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Keeping Christ at the Center During Busy Seasons · Equipped for Impact

0:08
Nate: Welcome to Equipped for Impact, the podcast designed to assist Christian parents, leaders and educators to raise up the next generation, to stand firm in their faith and influence the world.
0:19
Nate: For Christ, we're your hosts.
0:21
Nate: I'm Nate and I'm Luis, so let's get started, y'all.
0:26
Nate: It is May by the time that this is coming out, and so, if your calendar looks anything like ours, it is full All of the end of year things, end of year projects, spring sports, youth group, church events, all the award ceremonies, programs, the different things, you name it.
0:45
Nate: We're in the middle of all of that activity and it's easy to feel like we're drifting spiritually during this time.
0:53
Nate: So today we are talking about keeping Christ at the center during busy seasons, just like this.
1:02
Nate: So, Luis, I mean, we'll just pitch it over to you Like, how do you start looking at this?
1:07
Nate: Like, what are you thinking as we talk about coming to these busy times of year?
1:12
Luis: Yeah, let's be clear we're not adding guilt or pressure, right.
1:16
Luis: So we are right in the middle of this.
1:18
Nate: That's exactly right.
1:19
Luis: And so, nate and I, we've been talking about how do we keep Christ at the center by abiding in him, especially when life feels chaotic.
1:28
Luis: And let's call it what it really is right Life gets crazy.
1:33
Luis: Exactly right.
1:34
Luis: We have a saying in our home right now that we're in that season of life where you either eat dinner at like 4 o'clock or you eat at like 10 o'clock, like there's no in between.
1:44
Luis: You're rushing out the door, you're juggling cleats, you're juggling backpacks, you're wondering if dinner will be at chick-fil-a or if it's cereal, yeah, definitely chick-fil-a.
1:54
Nate: Or ramen, oh nope, chick-fil-a.
1:57
Nate: We're going with chick.
1:57
Nate: It's the lord's chicken.
1:58
Nate: You've got to go with chick-fil-a and.
2:00
Luis: but see sometimes that chick-fil-a line is so long that it could derail your plans, but they have it down to a science.
2:06
Nate: So, you get through that line so fast.
2:08
Nate: Use the mobile app and mobile through.
2:10
Nate: You can skip the line.
2:11
Luis: You're right, and it's easy to get caught in the cycle of doing everything.
2:15
Luis: But see, the most important thing is staying centered on Christ.
2:19
Nate: Yeah, and I like that.
2:19
Nate: You started off with that idea of abiding.
2:22
Nate: That comes straight from John.
2:24
Nate: You started off with that idea of abiding, right, that comes straight from John.
2:27
Nate: Right, jesus is there.
2:29
Nate: Of course we're coming up on Easter.
2:32
Nate: This episode will air after Easter, but we're recording it before Easter and they're in that time, like right before Jesus is going to the cross.
2:37
Nate: He's given his disciples clear, specific teaching and especially in the book of John, it's just one chapter after the next of his teaching with his disciples that night that he's betrayed.
2:50
Nate: And in John, chapter 15, is this long section where Jesus talks about abiding and he says in verses four and five abide in me and I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine.
3:06
Nate: Neither can you, unless you abide in me.
3:09
Nate: I am the vine, you are the branches.
3:12
Nate: Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me, you can do nothing.
3:22
Nate: So that's a very often quoted passage.
3:24
Nate: Right, it's got this poetic feel.
3:26
Nate: But it's not just poetic language, it's a symbol, it's an illustration of talking about.
3:32
Nate: It's our survival If we want to remain spiritually producing fruit and healthy.
3:39
Nate: And all of that, the number one thing we need to do is abide in him.
3:43
Nate: He doesn't say right.
3:46
Nate: He doesn't say try harder, do more.
3:48
Nate: He says abide, come to me and abide, and that's really what we need to do as a family.
3:55
Luis: And we've said this before discipleship doesn't happen accidentally and it doesn't happen in a vacuum.
4:00
Luis: Right, it takes intention, but it's not supposed to be complicated.
4:05
Luis: It's about staying connected to the vine, not adding more to your plate.
4:09
Luis: God is not looking for impressive schedules, he's looking for hearts that stay near.
4:15
Nate: Yeah, so with that idea of abiding right in the midst of busyness, some of it we can control, some of it we can't.
4:22
Nate: We'll talk about that in a little bit, I think.
4:24
Nate: But I think the first practical thing we can do is just start talking about some of those anchors.
