Family Time Picks for January and February

A.W. Pink once said: "The Bible is not designed for lazy people.  Truth has to be bought (Prov. 23:23), but the slothful and worldly minded are not willing to pay the price required. That "price" is intimated in Proverbs 2:1-5: there must be a diligent applying of the heart, a crying after knowledge, a seeking for an apprehension of spiritual things with the ardour and determination that men employ when seeking for silver; and a searching for a deeper and fuller knowledge of the truth such as men put forth when searching for hid treasures - persevering until their quest is successful - if we would really understand the things of God.  Those who complain that these articles are "too difficult" or "too deep" for them, do but betray the sad state of their souls and reveal how little they really value the truth; otherwise they would ask God to enable them to concentrate, and reread these pages perseveringly until they made their contents their own.  People are willing to work and study hard and long to master one of the arts or sciences, but where spiritual and eternal things are concerned it is usually otherwise."

How true his words were and very much still are today. How many times have I been told: "I've gone as deep as I want to go," or "I don't have time to read the Bible," or "I have other things I have to do," or "Look at all the ministry things I do and how I serve at church... that is how I serve God", or how many people simply read the Bible without meditating on its truths or even think about what it means to apply it to their life? Today's culture has lost the love of simply being alone with God and seeking Him.

Does it take time? Yes. Does it take discipline and determination? Yes. Is it worth it? Absolutely. Is the wisdom gained worth as much as gold and silver? It is worth much more!  Sadly, convincing others of that truth is not easy. Even though (as the western church) we say we are christians, where we we prioritize our time paints a much different picture. Statistically we are spending 40+ hours a week watching TV (and that doesn't include the time spent on the web, playing video games, reading novels, sports, etc...). Jesus takes a back seat to our other priorities. Where our time and money is... there is where our hearts are.

We want our children to grow up with the mind of Christ, with a insatiable love for the Word of God, with a love FOR God which translates into habitually spending time with Him, meditating on and memorizing His word. We want them to see the world how God sees it, to love people how Christ loves people, and to humbly serve Him with their lives. We want them to know about and study the great minds and missionaries of the past (Baxter, Bunyan, Bradford, and the puritans, Edwards, Calvin, Waldo, McCheyne, Murray, Augustine, Brother Andrew, Brother Yun, Mueller, and countless more). We want to teach them to work hard, study hard, and to be men and women of virtue. We want to pass the truths of the faith on to them through a lifestyle of discipleship which is what we see illustrated in Deuteronomy 6:4-9. Home schooling Discipleship allows us to pour our time into our children, molding them, training them, teaching them, and demonstrating the love of Christ to them.

Do we struggle and fail? Epically and every day. We constantly have to repent and seek forgiveness from our children and our Lord as He sheds light on our shortcomings. We constantly "examine ourselves" to make sure we are in the faith (2 Cor. 13:5). But is that an excuse to give up? No. Is it hard? Yes. Is it exhausting? Yes. Is it worth it? Yes! Do we have it all figured out? No we do not. With much prayer we seek to know how to raise our children in this manner as we plow through this unbroken ground hoping to pave a family legacy for generations to come. We read books and follow blogs by others who had this vision. We seek other families and listen to teachings from Godly men who are leading their families, pouring into their children, and washing their wives with the water of the word. But we also thank God for the resources that are available to us. Especially, because in the eyes of this culture (and EVEN in the eyes of the typical western church) we are extremists who "take the Word too far.."  Our "friends", family members, acquaintances, and even those within the typical church see us as that family: You know, the weird, unsocialized homeschoolers who eat weird, take the Bible too seriously, have a ba-jillion kids, reject dating and encourage courtship, make-people-want-to-sin, etc... you know.... we are THAT family. So to have a community of believers who have the same vision is invaluable!

But while we are serious about God's Word and giving them a Biblical worldview, it does not mean that it is a "dry" and super-serious undertaking that bores our kids to death... quite the opposite. There is so much wonderful, biblically-founded media out there and we are always looking for more things to learn from. But finding a place to start can be overwhelming, so I wanted to share some things that have blessed our family time so far this year! We are fortunate to have resources available to help immerse our family in the truth of God's Word and the application of it to everyday life! These resources have been so fun the last several weeks, and while we don't do them ALL EVERYDAY, we have routinely used all of them the past couple of months.

