Tag: Family

The House of God

On By cdyeagerwritesIn Children, Devotions, Fatherhood, ParentingLeave a comment

Now when the king was settled in his house, and the LORD had given him rest from all his enemies around him, the king said to the prophet Nathan, “See now, I am living in a house of cedar, but the ark of God stays in a tent.” Nathan said to the king, “Go, do all that you have in mind; for the LORD is with you.”

But that same night the word of the LORD came to Nathan: Go and tell my servant David: Thus says the LORD: Are you the one to build me a house to live in? – 2 Samuel 7:1-5 (NRSV)

Having a place to dwell is critical to so many other things in society.  To be homeless is to be disconnected, unprotected and powerless.  This is not the case with God.  When He makes His home among the people it is so they can connect with Him, be protected by Him and be empowered by Him.  He changes the neighborhood.

David did not get the privilege of building a house for God, but we do get that privilege.  God, through His Son has made our hearts His home.  He asks each of us, “Are you the one to build me a house to live in?” and we say, “With Christ, all things are possible.”  Preparing our children for this mystery is an incredible burden, for the world is hell bent on condemning the house, making it unlivable for a holy God.

To raise a child who believes in the triune God is to prepare Him another home to dwell.  We have the amazing honor of being homebuilders for the living God, contractors for the Creator.  The construction site is changing and growing and needs to be cleaned often.  The tools have been provided by the Master Builder and the instructions are in His holy book.  Let us build good homes for a good God.

Lord, help me be a builder of good homes for Your spirit to dwell.  Help me to be disciplined in this work and help me protect what is built from the corruption of the world. Amen.

A Child of Your Servant

On By cdyeagerwritesIn Children, Devotions, Fatherhood, ParentingLeave a comment

As soon as David returned from killing the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul, with David still holding the Philistine’s head.

“Whose son are you, young man?” Saul asked him. David said, “I am the son of your servant Jesse of Bethlehem.” – 1 Samuel 17:57-58 (NIV)

I love the way David answers Saul.  There is a feeling that David expects Saul to know who Jesse of Bethlehem is, and maybe Saul did know of him, but pride in who David’s father is still comes through.  David’s heritage is part of his identity and he is not afraid to share it, even with the king.  This is another theme that runs through scripture, the individual identifying himself as one in a continuing chain.  While the people we read about in scripture are distinct individuals, they invariably are identified as sons and daughters of mothers and fathers.

This connectivity is falling apart in our society today.  We have so elevated individuality that the bonds of fidelity and family have eroded.  Children are becoming more and more egocentric and society is supporting this shift.  Everything is personalized, customized and individualized.  It is no longer the me generation, it is the ME GENERATION.  This is where we have to step in as followers of Christ and overcome society.

I can’t honestly say that if someone asked my daughters who their daddy was that they would answer, “I am the daughter of Chris Yeager of Redding” and think that was enough.  However, I also don’t think they have any qualms about identifying themselves as my daughters and I hope I never give them reason to.  I hope that I live in such a way that my children can introduce themselves as my children and feel good about it.  I hope that I am getting across how valuable they are to me and that they are very much part of who I am.  I hope they know I love to introduce myself as their father.  And most of all I hope that they will grow to have the same relationship with God.

Lord, help me be the kind of father that my children will respect and honor.  Bind us together with your love and grace.  Let us love one another with greater capacity every day.  Help families find wholeness and strength in one another through your mercy and truth. Amen.

A Family of Our Choosing

On By cdyeagerwritesIn Children, Devotions, Fatherhood, ParentingLeave a comment

But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.  Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me.”  When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her. – Ruth 1:16-18 (NIV)

Family is a funny thing.  While blood is supposedly thicker than water, Ruth proves otherwise.  It was her commitment to Naomi despite blood that gained her a reputation among the Jewish people.  It was her entrance into a family of her choosing that set her apart as honorable and noble.  It was her decision to stay with the family she adored that placed her in the lineage of David and Jesus.

We all have two families; the one we are born into (or adopted into) and the one we chose to be part of.  The family of man and the family of God.  As our children grow in their life with God, they will need to choose to be a part of God’s family.  It is not something they can inherit or marry into; it is something they must choose and keep choosing.  However, it is the responsibility of the family by blood to prepare them for the spiritual family.

