Parenting Today's Teens

No doubt about it, parenting teens is a whole different ballgame than parenting younger kids...and it can get ugly sometimes.

Mark Gregston is an author, speaker, national radio host, and the founder of the Heartlight Residential Counseling Center for Struggling Teens, which is a Christian based resource for parents dealing with the many new challenges that this time of life brings.

I love this quote from one of his posts:

If you believe God is in control of all things, then your situation is not hopeless. And, we can help you get through it. But a first step is to look to see if God may be calling you to do something different in your own life. This isn’t to say that you’ve caused the current problem, but what you do and don’t do now can be a catalyst for it continuing, or getting to the other side of it.

Check out his blog:

Parenting Today's Teens

Modern Heraldry

If you've decided somewhere along the line that you would like to put together a coat of arms for your family, but you just don't have the time to devote to learning about heraldry and putting it together, there are a few services on the web you can use.

Even though I've put together my own Coat of Arms, I'm thinking of using a service to produce a "grant" that I can hand down to my kids.

Check out one resource here:

ModernHeraldry.com

Buying a Sword

I've mentioned before that I decided to present my oldest son a sword for one of the stages of his progression towards manhood.

Well, he was supposed to receive it a year ago (I'm starting to detect a trend here) but I am just now to the point where I am ready to purchase his sword and arrange a ceremony.

As far as sword buying goes, it is not for the uninitiated. There are lots of nuances and pitfalls to choosing the right weapon. The best place to start researching is definitely:

Sword Buyers Guide .com

Here you will find a primer on sword basics and terminology, "war stories" on what can wrong when buying a sword, reviews of several manufacturers as well as specific swords, guides for various types and styles, an online magazine, even a forum area. Everything you need to get started is there.

After pretty extensive research I decided to go with The Warspike: Knight Longsword. It's a “hybrid” Hand-and-a-Half Medieval sword with a hand-forged, High-carbon steel, fully heat tempered, "battle-ready" full tang blade from StrongBlade. (yeah, that's a mouthful...check out SBG to understand what all that means)

I'll probably post a review of the experience once I receive and present it to him. But in the meantime, my advice is to start early with any ceremonies you may be planning!

An Incredible Football Journey

The Cardinals were not expected to be in the SuperBowl. But former SuperBowl MVP Kurt Warner had different ideas.

He's a great player who is also humble and has a real relationship with Jesus Christ which he is not afraid to tell others about.

Here's a few links to "all things Kurt":

Kurt Warner on Wikipedia

An Incredible Football Journey from Focus on the Family

KurtWarner.org

A Note to Fathers

Sometimes encouragement comes from unusual sources. Here's a re-post of an Elisabeth Elliot admonition via a homeschool mom's blog called Mommy Life.

I'm not going to be judgmental of the source, I'm only going to acknowledge it's good advice.

A Note to Fathers

Are you depriving your son of his sonship? "Hey! Hold it. What?..." Hebrews 12:7 says, "Can anyone be a son who is not disciplined by his father? If you escape the discipline in which all sons share, you must be bastards and no true sons" (NEB). Do you love your son or daughter enough to say no and hold to it? Would you, by cowardliness that fears to make a rule (perhaps because "nobody else" believes in it) treat your child as though you cared no more about him than you would care about a bastard?

But there are some words of caution. "Fathers, don't over-correct your children, or make it difficult for them to obey the commandment. Bring them up with Christian teaching in Christian discipline" (Ephesians 6:4, PHILLIPS).

This reminds me of the way in which the Lord teaches us. He is so patient with us who are so "slow-of-heart." The Shepherd does not make it hard for the sheep to walk in the right paths. He is always trying to make it easier for them, but they balk, they wander off, they don't listen. Children as well as adults are like sheep. They go astray. Fathers are meant to be shepherds. Don't overcorrect. "You fathers must not goad your children to resentment, but give them the instruction, and the correction, which belong to a Christian upbringing" (same verse, NEB). It's balance that is needed. Correct them, teach them. Don't go to extremes. Ask God for wisdom. It's too big a job for any ordinary human being. Look at God as a Father. How does He deal with us? Try to follow His pattern.