— n
1. special emphasis or significance attached to something
2. mental, emotional, or physical strain or tension
3. emphasis placed upon a syllable by pronouncing it more loudly than those that surround it
4. such emphasis as part of a regular rhythmic beat in music or poetry
5. a syllable so emphasized
6. Physics
a. force or a system of forces producing deformation or strain
b. the force acting per unit area
— vb
7. ( tr ) to give emphasis or prominence to
8. ( tr ) to pronounce (a word or syllable) more loudly than those that surround it
9. ( tr ) to subject to stress or strain
10. informal ( intr ) to become stressed or anxious
Stress is an interesting word; it is one of those words that we can use to describe, well, just about anything. It doesn’t matter if it is physical, spiritual, emotional, relational, or anything else, if it is important, significant, valuable, or even purposeful in our lives, then it may result in stress. Now, this can be a good thing or a bad thing, it really is dependent upon how we respond. One way that stress effects me is in my sleep. And well, yes, they make pills for that, but let’s just say that at 4:30 this morning I was wide awake, even after having taken said pill. So I decided to get up, make some tea, and open my Bible.
I opened to Isaiah 53.
He was like a tender shoot out of dry land, He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him, He was despised and rejected, suffered. Yet He took our sins upon Himself, willing to be crushed, oppressed, afflicted, led like a lamb to the slaughter. Why? Because it was God’s will to have His son suffer for me. He experienced greater “stress” than I ever will or can.
Over the last 2 weeks I have found myself having a similar conversation with multiple people, so I figured maybe this is something that lots of people are going through and maybe I should write a little something about it. In the midst of talking with parents I find myself addressing two things. The first, is struggling through life. Sometimes feeling overwhelmed by our schedules and even feeling as if we need to protect our kids from seeing us not happy. But I don’t know that this is the right response.
My first question is ok, you talk to your kids about reading the bible and talking to God about what is happening, how are you doing in this? Are you spending time reading His word? Are you praying and talking to God about this? And 9 times out of 10 the answers is “no, I am not.” And after this is often the comment from the parent I am talking to that “you know, I talk to my kids about reading the Bible and how God will listen to them, but I haven’t been doing it”.
The Second thing I will address later, but for now: Sometimes it is so easy for us to forget our own spiritual life and even forget to practice the simple things we tell our kids they should be doing. So, how are you doing at reading the Word? How are you doing in talking to God? Do your kids see you doing it? Because modeling for them is one of the most powerful tools you have.
How many times have we made plans and had “something happen”? The car breaks down, one of the kids gets sick, a flight is delayed or canceled, the store is out of that last ingredient for dinner, the power goes out. Whatever we have going on in life, there is always a chance that something will happen to throw a wrench into the works. Now, I wasn’t a boy scout, but my wife can attest that I like to be prepared - although I still haven’t convinced her that I need that machete for camping yet. I mean, what if we get lost in the woods and come across a grassy field that I need to hack my way through to get back to safety? Ok, maybe that’s not really so probable, but I like to be prepared - sometimes a little too prepared - to the point that I end up with more than will fit in the car. So my solution? Get a bigger car, right? Get a car top carrier, or a trailer…
Now, at times I find myself living life like this, trying to be prepared. And we should, but within reason. If we stop and think about it, if I was always prepared I would need to drive a 26ft moving truck every day just in case. I hear of people having trouble living life because they get caught up in the “what ifs”. As a part of our adoption orientation there was one major, important thing that was said. “Don’t live life by the what ifs. Plan your lives, schedule & take vacations, visit family. Don’t just sit around waiting for the call, because if you do it will consume you.” I think this is a broader principle that applies to more than just the waiting process of adoption - it applies to everyone, in every stage of life. We need to live our lives as they come, and not around the what ifs that may never materialize.
Matthew 6:25-34
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your lifet?
“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
So, as I mentioned in part 1 of this series, the questions we are attempting to answer are: How is it that we find balance? and How is it that we raise the bar in Kidmin at NOCC? Today we are looking at part 3 of this series, Setting the Vision, Being Creative, and Working Together.
As a pastoral staff, we spend a large amount of time in meetings together, all because we want to work well as a team. We talk through worship services and how different elements work together to enhance or distract in worshiping the Lord. We talk about how different events look on the calendar, what is happening in our individual ministries and how we can help one another out. Much like this we are forming a Parent/Teacher Kidmin Team. The goal of this group is to help look at our goals as a children’s ministry, help us evaluate how we are doing in meeting these goals, help in parent/church communication and, finally, help in writing and developing our fall focus curriculum.
So why have a leadership team? Well, for the same reason we want to have coordinators; because it isn’t about me and my goals and visions. God has called us, as a church, to reach into our community, to share His love. Our goal as a kidmin is not to babysit, but rather to strive toward excellence in everything we do. And, just like a hired staff, we need to work together. We are leaders in the church and within kidmin our goal should be to work together to direct and lead the children. So, if you are interested in being a vital part of the kidmin team and helping us cast vision not just into Sunday mornings, but also into our parents and community, let’s talk and see what part of the puzzle you can help complete.