4:32
Nate: Right, if a branch is connected to the vine, then there's that connection point, that anchor that's going to give it the spiritual nourishment that flows through to the rest of the branch and produces the fruit.
4:46
Nate: Right?
4:47
Nate: And so we need some specific anchors.
4:50
Nate: So, Luis, what are some, you know, I would say rhythms or anchor points that we can have in our families to help us stay anchored in Christ, abiding in Christ Well?
5:02
Luis: I would say first principle is just to start small, start small, start together.
5:07
Luis: If your family is anything like mine, we are scrambling in the morning.
5:14
Nate: And you're not talking just about eggs.
5:15
Nate: I do eat scrambled eggs every morning.
5:19
Luis: I wish we had time to make it Nate, but your girls aren't there yet.
5:23
Luis: So I have a teenager and I have a preteen right, and so getting ready in the morning is an art form, and so it could just be something as simple as opening God's word at breakfast.
5:35
Luis: So when you're eating your scrambled eggs.
5:37
Nate: That's exactly right.
5:38
Nate: Breakfast is the most important meal of the day For some people, for most people and if you eat it before 1030.
5:43
Nate: Right, for those of you that don't know listening to this, mr Luis and I have a disagreement on whether you can eat breakfast at any time during the day.
5:52
Nate: Yeah, you can, but he says you can't.
5:54
Nate: Oh, nothing after 1030.
5:56
Nate: Pancakes for breakfast Nothing after 1030.
5:58
Nate: Syrup on chocolate chip pancakes at five o'clock in the evening is perfect.
6:05
Luis: I think I just threw up in my mouth, but it's as simple as opening God's word at breakfast.
6:08
Luis: Maybe you just have time for one verse.
6:11
Luis: I mean literally, if you're like most Americans today, we have the Bible app on our phone.
6:16
Luis: Maybe you just pull it up, parents.
6:19
Luis: Maybe it's just as simple as praying before school drop-off, right Like?
6:23
Luis: I heard something a while back that really resonated with me is like how many times are we yelling at our kids to hurry up?
6:31
Luis: How many times are we rushing them to do something and like we just push them out the door in car line and we're like go fend for yourself, but we haven't prayed with them.
6:42
Luis: We haven't prayed over them.
6:58
Nate: It's not about Pinterest, it's about presence.
6:59
Nate: As much to do.
7:00
Nate: You know, in elementary you're actually helping kids out of the car and hey, did you forget your lunchbox?
7:04
Nate: Like stuff like that.
7:05
Nate: But it's fun to watch, kind of, how parents launch their kids into the school day and you can see that, like if they've had a rough car ride, you know, if they're in a hurry they come out kind of dejected and it's like, oh, got to start the day that way.
7:18
Nate: But if you as a parent, right, you can use those moments intentionally to launch your kid into the day, that's going to make a big difference in their life and in your life.
7:29
Nate: It's the kind of Caribbean feel, right?
7:31
Nate: No hurries, no worries.
7:32
Nate: Hey, you don't need to hurry, you should be on time for school, but don't hurry.
7:37
Nate: And you just, hey, let's take a moment, let's pray, let's read our family devotions if you're doing them in the morning and just have a good start to the day, preferably with some scrambled eggs, oh, and really that's about redeeming your car time, right?
7:52
Luis: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
7:52
Luis: So when you're coming to school, maybe, maybe even when you're going home, right?
7:59
Nate: So at some point, you're, you're in the car with your kids.
8:00
Luis: It's that Deuteronomy six passage, again coming back up, yes, and so just a simple question like what are you grateful for today?
8:06
Luis: Where did you see God this week?
8:08
Luis: Maybe it's just plain worship music, right, Like you know, I'm not here to beat up parents who might listen to pop or rap or rock.
8:18
Luis: I mean, that's your business and that's a conversation for another day.
8:22
Luis: But maybe it's just as simple as on your way to school or on your way to whatever you're listening to the radio, you're listening to music, and maybe you're just listening to worship music to get your day started.
8:35
Nate: And I think what you'll realize is that those car rides, they matter, those conversations they matter, right, and your kids may not remember a specific conversation I think we've said this before, right, but they won't remember that one specific conversation.
8:51
Nate: Oh, mom and dad, they said you know X, y, z to me, but they will remember just the accumulation of that over time of my parents valued me.
9:00
Nate: My parents valued our time together.
9:03
Nate: Valued me, my parents valued our time together.
