Mom and Dad, I have a special gift for you! Hopefully you know by know that we are in the middle of a teaching series called "The Good Fight" it is all about the relationship between parents and their kids! One of the things that we are trying to do at Discovery is to help you (the parent) leverage your influence you have with your kids. That is why we have a blog and send e-mail's and letters, and why we are always looking for new opportunities to partner with you and communicate with you...so you can use your God given influence combined with the churches influence so we can make a huge impact into the life of your child!
So, for this series I am giving you a message that you can listen to about fighting for your relationship with your child! All you have to do is click on the title of this blog post or click here. Also if it would be easier for you to listen to it on a CD player...you can pick of a copy anytime during the next to Sundays in the youth room!
I would love to hear what you think about the message!

Here in the U.S., we celebrate a day for mothers, a day for fathers and a day for grandparents. But we never have a celebration for the whole family. But that’s not true elsewhere. Family Day is actually the name of a public holiday set aside to celebrate families. One of the places Family Day is celebrated is in the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Ontario and Saskatchewan. Below are the comments of a Canadian pastor and father of two teenage boys (ages 12 and 16), as he reflected on his Family Day celebration. As you read his words, think about your own family. How could you begin to establish some family celebration into your daily routine this month?
Family Day . . . Every Day by Carey Nieuwhof
We celebrated our first family day in Ontario today . . . a celebration, our
premier says, of family, because families need more time together. Good idea.
We're at the stage in our family where racking up the mileage on the
car is not hard—hockey rules, and right now we're all over the place in
playoffs. Between hockey and work, there's not a lot of time left. But because
time is the key to relationship, and relationship is the key to life in Christ,
we have to think creatively about how we as a family can leverage the time we have.
To me, as the kids get older, the key is not just praying together or
reading the Bible together (that's important and necessary), but the key is
opening a dialogue about faith and life that runs through life. That can be a
lot trickier. Personally, I find conversations about God and life happen best in
the flow of everyday life.
Here's what we do to try to track together at this stage in life (my boys are 16 and 12):
• We eat dinner together almost every night.
• We serve together on Sundays.
• We listen to music together. We let the kids drive the playlist because whatever they choose sure beats four people living together with four iPods running four separate soundtracks.
• I let my 16-year-old drive wherever he's legally allowed because it gives us time together.
• I'm reading through the book of Daniel with Sam (age 12).
• We play board games, watch movies and read in the same space.
• I'm trying not to stay at work too late or let work come home with me too often.
• We try to take several shorter vacations together each year.
This may all sound like pretty normal, unimaginative stuff, but the key to relationship is time. What things do you do with your family? What helps you keep communication with your child wide open?
Mom and Dad...During the month of June I am challenging you to make family time! Be intentional, it will not just happen. You have to make it happen!
I would love to hear your stories of how you had family time this month. Please share your ideas and stories with us!

When it comes to God’s intention for family, there are no ambiguities in Scripture. God desires for children and parents to turn their hearts toward each other and have a relationship. In order to have the good relationship God intends, we have to first learn how to change the fight. We have to stop fighting against “their way” and start fighting for a relationship. We have to surrender our right to be right and take up a new cause. We must prioritize relationship regardless of the cost.

Some scripture to think about for this week:
Malachi 4:6; Luke 1:17

Mom and Dad, I have a special gift for you this weekend! If you will stop by the youth room you can pick it up! I promise it will be worth your time!

All families fight; we just fight in different ways. But regardless of how your family handles disagreements, we can choose what we will fight about. In The Good Fight series, we will begin with the sometimes difficult call to honor our parents, found in Ephesians 6:1. Then we’ll build on that to show that God desires for children and parents to turn their hearts toward each other and have a relationship. In order to have the good relationship with our parents God intends, we have to learn how to change the fight first. We have to stop fighting against "their way" and start fighting for a relationship. That sometimes means surrendering our right to be right and prioritizing relationship regardless of the cost.

This past weekend I asked the Jr. High Students if they had any storm stories they would like to share...I let them write their stories down and they gave them to me at the end of our time together. I was shocked at how many turned in stories...almost 40...Needless to say, I think this was an awesome series, that was totally relevant to them (hello...all of us) So I wanted to share some of them with you...

*My mom on Halloween had to go to the hospital because she had a really bad
reaction to the medicine she was taking. I was on the steps crying but
then i calmed down and prayed to God and asked him to help my mom and that
she wouldn't die. God heard my prayer and saved my mom.

*I just feel empty inside for some reason, I am slipping away from God and
not doing as good in school like i used to. It seems like I get closer to
God and then go away from him...That's my storm story.

*My dad had back cancer and I was really afraid. I thought he was going
to die but then I prayed a lot for him with my family and the cancer went
away. I was really happy.

*I am just coming out of a storm...I got all C's on my report card, my
parents got angry and grounded me!

*I'm in the middle of a storm. It's almost the end of the school year
and i need to raise my two D's up so I can act and go into the 8th grade.
And my friends are mad at me and I want them to apologize so we can be
friends again.

*When my boyfriend dumped me, I seriously didn't know what too do. We
had been together for a year and i was full on head over heels for him. My
heart shattered into a million pieces. But God was there. He was my
comforter and gave me the strength. He healed my heart.

*There is a family that is really close to mine and the father on the family
died. I was so sad and was crying all the time. At the funeral i could not stop crying...I still always feel like i could cry even though it has almost been two years. His wife has been living with us for a while. Now I know he is in a better place.

*A few years ago my brother went to the emergency room. He had a
condition where he had a line in his chest where he got hooked up to
medicine. He was in the hospital for a few months and my mom stayed with
him while he was there. So at home it was me my dad and grandma. It
was very hard. But when he came home everything slowly started to get
back to normal.

*One of my best friends last year was killed in a dirt bike accident. I
try to forget about it but it wont leave me. I visit his family every
couple of weeks. I don't know why God took him away for the world.

*When I was little my dad died. I cried for a long time but then my mom
said that the Lord does everything for a reason. After that I started to
feel better. I still cry about it every once in a while, but i know God
will comfort me.

*My biggest storm, has been my parents divorce. Everything seemed
really nice until I was around seven years old. My parents were never nice
to each other any more, they were always arguing so they moved away from each
other for a half-year then got back together for my sake, but it didn't work out
and they got divorced on my 9th birthday. then my dad found my step mom we
hated each other for a year then things got better, but I still feel weird
around her. My mom goes for the biggest losers on earth, the first
one was a psychopath and the one she is with now has a drinking problem.

*My friend...parents might be getting a divorce soon, I pray for her when she
feels bad.

*At the beginning of the year I was grounded for 4 weeks for something I
didn't do. Also, my grandma is getting sick.

*I'm in a storm right now. My grades aren't good because I don't like
doing homework. I know I need to do it but i can't seem to find the
passion or will to do it.

These are some of their stories...we have learned over the past three weeks that God is with us in the middle of the storms...he has promissed to never leave us. If you are in the midle of a storm, run to God not away from him...He is closer than you think!