Because I Need One

I recently received a solicitation to view an online parenting book. The book was titled, "A Father's Guide To Raising Daughters". However, it was the subtitle that intrigued me, "A Father's Guide To Raising Daughters: Because I Need One!!!" I felt better knowing that I was not the only one who failed to receive the instruction manual for my kids when they were born. For a while I thought I had figured out a lot of things about raising boys, that is until our second son was born. Even though both of our children are boys, they are nothing alike. They are 7 and 4 years old now, but my wife and I could tell they were two completely different individuals within the first year. They each have their own personality, they express love differently, and they respond to discipline differently just to name a few. So, what we do is take the things that we know and learn/figure out how to adapt them to work with each of our sons. Parenting is certainly an adventure. 

 Back in December, I graduated with a Master's Degree in Church Leadership. We learned some great principles and my leadership is still being stretched. What I have come to realize over the last few months is that churches are like my children. There are things we know that we need to do, but each church responds differently. If one can survive it, the adventure is discovering how a particular church family responds to love, discipline, etc. After serving six years as lead pastor at Christ Fellowship Church, I am still enjoying the adventure. Things would have been easier if I had just had an instruction manual, but there is a lot that I would have missed out on. Part of the fun for all of us as a local church is regularly discovering new things about each other and ourselves. I am looking forward to the next six years and beyond. God has been GOOD to us and I know there are a lot of things he wants to accomplish through us. At times, I still would like a manual, but God helps me to gain the knowledge I need when I need it. It helps me to stay close to Him.

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