ORIGINAL: Jeremiah 29:11
Actually, my wife is totally fine with it. I guess I am just a softy that way. The wife actually does work at a school so she keeps busy.
As far as being a father, I just let God help me do that job. You have to love your kids and have a great relationship, show them God's way then you can
put up barriers for them to follow. Most parents these days don't put up barrier and if they do they expect them to follow them without have a great relationship first.
Of course, then kids rebel.
Can you imagine a football game without rules, the game would be in disarray and dangerous and players would get hurt or killed. Well, that is what is happening to our
kids that are not loved (the reason gangs happen is they want to be part of a family) and don't have rules......they are getting killed.
You know when you let yourself be God centered and not self centered, it is amazing how life goes so much smoother and blessings are sent your way.
No that is a sign of a good relationship. My uncle is having a hard time right now because his middle son joined the Army. Make no mistake he is very proud of him and has no problem with him joining (he is very patriotic), but he misses him because they are so close. I think it helps him when I visit him and my aunt because we are also close, similar to best friends.
I completely agree with you about the mistake parents are making. I see people my age who are parents that refuse to set up barriers because they hated how their parents did set up barriers. When they get to be teenagers, they are going to be monsters. In order for the children to feel completely loved they need both parts, regular love and tuff love. Without the other, they are incomplete.
The reason why I never rebelled against my parents was they did set up reasonable barriers and were supportive when I needed them to be. I respected them because I really felt that they were concerned about my best interests because we trusted each other.
One of the best examples I ever got about what your life is like without God was a flower pot example that a pastor showed me in high school (I went to a private H.S.). "The contents of the flower pot is what your life. People who don't have God have an empty flower pot, but they try to fill it up with money, power, materialism, Brittany Spears (we loved that joke) water represents these things which pours out of the holes, but when we have God the soil then we don't have room for money, power, materialism, more Brittany Spears because they are already fulfilled."