9:08
Nate: They, you know, they listened, they, they uh talked to me, they asked me questions and in all of those conversations they were pointing my heart to Christ, right.
9:14
Nate: And so they may not be like, oh, mom, dad had this one really insightful thing, they might, but but it's just the accumulation of that over time.
9:22
Nate: If you, you protect the, those car rides in that time, kind of the Deuteronomy 6 idea.
9:27
Luis: And look, let me be honest, it's not easy, right Like I've got a teenage daughter who, when she gets in the car, like she doesn't want to talk to me.
9:36
Nate: One word answers.
9:37
Luis: Right.
9:37
Luis: One word answers AirPods in, right, I mean.
9:40
Luis: And so I get it.
9:42
Luis: It's not easy, but don't give up here's.
9:45
Luis: Here's another anchor, right so?
9:47
Luis: So we said start small, start together, redeem car time.
9:50
Luis: And and here's a third one is protect one rhythm, right?
9:53
Luis: Yeah, so you're going to be busy, like that's just the world we live in today, and so find something that becomes sacred in your family, find, find something that you're going to protect, and maybe that Sunday dinner, right?
10:07
Luis: So for me, our church, we don't have Sunday night services, and I could do a whole podcast, I think, by myself, on why churches shouldn't do Sunday night, but I mean that's for another day.
10:18
Nate: Pastors, please forgive me.
10:19
Nate: We're going to have another conversation.
10:22
Nate: This is a parent podcast, not a pastor podcast.
10:25
Luis: That's right, but for us, we protect Sunday nights.
10:27
Luis: We very rarely do something on Sunday nights because we want to protect that.
10:35
Luis: So it's about getting dinner together.
10:37
Luis: It's about watching a movie, it's when we watch Little House on the Prairie right, and so for us, that's something that we want to protect.
10:44
Nate: And throwback to our episode on navigating a digital world right.
10:48
Nate: This rhythm is also a rhythm that you can include being screen-free phone-free those sorts of things You're looking your kids in the eyeball and having conversations.
10:57
Luis: And so Sunday night Around breakfast for dinner.
10:59
Luis: I'll discuss.
11:00
Luis: We're going to have to do a whole episode on breakfast for dinner and that whole terrible concept.
11:07
Luis: But maybe for you it's Friday night family devotions, right?
11:09
Luis: So we've been talking about doing family devotions and maybe for you it's being able to do it on Friday night.
11:16
Luis: Both of my girls, they love high school, friday night football and so in the fall that's something that's important to us and so we protect that.
11:23
Luis: But just find one space in your week that you can guard, that you can say, hey, this is going to be something that we protect, and you find it in your week where Christ is always welcome.
11:36
Luis: He is at the center stage in that moment.
11:40
Nate: Yep, yep, and maybe our our last point here is we can just model what matters, right?
11:47
Nate: Your kids see you, uh, doing something.
11:49
Nate: They catch you reading scripture.
11:51
Nate: Um, they see the way that you pray under pressure or in those moments you're trying to make decisions, and they, they pick up on that.
11:58
Nate: Um, I think you know it's, it's probably been attributed to several people, but, but possibly Howard Hendricks said more is caught than taught, right, and it's just that idea of your parent.
12:10
Nate: Your kids see you doing something, you're having your devotion, you're praying, you're, you know, taking a breath, and I'm not hurrying, I'm just walking through life.
12:19
Nate: And your kids will see that and they'll pick up on your demeanor and all of those things I know for myself.
12:31
Nate: When I was a kid I would come downstairs and my mom was a nurse when I was in high school and she would have to get up super early to be at the hospital.
12:40
Nate: So dad would take us to school but I would always see like her coffee mug empty with her Bible and it was there, right, but she was gone because she was already at work.
12:48
Nate: But I knew she had had her quiet time and those days she wasn't working.
12:51
Nate: I'd come downstairs and I'd hear her like stirring her coffee with her spoon and you would hear like the tink, tink, tink, tink, tink, tink, over and over again and you knew, okay, mom's stirring her coffee, trying to get the sugar to dissolve.
13:03
Nate: But I know where she is.
13:04
Nate: She's sitting in a rocking chair.
13:05
Nate: She's having her quiet time reading her Bible.
13:07
Nate: Like I knew that and that was part of that and it's just something that, through her example, I was able to pick that up.
13:13
Luis: And that's powerful, right Like, just as you recount that in your life and you remember that right Like it's had an imprint, it's like it's stuck with you.
