions on what you spend money on based on what you value and what is important to you. Before you buy, think through the implications of purchasing a piece of technology, which could turn into a time thief and shape the wrong values. If that means you don’t get the flat screen TV that you’ve wanted for years, then so be it.

Fathers and mothers who get a monetary bonus from their employer and spend that money on indulging themselves on cutting-edge technology only make the family even more chaotic by inviting more media into the house. Before you buy, think about the effect every purchase will have on your family. Have the wisdom to show restraint. Owning every toy that has been invented is not the path to freedom and happiness. You need to decide in advance what kind of family you want to have and the values you want them to emulate. Then allow your purchases to line up with those values. Even though your ego will not be thrilled in the moment, your family will be thrilled in the long term. Instead of buying that latest gadget, gather your family together and decide on a family of one or more friends that you can bless instead with that money. It doesn’t have to be huge, just thoughtful. Let your teens pick out the present and let it be your secret.

As we speak to our kids, we need to be careful to speak kindly, and without condemnation. We need to have a voice of compassion, not of anger. We don’t finger-point and communicate that our teens are worthless when they do wrong, but we instead must demonstrate our love in creative ways.
 
Our voice needs to sound like the voice of Christ as we communicate our ideals, values and faith. We need to step out of a defensive position and get offensive in terms of creatively engaging our teens in deep thought so they at least have to consider what we say instead of simply dismissing us. Is this not what Jesus did with His parables, stories and object lessons? He made people think through the issues of life, with faith and the Creator God as a backdrop. They had to wrestle with their faith and their own connection to God, based on the stories He told.

We need to do the same thing with our teenagers. Rather than condemning our sons and daughters for their mistakes, we need to start nurturing their walk with God. We cannot try to engage the matters of the heart from a cerebral perspective only; our voices must be loving, creative and potent so that the message goes to the heart. This in turn will help shape their opinions, actions, habits, and ultimately their destiny. 

It’s easy to think, If I put my family first, I am getting further behind; I have a list of things to do at my job (or ministry) that takes 24/7 to do. It really is a fallacy to think that way. In order to do your very best at your job or ministry, you need to be whole. You need to be strong. You need to have a whole family, whole children and a whole relationship with your spouse. By listening to them, disciplining, instructing, talking, running, being frustrated––just being present with them, you become a better person. When you go back to your office, you are not just a driven machine executing details; you are equipped to relate better to the people you are managing and deal with the frustrations they have at home.

It’s one-dimensional living to only go after your career or ministry. We often think that if we stay focused on that one dimension, we will be successful. If you are married, having a wholesome marriage will make you more successful than just being driven by your career. If you have children, being focused on your marriage and your children brings wholesomeness to your life so that when you put your game face on for work, you really are at 100 percent capacity rather than barely surviving from day to day.

Marrying Katie has truly saved my life. In order to have a balanced, wholesome marriage, I have learned that I’ve got to listen to her. I’ve learned how to say to myself, It’s time to shut work off and focus on her. When we decided to have children, we committed to spending the right amount of time with them. Family life has actually preserved my life and increased my chances of living a longer life because of the wholesomeness found in a relationship with my wife and children.

Don’t miss out on the experience of having your kids share something that enlightens you, or even rebukes you. They may show you a part of your personality that needs work. They will definitely give you joy. God brings our children into our life to make us the whole people we need to be to be effective in the world, period.

From a very young age, encourage your children to be ‘others-oriented.’ For example, when your kids decide to get entrepreneurial, as most kids will, you can encourage them to mow lawns and sell lemonade so that they can donate the money to help other people, not just satisfy their own purchasing power. In a similar vein, when they do want things, instead of buying them everything they want, teach them to find enterprising ways of earning money. They need to learn how to save for things they want to buy.

We can teach them to be opportunistic. When my oldest daughter, Hannah, was 13, she had an idea that she wanted to use the Internet to help preteen girls through a Web site she wanted to create. I got a mentor to help her learn how to do a little bit of programming. She wrote the code for a Web site called girlofgod.com. She had all kinds of ideas on how she was going to do the art. It was thrilling. She got lots of preteen girls on that site and ministered to them. The vision did not continue for very long, but it was a fantastic life lesson for her. She saw this truth: “If I have a dream, I can learn how to go about achieving it, and I can accomplish something.” Help your kids find opportunities to impact other people and not just indulge themselves; and then show them how to take the vision from an idea stage to completion. Find ways to make the party special and meaningful by asking your kids about their friends’ interests. Prepare an intimate Christmas gathering for your daughter at the house, or plan a football game for your son at the park. Remember the purpose of your plans is to get to know the people your kids are close to.

A couple of books with examples of young role models are Columbine Courage and The Power of One. These books contain many stories about young people who have stood up for their faith. The Power of One also includes some biblical examples you can use to inspire your kids to be world changers.

Ultimately, your kids are your heritage to the world. Planting seeds in them from a very early age to use their life to change the world is our primary job. As we stay focused on "My job is to help them dream God’s dream for them and do all I can to equip them to accomplish that dream," then we will all have children who impact the world much more than we have.

You can influence who your kid’s friends are even when they are at school.

First of all, when they are young, plant in their heart the desire to have the right kinds of friends. That does not always mean they are going to choose correctly, so you are going to have to help shape who they call, who they hang out with, who they are allowed to interact with after school, which is where most of the shaping would happen.

Most important, if you find kids who are really making a positive difference, find ways to get your kids connected with them. At the very least, do not allow them to have a bunch of slug friends that are so submerged with media and the culture that it rubs off on your kids.

I grew up with two addicted parents. For as long as I can remember, I feared home. 

From a young age I was told that I was worthless, it was my fault, and I didn’t belong or need to be there. I did my best to hide so I wouldn’t get yelled at or talked down to. The verbal abuse killed me the most. 