Balancing the Sword - This is a 2 volume set that gives questions/answers for every chapter of the Bible. It is filled with awesome illustrations and quotations from a variety of Christ followers of old. We use it to ask the kids questions about their daily Bible readings from their chronological reading plan and their monthly Proverbs reading plan.

Trial and Triumph - This is a book with several biographies of people in church history. It has been a great family read-a-long spurring many great discussions. From Peter Waldo, Augustine, Anselm, Bunyan, St. Patrick, etc. there are 46 biographies and you are sure to learn a lot!


Dangerous Journey - This is a great retelling of Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress with AWESOME illustrations! Another great read-a-long stirring great family discussions!

How A Spider Saved A Man's Life and 51 Other Spurgeon Stories - We love C. H. Spurgeon and this little, fun book of children's stories is just great! They are concise, interesting, and keep our kids wanting us to read several at a sitting. There are great lessons to be learned from each story.  There is also a 2nd volume by the same author that we will definitely be getting!

The Peleg Chronicles - This series of 3 books is set in post-Babel times where paganism abounds. But there are some who still believe in Noah's God! The Bible speaks of huge beasts and giant people... what would it have been like to live back then??? Join us in reading about dwarfs, dragons, giants, and the faithfulness of a few in this series. These novels are packed with scripture and action. My 10 year old and I are reading them now. My 7 year old will begin soon. We are loving this series!

How to Disciple Your Family - a 200 Year Plan - I got my husband this DVD series for Christmas and we are carefully working through it. It has been great in giving us a model for family discipleship, prayer points for our kids and generations to come, a family catechism, etc... Doug Phillips and Geoffry Botkin are the presenters on the DVD's. Both of them are great teachers and examples of fathers who are raising godly children. I would definitely recommend this series (and almost anything that Vision Forum sells)!

The Kingdom Series - Wow... what can I even say about this series to do it justice? This is a series of 6 books (we purchased the audiobook version) that is a medieval parallel to the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. Be sure to click on the link to read more about the plot... but I highly recommend this! The audio (drama) books are SOOOOOO well done! Because our family tends to spend a lot of time on the road, we listen to it in the truck during our hour long trips between here and out west. The story has ALL of us captivated and sitting on the edge of our seats! It is really worth the money! I love how the audiobook allows us all to enjoy it together! Even our 2 year old begs us to turn it on!

Well, there you have it! These are the resources that are blessing us at the moment! What are your family's favorites????

Train up a child....

Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6

Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.  Ephesians 6:4

And these words I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children and talk about them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. Deuteronomy 4:6-9

These are only a few of the many scriptures that apply to parenting. Truth be told, the Lord has much to say to us as parents; He does not send us out "blindly" as we strive to raise our children.  I have heard many people say that "Kids do not come with an instruction manual." I would beg to differ. We have God's Word which is readily accessible in our country. We have a whole 66 books in which the Lord has spoken to us.  The question is, do you use your manual? Most people do not. Most people would rather turn to the newest "self-help" book, talk show host, or whatever friend who will listen to get advice in raising their children.

I'm not going to take the time to go into an indepth word study here, but look at the language used in the above scriptures: "Train up", "Bring them up", "Discipline", "Instruction", "Teach them DILIGINTLY"... The terminology here does not indicate a passive role for us parents in raising godly offspring. It is quite the opposite. We are to have an intentional, active, planned, and systematic approach in teaching our children the scriptures. In addition to that, the scriptures should be such a part of our own lives that we should recognize the Lord in our daily activities and use those moments to teach our children even more about Him.

If my plan was to run a marathon, I would have to "train".... "diligently".  I would not be able to complete the race if I only ran on Sunday mornings and the occasional Wednesday evening.  Even if I ran twice on Sunday and every Wednesday it would not be enough to prepare me for the race. The same applies to teaching our children the scriptures and correct Biblical doctrine. A couple of times a week for an hour here and there will not cut it. Furthermore, it is not the church's job to teach your children about God. It is your job. So, where do you start?