13:21
Luis: And what's funny is sometimes, whenever I walk by the library, I hear that the stirring of the coffee mug.
13:29
Nate: Yes, yes, yes.
13:29
Nate: We told her, like if you didn't put so much sugar in your coffee, like you wouldn't hear that ding, ding, ding ding.
13:34
Nate: But it's all right, that's what she does and it's what stuck with me.
13:38
Luis: Well, now let's address the elephant in the Dodge Grand Caravan.
13:43
Luis: Wait a second, wait a second.
13:44
Nate: I drive a Dodge Grand Caravan.
13:54
Luis: Are caravan.
13:54
Luis: Wait a second, wait a second.
13:55
Luis: I drive a dodgeball in caravan.
13:56
Luis: Are you talking, do?
13:57
Luis: I don't have any elephants in my minivan, so let's talk about extracurricular overload okay, okay, uh, travel sports, yep recitals, clubs, karate right yep, they can be great, but they can also display spiritual priorities.
14:05
Luis: yes, extracurriculars can be a blessing or they can be a burden.
14:09
Luis: Yeah, travel, ball club teams, music lessons, school events you know, they all promise opportunity.
14:16
Luis: But I think, if we're honest with ourselves, whatever competes with church, whatever competes with that coming together with your family, it's competing with Christ.
14:27
Nate: Yeah, and I like how you use the word opportunity.
14:29
Nate: Right, they promise opportunity.
14:31
Nate: You think about like the way our American culture is structured, like these different extracurriculars promise scholarships and future opportunities and all this stuff, and it's like, look, you're playing t-ball, like we don't need to be thinking about a scholarship right now.
14:47
Nate: You know, and it's the opportunity.
14:50
Nate: And so people like you get that kind of gut reaction.
14:53
Nate: You start thinking like, oh, I need to prepare, I need to get ready.
14:55
Nate: If they don't have all of these things, they won't be ready.
14:58
Nate: But that's where you know.
15:02
Nate: It's about your priorities.
15:02
Nate: You know, paul, writing to Timothy, says that physical training is of some value.
15:07
Nate: But godliness has value for all things.
15:11
Nate: Right, you can get the training in your sports, you can get the different teamwork and conflict resolution and just the exercise.
15:20
Nate: That's good and healthy and all of these things are good for you.
15:22
Nate: But if church and intentional discipleship keeps getting bumped for tournaments or practices or performances or anything like that, that's not balanced.
15:35
Nate: Your priorities are misplaced.
15:39
Luis: So you really need to focus on what is most important for our family here's a principle to remember right Whatever regularly competes with church, whatever competes with intentional discipleship, those things are the things that are discipling your child more than you and the church.
16:00
Luis: And so let's talk about some practical guardrails, and I can actually talk about this from experience.
16:04
Luis: Right, I have a daughter who plays travel soccer, and she plays at one of the highest levels that you can play, and so there are times when our family, when we, are busy with travel soccer, we have another daughter that plays rec sports, and so that's just a big part of our life, and so here's some guardrails that you can put in place.
16:29
Luis: Don't sacrifice Sunday worship if you can avoid it.
16:34
Luis: Right, church is the family's spiritual anchor, and so don't let the team schedule redefine your values.
16:42
Luis: Now, I'm not saying that you're never going to miss Sunday church, right, like, there's times that you may have to, but you have to limit anything that consistently pulls your family away from church.
16:55
Luis: And we're saying Sunday worship, but I want you to think of it holistically, like from your church.
17:00
Luis: Like, we have a rule in our house is there are times when we have to do weekend tournaments, and so we travel to Georgia or we travel to South Carolina, and so something that we do is, if we can, we try to find a church that maybe we can attend while we're away.
17:15
Luis: So we may not be in our home church, but we are at a church.
17:19
Luis: Sometimes we can't because the games might be at the same time as church, and so we've talked with our travel team and maybe we get together for a worship time for other families, because it's not just affecting my family, there's other families there and so maybe we get together for just a short Devo before the game or maybe even after the game.
17:38
Luis: Or here's something that with technology today, sometimes like we may play in Georgia, so we have a four or six hour drive ahead of us to get home you listen to Equipped for Impact.
17:48
Nate: We listen to Equipped for Impact.
17:49
Nate: We will now, right, we will now because it's going to be in the fall.
17:53
Luis: But we will watch our church service right.
