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One summer my parents thought it would be a great idea for me to join the swim team. The problem was I didn’t know how to swim! It was both a challenging and fruitful summer. After learning the basic mechanics of swimming, my next task was to swim in a straight line. Everytime I practiced in an open pool or pond, I would always swim in a crooked line. Thankfully, our swim pool had lanes with floating lane dividers. While painful and shocking to accidentally hit, they provided me a boundary to stay in my lane. Without them I would have constantly been running over other swimmers, assuming I could have kept up with them.
I think I can swim in a straight line now, but as a child, I was not equipped in that area. Boundaries are so helpful for our children. They help our children mature and improve, just as the land dividers did for me as a swimmer. Still, I was not always a fan of the swim pool boundaries. They separated me from some of my friends, and prevented us from recklessly jumping into the pool cannonball style. But the purpose of the swim team was to help me grow as a competitive swimmer and those boundaries guided me toward that goal. The purpose of parenting is to help our children grow as faithful followers of Jesus Christ. We are responsible to provide those boundaries that will guide them toward that goal in every area of their lives. Gratefulness or agreement for these boundaries is generally not required. Our role as parents is to do what our children need, not always what they want. As our children mature, this external control we provide as parents develops into wise internal self-control that will guide our children beyond their years in our home. My favorite swimming stroke was always the backstroke (probably because I could actually breathe while swimming). To prevent swimmers from running unknowingly into the pool wall, flags are stretched above the pool on each end a certain distance from the wall so swimmers can know when to prepare to touch the wall. As parents, we are called to impart wisdom to our children, teaching them to recognize the flags that will prevent them from hitting the wall. I pray that your parenting goes swimmingly! In Elementary chapel this week, I told a story of a dog named Charlie who thought he should be a cat. All of his friends were telling him he should be a cat, and that it might fit him better and be more fun. This led him to a very confused and sad state of searching out who he was. He tried to purr instead of bark, play with yarn instead of a ball, and run from visitors instead of chasing them! When Charlie was finally told the truth that he was a dog and was released to be what he was created to be, he found joy and satisfaction in fulfilling God’s design.
I shared with students how easy it can be to listen to many of the lies that the world tells us. Lies like “God isn’t real”, or “you are not good enough”, or “believe in yourself” and “you choose who you are.” These lies can lead to confusion by putting ourselves in the place of God. The truth is that God is real, and that we are made in His image, and therefore we have infinite value as His children. He is the potter, and we are the clay, and we cannot and should not attempt to change how God created us. And while the sin of the world and the sin of our flesh may cause struggles at times, these circumstances always point us to our Savior Jesus who came to reconcile us to God and shine through our imperfect cracks. Our JH/HS students heard the testimonies of Brad and Roberta Shimomura, missionaries to Japan. They shared how God began speaking to them in high school about how to surrender their lives fully to God. In very relatable ways, they described the process of pursuing the voice of God, and the process of choosing to follow His call. As Japan is mostly unChristian (less than 1%), students were challenged to begin to consider what “they are doing on Earth for Heaven’s sake!” Continue to hold our leaders, teachers, and students in prayer as we partner every day to spiritual transformation in our lives and the loves of others! The changing of the year often initiates the reflection of our habits, especially any poor ones. Habits involving diet, sleep, and exercise are often considered. For example, my college daughter wants to develop habits of drinking more water and not sleeping in as much. Some of these habits we simply choose to adjust, while others we choose to altogether eliminate.
We should also consider what new habits to introduce. The apostle Paul instructed his protege Timothy “for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come” (1 Timothy 4:8). This week in elementary chapel I talked about habits. There is so much power in the habits we choose. I am so grateful for the daily discipleship training my children have received through Christian schooling. But the greatest fruit came as they individually took their faith and made it their own. That is, they took all of the habits their loving parents and teachers and Pastors have taught (and required of) them, and began to choose habits of following God on their own. The beginning of a new year is a great time to commit to spending time daily through prayer and reading His Word. You may have noticed some new faces helping with morning carline duty this week. Our Junior High boys basketball season just started up. I am coaching one of the teams, and most of our practices are in the morning before school starts. It’s nice to get the practices done for the day, but it also has interrupted my morning devotional routine. And unfortunately, my brain just doesn’t work near as well in the evenings! God is the author of seasons, and He may call each of us to various seasons of life that provide various opportunities to spend time with Him. Still, may we each consider this year how God is standing at the door and knocking, and we just need to take some time to open the door and let him in. *We greatly appreciate those of you who gave generously to our Teacher End-of-the-Year bonuses. We are able to bless all of our staff with a special gift. Your support is greatly appreciated! |
Adam Kronberger
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