FAMILY Archives - Page 10 of 12

Lifeschool 104: Sneaky Strategies For Raising Great Kids

Do you feel like it is difficult to carve out time specifically for your kids when your life is so busy? On this Episode, Caesar and Heath chat with Jay Payleitner–best-selling author and nationally recognized expert on parenting.

Discover how to make time to enter into your child’s world, no matter how busy your schedule may be. Get started now…

Are You Beating Yourself Up With Religion?

If you’re not experiencing the joy and freedom you once did in your faith, it may be that you are beating yourself up with religion instead of believing and living out of the true gospel of grace. Let me explain:

I’ve heard it said that religion is a set of practices and beliefs–a system–of pursuing and maintaining a relationship with God.

Ok, sounds technically right… (more…)

Life in a True Gospel-Centered Community: Kirstan’s Story

Life in a vibrant gospel-centered community –a missional community– is an amazing thing to experience. It’s something I believe we were all created to enjoy. But what does this really look like? How is it different than your current church or small group situation? Let me tell you a true story that will help illustrate the beauty of this.

A Broken Family

Good friends of mine, Greg and Mary, came to faith and become part of our community a few years back. They pretty immediately began to loop others into this life with us as they learned to live as full-time missionaries. One of the very first families that Greg and his wife Mary began to invite into their lives was a 16-year-old girl named Kirstan and her widowed mother, Julianna. They had a pretty rough story. (more…)

Cubs’ World Series Win a Spiritual Experience?

My father and his father prayed for it often: “Please God, let the Chicago Cubs win the World Series…just this once!” But they never witnessed it in their lifetime. But I have. And so has my family.

And it was quite a spiritual experience!

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Is it wrong to pray for your favorite sports team to win? Is that a waste of God’s time or sacrilegious somehow?

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3 Easy Questions Quickly Turn Strangers Into Friends

Making new friends or transitioning a group of unrelated relationships into a community can be a challenge. Or feel uncomfortable. However, people are all the same and desire growing connections within any circle of acquaintances. I want to show you how you can easily help facilitate this.

I have used these three questions many times to break the ice and kill the awkwardness of things. They lead to great conversation, a lot of laughs, and a pretty quickly turn strangers into friends. [Be sure to get my 3 Easy Questions Cheat Sheet.]
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One Way To Help Your Kids Be Less Picky at the Table

If you’re part of a family, you’ve faced it: Picky eaters. And it may be the picky eater in your family stares back at you from the mirror each day! My children weren’t crazy picky about their food, but they sure liked to complain about it.

Recalibrating Our Entitlement Mentality

I did a lot of traveling internationally when my kids were younger. It was not uncommon for God to take me into a warzone or natural disaster for weeks at a time. The things I saw, smelled, tasted–and at times ate–left profound impressions on my life in regards to having an entitlement mentality. (more…)