This is why it is so important to be part of a community of believers.  It is hard to know how to live with family if you aren’t spending time with them.  Children need to be involved in prayer, worship, service and fellowship.  They will need to learn how to get along with their brothers and sisters in Christ.  Our children are also God’s children, with family responsibilities.  A life with God’s people should begin at home, but it culminates everywhere else.  Hopefully, in this way, we can raise our children to not just to play well with other, but pray well with others.

Lord, help me to raise not just my child, but your child, that they would call you Father and have fellowship with their brothers and sisters.  Help me to love my family into Your larger family.  May all we do as a family fit us for Yours. Amen.

Stuff to Do With Your Kids: Go Fishing

On By cdyeagerwritesIn Children, Fatherhood, ParentingLeave a comment

This one went back in the lake.
This one went back in the lake.

I love going fishing with my daughter.  There are a lot of plusses: beautiful scenery, peace, learning stillness, working on patience together, celebrating success and commiserating in defeat.  And you can bring home some good eating at the end of the day.  How many other activities allow you the range of experiences that you can have fishing?  Not many.

Is it difficult sometimes?  Absolutely.  Challenging? Yes.  Rewarding? Doubly so.  Watching the frustration and disappointment turn to joy and contentment is priceless.  Helping them overcome squeamishness to hook a worm or gut a fish beats any app on any phone any time.  Being there when the eyes go wide and the mouth drops opens as they get the first fish landed can’t be bought without time, patience and untangling a fishing line a few times.

Do it.  Check out the local fishing spots in your area.  Ask people in your church if they like to fish and you will find them quickly.  Get some fishing gear – nothing expensive – and your license and get out there.  It is worth it.

The In Between

On By cdyeagerwritesIn Children, Devotions, Fatherhood, ParentingLeave a comment

Hear my cry, O God; listen to my prayer.

From the ends of the earth I call to you, I call as my heart grows faint; lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

For you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the foe.

I long to dwell in your tent forever and take refuge in the shelter of your wings. Selah – Psalms 61:1-4 (NIV)

It is hard to be in between.  Feeling unsettled, un-rooted, unfamiliar.  Being in that place that fills in the space from where you’ve been and where you are going.  Between now and then, here and there and what is and what shall be we find ourselves realizing how much we need God.  David was a man who understood the time and place in between.

David learned the hard way that the only thing that could fill the in between was God.  It was God alone who made sense of the in between, revealing it as the connective tissue in a life of purpose and meaning.  Instead of the in between being a place of isolation and disorientation, God uses it to reconnect and reorient.  But it is easy for us to get lost in the in between.

If we are not ready for the in between, it can overwhelm us and leave us wandering, hovering in a holding pattern with no place to land in sight.  God uses everything to transform His children, even the in between.  I need to show my children how valuable the in between is before they become professionals at distraction busyness.

It is a common habit to keep children occupied, but I think the better discipline – and the harder to teach – is to teach our children to be content when they are not occupied.  Our society has made whole industries based on distraction for the in between.  We don’t enjoy the quiet of a drive on mountain roads; we pop in a CD or show a movie to keep the kids from tearing each other apart.  But maybe we are missing something.  Maybe our kids will benefit more from seeking what is profitable during their in betweens rather than finding ways to waste time.

Will our children run to the Wii or to the Word?  Do they seek comfort in the still small voice or the next track on the CD?  Are they following friends on Facebook or following Jesus?  Are they filling the empty space of in between with distractions or with the things of God?  What do my children see me do with the in between? (That one stings!)

I want the in between in my life and lives of my children to be rich and meaningful and time well spent.  I want to look back and see how the in between connected the crisis and celebrations and calms of our life together into a storyline of purpose and power and meaning.  I want to see what the time of longing for God’s refuge and being securely in the midst of His refuge looks like.

Lord, help me to live fully in the in between.   May I lead my children well in making use of the time instead of wasting it.  Show our family how You move in the in between and let us linger as long as You need us to. Amen.

Stuff to Do With Your Kids: Raise a Fish

On By cdyeagerwritesIn Children, Fatherhood, ParentingLeave a comment

If you have ever gone to a fair or carnival you have probably seen the game where you toss the ping pong balls onto a table loaded with tiny fish bowls.  Sometimes they have fish in the bowls, sometimes they keep the fish somewhere else, but the end result if you win is a goldfish in a bag for you to take home and figure out what you are going to do with it.  This has happened a few times with my daughter and I and I am glad the ping pong ball landed in the fish bowl each time.

