When our kids fight one another or when I lose my cool with them or my wife, it is more than a temporary upheaval and pain in the neck. It is an opportunity to demonstrate the process of forgiveness. This is related to my last post about the word "sorry." 

It has become popular to think we should just "forgive each other in our hearts." Forgiveness is highly misunderstood and debated among Christians. What is forgiveness?

An angry brother hits his sister. Siblings call each other names. Mom snaps at Dad over dinner. We often teach our kids to solve these conflicts with little more than the magical, amazing word, "Sorry." Before long, the kids begin to believe it can even make the consequences for their choices disappear (since it often does), so they use it...a lot! 

We have taught our kids to stop using the word "Sorry." Well, sort of. 

I feel slighted when the kids do not immediately say "Thank you" when I do the daily grind of providing for them in multiple ways. Be it meals, cleaning the house, yard work, making their lunches, teaching them life skills, etc. Why can't they just say thanks or show a little gratitude?

One of the hats I wear is that of a stay-at-home dad. Because of the thankless days, I can feel slighted because they don't seem to appreciate my sacrifices for them. I can feel anger and unappreciated. I can feel like it's a worthless use of my time and energy because they aren't responding to it. This can easily transition to me letting them know how much I "sacrifice" for them. Then I play the martyr, the martyr of manipulation, but...

I had a real taste for beer during my college days. I went to school in Charleston, South Carolina and that town provided plenty of locations in which I could indulge. There are plenty of bars and watering holes to choose from in the downtown area.

But in all of those weekends out on the town, I never found a watering hole I was willing to call home. You know, like Norm in that old TV show Cheers. A place where "everybody knows your name." 

Ironically, I found out I was looking in the wrong places for such a watering hole! I discovered the perfect place! Here's why...

I have THREE, 3, dripping faucets at once. Two of them are showers so I'll have to turn the water off to the whole house to replace the stems. The grass needs mowing...again. (Stupid grass). A van to fix. Trees that need to come down and be cut up. I have to get a TV out of the attic to sell in the church yard sale this weekend. (Stupid TV!) 

All of this and more is on my Honey-Do list. That's on top of all the other responsibilities on my plate.

Had to vent. What do you need to vent about?....

This final week before Easter is a great time to remember the true reason for this Holiday. I was introduced to this cube by a great friend and pastor. I have used it and it's hard for people to take their eyes off of it. It helps us remember the reason for this special day.

Below is a video of how it shares the Easter story. I hope it is helpful to you and gets you into the Easter spirit. There is so much to celebrate this week and so much for which we need to be thankful. God loves us more than we know, but not everyone experiences that love. The cube is an interesting way of explaining how we can begin to experience that love. For other ideas to get into the Easter spirit, check out this post from last year.

This is a response to a provocative blog post by Serena DeGarmo on her A Wordy Woman's blog. The post definitely hits on an exceedingly important issue for our daughters and our parenting in the current culture. She has also written about the boy version of this issue.

The approach Serena takes is controversial as seen in the comments. It is a quick, direct post. Single blog posts cannot adequately unpack the issue. With that stated, here are some possible places I would expand the discussion and get us as parents thinking intentionally about preparing our children for their sexual choices as teens and adults.