When my mom got a new boyfriend, things got really crazy. My home was like an extreme college party all day every day. Some potheads moved into our basement. There was drugs, sex, alcohol, and people over all the time. After one really bad fight, I called my grandparents and told them I wanted to come and live with them. 

It was better than before, but at this point I was a bitter girl, angry with the world and my parents. I was in a deep depression and had nothing to live for. I was so lonely I ached. I just walked around wondering what more there was to life. 

In October of my sophomore year, a friend invited me to church. A few weeks later I went to an Acquire the Fire and I met God in a hotel room the first night of the event. 

It was like suddenly it all made sense. Everything just clicked. I got back and started going to that church every Sunday. I was determined to change my life, get out of my rut, and really live for Jesus. 

Ever since that amazing night nearly three short years ago, my life has changed so dramatically that I can’t even begin describing it to you. I’m no longer that bitter, insecure girl. I am a woman of God who may not be perfect but who lives her life one day at a time for her beautiful life-saving Lord. I thank Him every day for loving such an unlovable me. 

Now I serve at the Honor Academy to reach my own generation and share God’s love with teens like me who are hurting without Him.

There is bound to be some bad news sometimes as you are raising your kids. How you respond to the news is critical.

Sometimes, parents say the most shockingly horrible things that, no matter what they do, cannot be taken back. The words just replay like film, over and over again.

When my oldest daughter, Hannah, got in a terrible car accident with her first car, part of me wanted to show my anger. Why would she drive so fast on a slippery road?! Yet, I knew that she was always going to remember my first response. What did I care about most––her, the car, or why she had done something stupid? I realized that how I responded on the phone and what I did when I first got on the scene would affect her for life. I could always go back later and talk about what had happened, but I could never replace that first memory.

Grades tend to bring out another huge opportunity to learn how to respond to bad news. There are always going to be challenging times when it comes to grades. It may be that your kids are heading in the wrong direction with grades and you need to have a serious discussion. But what if your kid even gets all ‘As’ and one ‘B’? Your response to that one ‘B’ is also going to make a memory.

If you say, “What happened? Why didn’t you make an ‘A’ in this class?” Or you say, “Why did you get one ‘B’?” instead of first saying, “Wow! What a great job you did,” your child may think, I can never do enough to please my mom (or dad). Even if there are a few lower grades that need to be discussed, there is an opportunity to comment on the grades that were good before you dissect the other issue at hand. 

When my girls were growing up, even when they were only one year old, I would spend time with them by taking one or the other of them with me when I traveled on weekends to events for teenagers in arenas around the country. We did fun things. For example, when I had a break, we would sneak out in the middle of a busy preaching itinerary to go to an amusement park or to a children’s museum. When they got a bit older, we would go to a concert in the town where I was speaking, or go out to a nice dinner.

Through their teen years, I would regularly “date” my girls. When I saw signs of their pulling away or that their hearts were not fully engaged, I would “lean back in” and say, “Hey, let’s go grab some coffee,” or “I’m going to get up early and take you to school so that we can grab breakfast or coffee on the way and talk.” What that meant, literally, was that I got up earlier, by a couple of hours, in order to make room for that time together. It took sacrifice, but it’s called being a parent. I’ve also done the same thing with my son. We look for new adventures where we can bond and build memories that begin to draw his heart toward me.

You can’t force intimacy, but you can woo it successfully.  As parents, we need to lean in.  Leaning in means finding creative, relational ways to spend time together so that you’re not just sitting in a room, with nothing else to say but “Hi, how are you?” Leaning in hard requires that you spend lots of time together doing fun things. Your initial conversations with your child might be a little bit awkward. You want them to share their heart; you want to get close to them, but their attitude and non-response may be shouting, “I don’t want to talk to you, I don’t want to be with you; what are you doing this for?” Just remember that this is part of your job as a parent.  If you’ve found that your kids don’t really talk and share their heart with you, well, all the more need to lean in. Don’t try to probe and provoke them to talk to you right away; just be there doing stupid and fun things with them. Eventually, they will talk. And they really do want to talk; they just want to make sure that you’re the one they want to talk to.

Welcome! I'm speaking to a group this weekend at a Focus on the Family conference, and if you're checking in from there, I'm so glad you're joining in this parenting conversation.

If you are raising a teenager or soon-to-be teenager, you already know the immense challenges we are all facing as parents. Everything about today’s culture seems to fly in the face of Biblical Christian values, and our children seem to be pushing every line as they grow into young adults.

Now more than ever, it is crucial that we stand with our teens to show them that we will love and cherish them no matter what. We must stand as a steadfast example of Christ, slow to anger and quick to love. And we must gently guide our teens as they ask questions so they can discover who God is and what His sacrifice means for them.

I will be sharing some of my own experiences as a parent with you on this blog. I pray that these posts would equip you and inspire you as together we strive to raise our children to be passionate pursuers of Christ.

Don’t forget to bookmark this page or subscribe to the RSS! New posts will be added frequently.

Father’s Day Reflection

What a great privilege it is that God allows us to feel the connection He has with us…offspring. I have loved every day of being a father. My kids are constantly used by God to refine me. Whether it was having them come running to me to wrestle me when I got home from the office when they were small, or late night coffee in their teen years to talk about the issues of life…. it has been a great adventure. Now with one daughter living in Australia, one in Africa for the summer, and one son leaving for Italy for a month, I can say how sad it is I am not with the older 2 on Father’s day, but I rejoice they are out changing the world!

I wonder if today, on Father’s day, the Father would let us see a little more about His nature? What is a father really supposed to be like?

I am headed to Africa with my son Cameron this week, (to Uganda and Zambia) then back to PA to speak at Creation Fest East. Hope there is not Montezuma waiting for me.