Month: May 2020

Do you struggle with knowing how to answer your kids’ questions about faith? Or maybe you just struggle getting them to talk about it at all. And yet it is one of the most vital, close-to-the-heart issues we have as parents – will our kids choose to believe the truth. Or maybe more specifically, will they know and trust Jesus with their life?

In this EPISODE, we talk about some of the responses and approaches to help walk your adolescents and young adults through the process of knowing what they believe.

Here’s some things to remember when responding to their questions:

1. It’s about a person and a relationship. More than a set of ideas, philosophies or tenets, we are talking about getting to know Jesus. It has to start with Him. He’ll walk them through the rest. How are you introducing your children to Jesus?
2. It’s about trust and faith. We aren’t necessarily looking for all the answers, but learning to trust the one who has all the answers. If we really believe God is who He says He is, we’ll trust Him for the unknowns.
3. It’s about personal evaluation and commitment. We’ve got to move from ideas to actions. We have to remind our children that they ultimately are responsible for owning what they believe.

At the end we talked about a whole bunch of resources to guide them:

1. A Study Bible. This is foundational. A few that we really recommend are The CSB Everyday Study Bible, The ESV Study Bible, and net.bible.org.
2. Entry Level Reading. A couple of really accessible reads on belief are Doctrine by Mark Driscoll and Gerry Breshears and Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis.
3. For some deeper, longer reading on these topics, we recommend The Westminster Shorter Catechism, Essential Truths of the Christian Faith by R.C. Sproul, and Knowing God by J.I. Packer.

If you haven’t already, make a plan today to guide your children’s faith development. Be Abnormal!

Thanks for joining us for our 25th EPISODE!! As we enter our seventh month of this podcast, we thought we’d have some fun and offer a bunch of great family game ideas.

We love playing games with our families. Here are some of our very favorites:

1. PANDEMIC – a board game about stopping global viral infections. Currently, a very relevant game.
2. PUERTO RICO – a resource management board game where you have to settle the island of Puerto Rico and export goods.
3. BALDERDASH – A creative game of bluffing that always ends up with some great laughs.
4. THE INDEX CARD GAME (Also known at TELESTRATIONS) – this drawing and writing game always ends with surprises.
5. APPLES TO APPLES – The classic category game.
6. CATCHPHRASE APP – This mobile version of the popular game can be found on Google Play or Apple App Store.

We also talked about games that anyone can play. Here’s some we like:

1. UNO/UNO ATTACK – Getting rid of those cards together!
2. EXPLODING KITTENS – A hilarious unique card game.
3. THE RESISTANCE – Find the spies among you in this dystopian future game.
4. BANANAGRAMS – Like Scrabble but better…and faster.

And lastly we talked about more active games, like…

1. KAN JAM – Throwing frisbees into cans. It’s the best.
2. SARDINES – A more uncomfortable version of hide and seek.
3. WASHERS – What else would you do with washers, but throw them into boxes.

And lastly, we mentioned one of Mark’s family’s favorites – CRANIUM HULLABALOO – which we found out is a popular, out-of-print game. We’re not sure it’s worth the online price tag, but it is fun!

So pick a game and plan a party with your family. And, as always, Be Abnormal!!