Most people probably did not grow up with parents who modeled what the previous verses instruct. If you grew up with that model, give thanks and praise to God, then tell your parents what a gift that they gave to you! But even if you did not have that model, ignorance is no excuse and it is not "bliss". ...because you have ignored my counsel and would have none of my reproof... Prov. 1:25; As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passion of your former ignorance... 1 Peter 1:14; The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now He commands all people everywhere to repent... Acts 17:30 Your first step is to acknowledge that you have fallen short in obeying His commands and repent. (The Lord gives grace to the humble). We must humbly admit that we were wrong and need His help in bringing up our children. We need to ask for His guidance and wisdom in understanding the scriptures for ourselves, as well as wisdom in teaching them to our children.  Then, it is time to get busy in studying the Word.

Thankfully, we have the Spirit to help us in our understanding of the Word. God has also provided us with mentors, pastors, and other Godly people to help guide us. Pray that He would bring a mentor into your life. These "mentors" can also come in the form of books (just make sure that you are careful in selecting your sources and that you are a "Berean" (Acts 17:11). There is a lot of false theology available... even and especially in the "Christian" category). 

I recommend that you read through the Bible systematically. There are many reading plans available for free online. (I prefer the chronological plan.) In January, all of my independent readers (9, 6, & 5) began reading through their "Bible in a Year" plan. This is something we will always be doing in our home. Each time you read through your Bible, you learn more and are even more familiar with the Word. I have read through the Bible many times and each time, something "new" speaks to me. God's Word is living and active and I love that! I also recommend that you start memorizing scripture.... a lot of it! Memorize verses that will help you in areas that you are prone to temptation in. (Psalm 119:11). Memorize with your children! I could spend a lot of time on this subject too.... but......

.....What I really wanted to talk about on this post is catechism (note... this is not the same thing as catholic sunday school which is what most readily comes to mind when "catechism" is mentioned).. So what is "catechism"? It is a guide in Q & A format designed to teach fundamental principles of religion. When we "catechize" our children, we are teaching them to memorize the answers. When they have learned it well, they will have a good, thorough, understanding of the Christian doctrine.  Richard Baxter (a puritan preacher) visited each of the families in his congregation annually and examined them by evaluating how well children and parents knew the catechism. According to "A Quest for Godliness; The Puritan Vision of the Christian Life", Baxter claimed to have more outward signs of success in demolishing the kingdom of darkness among his church members through this practice than through all his public preaching to them. In other words, teaching our children a catechism is a good tool to use in passing on the Christian truths. 

How does this work? As we ask our kids the questions and teach them the answers, we also talk about those answers and use scripture to support them. My favorite catechism questions have to do with the 10 commandments. Being just a summary of God's law, their requirements are so much DEEPER than "thou shalt not kill...." When we study them more in depth, we learn what the 6th commandment requires, forbids, and allows for. When we study the 7th commandment, we learn that it also forbids all unchaste thoughts, words, and actions.... not just "don't have an affair"...  So in going through the questions, we gain (and give our children) a much broader understanding of who God is, what the scriptures teach, and how we are to live.

There are many catechism resources available, but these are some of our favorites:

      Truth and Grace Books (TAG books) - These little books are a great, concise, asset to help your little ones memorize verses, memorize catechism questions, and memorize hymns. Book 1 is for ages 2 through the 4th grade. Book 2 picks up from there (grades 5-8), and subsequently book 3 continues for grades 9-12. The books are set up with goals for each year and spaces to "sign off" on once the requirement is completed.

       Wesminster Shorter Catechism - This book contains all of the Q & A's as well as great commentaries, scripture references, illustrations, and discussion questions.  We use it in combination with Training Hearts Teaching Minds.

        Training Hearts Teaching Minds - This book takes each question and spends a week (6 days) expounding on it in the format of a family devotional.  If you go through the book as written, you will complete it in 2 years.  The devotionals are short, and our family works through it at a bit faster pace than that, but you are free to customize it to your family.

         Westminster Catechism Songs CD's - This is a new, fun item we just added to our library.  The artist has 4 cd's in which she covers all of the questions, setting them all to catchy tunes on her guitar.  My kids have so much fun singing them... I just had to post a video of them being silly to share!

 So I encourage you to start today in studying the scriptures with your kids!!!!  What are your family's favorite scripture helps????