Taking care of these fish has been a great experience for my daughters and me.  They are learning what it means to be responsible for someone else’s well-being and livelihood, they have a beautiful fish to watch at night as they are drifting off to sleep and it doesn’t cost an arm and a leg.  Our goldfish, Carly, started out as one of those fair fish just 1 ½ inches long and is now 5 ½ inches long and growing.  She (if it is a she) even comes to the top of the tank when you walk in the room and begs for food like a dog.  Carly is part of the family now.

Raise a fish.  Take in a hamster.  Shelter a parakeet.  Having a pet is a great thing for the whole family and provides experiences and lessons you can’t get any other way.

A Thirst for God

On By cdyeagerwritesIn Children, Devotions, Fatherhood, Parenting4 Comments

As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God.

My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?

My tears have been my food day and night, while men say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”

These things I remember as I pour out my soul: how I used to go with the multitude, leading the procession to the house of God, with shouts of joy and thanksgiving among the festive throng.

Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me?

Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. – Psalm 42:1-5 (NIV)

 

I wonder sometimes if I am doing enough as a father to instill a thirst for God in my children.  Do I set an example of dependence on God day after day?  Have I planted the idea in them that sometimes the only way to appreciate a cool drink is to know what it is like to be really thirsty?  I have to admit that I don’t know.  While I am certainly working on moving closer to Christ, I can’t give you a measurement of how far I have to go.  I am stilling learning what it is to thirst for God.

That isn’t such a bad place to be, I guess.  Maybe it is okay for my girls to see that I’m not perfect and that I am still working on what it is to follow Jesus.  Or maybe it is okay for me to be okay with them seeing my imperfection.  That is one of the most notable characteristics of the Psalms; their transparent honesty.  Yet that honesty is always tempered with truth.  It is why the downcast soul can put its hope in God.

So I will live imperfectly with my children, transparent and honest about my life with God, but always rooted in the truth.  That sounds like a good way to instill a thirst for God in all of us.

Lord, help us to live honestly together as a family.  Give us a thirst for You above all other things.  Amen.

God of all Creation

On By cdyeagerwritesIn Children, Devotions, Fatherhood, Parenting2 Comments

The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters. – Psalms 24:1-2 (NIV)

We hear in the news about the extravagantly rich, the exorbitantly wealthy, but even they have limits.  In history, kings and kingdoms have expanded across the globe, but all of them have come to ruin sooner or later.  The fights over what belongs to who eat away at our communities, neighborhoods and families.  Ownership is a funny thing, for it can help or hinder us depending on our perspective.

The world sees ownership almost solely in the context of rights. Scripture, however, sees ownership as stewardship. The one who owns something is responsible for how he handles that something.  The parable of the talents comes to mind.  The Psalmist understands this in the greater context and states it clearly, “The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it.”

We are in a constant conflict with the world as it tries to convince our children that they have rights to certain things.  We will be hard pressed to instill in them a sense of responsibility and gratitude for everything they have.  Our lives will be marked not be spent in seeking ways to make more money, but investing more in our children and their life with God.  If we can plant in their hearts the seeds of truth about everything belonging to God, we will help them have much happier lives.

Lord, help me avoid the consumerism and greed in the world around me.  Keep me from striving after things that fade and rust.  Let me live my life with the knowledge that everything belongs to You and help me teach that truth to my children.  Amen.

Provider

On By cdyeagerwritesIn Children, Devotions, Fatherhood, ParentingLeave a comment

He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he enables me to stand on the heights.  He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze.  You give me your shield of victory, and your right hand sustains me; you stoop down to make me great.  You broaden the path beneath me, so that my ankles do not turn. – Psalms 18:33-36 (NIV)

The father has been in the role of provider in most cultures during the course of human history.  Whether that was carried out by hunting, gathering, commerce or trade, he was responsible for supplying his family with the means to barter for goods and services that supported an acceptable lifestyle.  This has slowly become more about money.

It is an easy trap to fall into.  We can get too focused on our earning power and lose sight of our providing power. They are two very different things.  While our responsibility to care for the needs of our children is clear, the way to do so can be muddied by cultural pressures.  God put us in the lives of our children to love them, encourage them and build them up in the same way He does for His children.  He does not put us in our children’s lives to earn more money to buy them more stuff.

The Psalmist found comfort and safety in serving a God who cared for him in ways he could not care for himself.  He took joy in belonging to a God who fends for him, empowers him and takes action on his behalf.  God provides exactly what we need and we have the privilege to pass that along to our children.

Lord, help me to keep my eyes on providing what my children truly need and not on what the world tries to bait me with.  Give me a heart that trusts wholly in Your love and grace.

Amen.