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This excerpt from Episode 65 – Making the Cut discusses the importance and character building benefits of getting your child involved in extracurricular activities.

We live in what they call the “Recommendation Age”. The volume of information and options we have at our fingertips is mind-boggling. So we need others to help us curate what we read, wear, watch, eat, and care about!

Over the years of being a leader, pastor, and now podcaster, I’ve found myself more and more often being one of those curators. I often hear myself saying, “I recommend [insert relevant book or resource here].” Recently, I’ve caught myself particularly recommending a few books over and over again. I find these books personally, spiritually, and parentally helpful.

So if you are looking for a good read or resource, I particularly recommend:

• 12 Ways Your Phone Is Changing You by Tony Reinke. I call this a “theology of technology”. This is the best book I’ve read about dealing with the phone/media/technology issue. We also discuss this book in ITN Episode 1: Raising Abnormal Kids!
• Growing With by Kara Powell and Steven Argue. This research based resource book has been so helpful in navigating the transition from adolescence to young adulthood as I parent my children and encourage others. We discuss this book in detail in ITN Episode 3
• Voddie Baucham’s book Family Driven Faith – Voddie’s book greatly influenced a lot of parenting decisions I have made. We review this book in ITN Episode 50.

These three books have challenged and shaped my thinking on some of the most pressing and important issues of raising my children for Christ in our current culture. Check one of them out this week.

This excerpt from Episode 64 – Are My Kids On Track REVIEW is about some of our favorite road trips.

While that doesn’t have anything to do with the main idea of that episode, we did wonder what has been one of your favorite road trips? Leave your stories in the comments!

We love interacting with and helping parents, but we don’t have it all figured out. We run into roadblocks, challenges, and failures with the young people in our lives all the time.

One thing we often mention is how important communication is with young people – learning how to listen, ask the right questions, be available. But I [Mark] have one particular young person in my household who challenges that all of the time. When I ask open ended questions to foster communication and relationship, I often get the answer “I don’t know?”. I’ve had to figure out better and different strategies (and employ a lot of patience) to continue fostering open communication with this child.

We are still learning, and we want to share that journey with you so you can learn along with us. The famous aerospace engineer Wernher von Braun once said, “Research is what I’m doing when I don’t know what I’m doing.” And that attitude got us to the moon! So don’t let the “I don’t know”s make you feel like a failure; let’s turn those around!

I was reading in 1 Corinthians this week and chapter 2 reminds us that we are to be “explaining spiritual things to spiritual people.” (vs 13). However, we cannot do that by our wisdom, but we must humbly seek the wisdom that only comes from God. So here are three steps to take this week as you continue raising your children for Christ:

• Be honest. Don’t be afraid to admit when you know! Humility begets openness from others.
• Search together. As we or our children have questions about faith, life, our world, or their struggles, we must foster a culture where we search for the answers in the right place. Take your children on that journey with you. When you are a part of the process, you own the answer.
• Make it spiritual. Our ultimate goal is not just to have fully-functioning, self-sufficient humans, but to lead our children to live surrendered lives following Christ the King. Pray for and with your children. Share Scripture with your children. Talk about your spiritual journey. Ask them about their spiritual journey. And welcome questions about their faith, because that means they are thinking about spiritual things. And that is the goal!

We’d love to connect with you and be on the journey with you. You can comment on this post, reach out to us through our Facebook or Instagram accounts, or email us direct at connect@isthatnormal.org. Until next time, Be Abnormal!

Here at the Is That Normal? Podcast, we are always looking for great resources to help engaged parents.

Rob Morgan’s book Moments for Families with Prodigals is a fantastic source of encouragement for us as we wrestle through our children’s journey of faith.  It contains over one hundred short devotional thoughts from Scripture to help us stay grounded in truth and focused on hope. 

In case you missed it, check out our episode 63 – Should You Die On That Hill? where we mention Rob’s book and discuss the tensions of dealing with our children’s doubts.

Last April on Episode 23 of our podcast, we discussed the phenomenon of YouTube celebrities and particularly looked at the deconversion from Christianity stories of Rhett and Link, who had shared those stories on their podcast EarBiscuits.

Just a few weeks ago, Rhett and Link each took turns sharing their “one year later” stories, particularly sharing and critiquing the intersection of faith with the cultural occurrences of 2020. You can listen to Rhett’s updated story here and Link’s here, although I again would caution you in letting your children listen to it.

That being said, I believe as parents and Christians it would be good for us to listen to these stories. These are two guys who were not just casually attending church, but involved in leadership, discipleship, and evangelism. They were engaged with the church and faith in the way we would hope our children and young adults would be. So I think it is important for us to hear some of their turning points and criticisms so we can help our own children navigate them.

Here are a few of the big issues I heard them bring up:

• That Christianity is an ideology. They often described Christianity as a set of beliefs to govern our lives. They also pointed out that the vein of Christianity they were involved in put a lot of emphasis on intellectualism and knowledge. Rhett particularly stated that his walk away from faith was one of rational decisions about what he thought was true (More on that in a minute). The concern I see with this point is that, while God gave us a brain to know and understand things, He also gave us His Son and His Spirit so we could know a real and personal God who is near us and wants a relationship with us. God isn’t an impersonal rule-maker or a philosophy to be understood. He is real and that reality must be pointed out and lived out in front of our children.
• That truth is something I must discover and decide. Modern and Post-modern thought has said we are the finder and creator of what is true. In that worldview, man is the ultimate authority. This concept is heard loudly in these guys’ story. The problem with this viewpoint is the finite and flawed nature of man. We cannot be the originator of truth. We must look to a source and authority outside of ourself. Just because I think or feel something, doesn’t make it true.
• That the response of the church to social justice and cultural issues is uncaring. There have been so many difficult and divisive situations occur over the last year. Rhett and Link both point out that in many of these Christians have seemed to either be silent or on the opposite side of caring about marginalized people. I think this one is a very complex criticism. Yes, there are those examples out there of those claiming Christ who have said and done awful things. Also, I agree that there is a level of apathy in the Western church, and we definitely have room to learn and grow. However, I also have seen glowing examples of churches caring for those who are vulnerable. So, to this point I would say we should own and confess our shortcomings, admitting our imperfection. And then we should point everyone to a perfect Savior, who has agreed to deal with my and your sins for the bringing of ultimate peace!

We want to encourage you to keep living in the tension of faith and culture with the young people in your life. Love them. Be patient with them. Talk them through these pitfalls and keep pointing them to Christ, the author and perfecter of our faith. Be Abnormal!

One of the overarching principles in fostering a continuing faith in the lives of teenagers and young adults is to ask good questions…and then listen. One of the biggest fears in this principle is the concern about how to answer some of the questions that young people ask us back!

Good news: You don’t have to have all the answers, but you should be committed to finding those answers together!

Last week’s podcast was a highlight of several podcasts we like to listen to. Just last week, I listened to an episode of the Bible Project Podcast with my son that was a Q&A about a series they did on the Family of God. It was fascinating, informative, and sparked a great discussion full of more questions!

The Bible Project podcast and subsequent material is a great resource for helping young people and adults dig deeper into the truths of the Bible. Check it out. Listen to some episodes with the young people in your life. Ask good questions. Have great conversations. Be Abnormal!

This excerpt from Episode 61 – What To Do When Your Family is at DEFCON 2! shares some action steps as we formulate new ideas of what family connections should look like.

Until next week, forge relationships and Be Abnormal!

Last week’s podcast episode had us discussing the changing family structures in modern culture. Particularly we pointed out how the loss of the nuclear family model is not necessarily all bad. In case you missed it, check out Episode 61 – What To Do When Your Family is at DEFCON 2!

We were greatly inspired by an article written by David Brooks for The Atlantic called “The Nuclear Family Was a Mistake”. If you want to dig deeper into the concepts from our podcast, take the time to read Brooks’ compelling piece.

Until next time, Be Abnormal!

This excerpt from Episode 60 – “With Just Cause” overviews some of the benefits and dangers of causes for young people.

Until next week – engage in great conversations about causes and Be Abnormal!