17:56
Luis: So our church streams and so, again, it's not the same as being in the worship service, but what we try to find is ways to be creative.
18:05
Luis: And here's something else that we do is if we know we're going to have to miss a Sunday, we make sure to commit to being there the other time during the week.
18:15
Luis: So our church has like a midweek service and so we commit to being there on that Wednesday so that our children are seeing that it's something that's important.
18:24
Luis: We prioritize it.
18:25
Nate: And that goes back to I think it was our third, maybe fourth episode.
18:28
Nate: I think it was our third.
18:29
Nate: We talked about the church, the importance of the church and the role of the church in strengthening the family.
18:33
Nate: Right, and getting your child around other adults who are saying the same thing.
18:38
Nate: You are right, they worship together with the entire body.
18:42
Nate: And that can be other churches right, it's not just your home church, but obviously you want to prioritize your home church.
18:48
Nate: Those are the ones.
18:54
Nate: You've got relationships with, the people you're around and you're worshiping together.
18:56
Nate: And if that just drops off for months at a time, that's not going to help your children.
19:01
Nate: Again, more is caught than taught, right?
19:03
Nate: And so if your children see what you're willing to skip church for, that will leave an impact.
19:09
Nate: Just that idea that you skipped will leave an impact itself.
19:14
Luis: Absolutely, and I think something to even think about further is most travel teams.
19:18
Luis: You know your schedule months in advance, so it's not like it sneaks up on you, right?
19:23
Luis: So we typically get our schedule in July or August and our games start in September.
19:29
Luis: So we know September, october, november.
19:31
Luis: So we know what Sundays we may have to be away.
19:34
Luis: So you know what we do.
19:35
Luis: We build our calendar to make sure that when we're not away, we're there, right.
19:40
Luis: So find ways to make sure that if you have to be away, that you still show your kids that it's a priority.
19:47
Luis: You're not missing because you want to, but you're missing because there's other ways to get what you're trying to get through that corporate worship.
19:56
Nate: Right, and I think that comes to kind of our next guardrail, which would be limiting those weekly commitments.
20:04
Nate: It's hard to admit sometimes, but you're in charge of your own schedule, right, I'm in charge of my own schedule.
20:11
Nate: There are times that my boss tells me I need to do things at certain times, and so that has to happen, and I'm not just saying that because he's in the room with me right now, but for the most part, we are in charge of our schedule, especially when it comes to family things.
20:25
Nate: Family things.
20:27
Nate: And so you know we can limit it right.
20:29
Nate: Just because something is good doesn't mean it's wise, right, paul says.
20:34
Nate: You know all things are lawful but not all things are profitable, right, so you need to protect that margin.
20:40
Nate: The time for rest We've already talked about those anchor points in your schedule for your family time, and so you're not filling every night with something.
20:50
Nate: It feels like in the month of May that there's something every night, right, but you can say no.
20:55
Nate: And one of my favorite authors, Pastor Kerry Newhoff.
21:00
Nate: He wrote that sometimes the biggest lie we tell ourselves is it's just a busy season.
21:06
Nate: But if a season or a season is exactly that, right, it's a season.
21:11
Nate: And if you're busy season keeps rolling into the next busy season and it keeps going it's been happening for the last year and there's no end in sight then it's not a season, it's just your life, yeah, right.
21:21
Nate: And so you need to do something different in the way you are scheduling, especially your weekly commitments.
21:28
Luis: And that leads right into our next guardrail.
21:30
Luis: Right Is is teacher kids.
21:32
Luis: To say no and parents know is a complete sentence.
21:36
Luis: Yes, Know that you can say no to that.
21:39
Luis: That's a lot of no there, right, it's a lot of no so help your kids see that following Christ sometimes means choosing Him over popularity or preference.
21:48
Luis: And so there are times in our family where we say no, like we can't go to that practice because it's on a Wednesday and we've already committed to being there Wednesday, or we can't do this tournament or we can't do this game because I'm preaching somewhere.
22:05
Luis: So you have to say no and you teach your kids to make Christ-centered choices, even when it's not popular.
22:13
Luis: And they may not like you in the moment, but I think as they get older, they will recognize the power of saying no.
22:21
Luis: Here's what I heard somebody say recently People will let you say yes as many times as you want to, and so if you just keep saying yes, then people are just going to keep asking you to do stuff and sometimes you have to say no, and if we're not careful, we're not careful.
22:41
Luis: I just had this conversation recently with somebody.
22:43
Luis: We can create idols of things that are even supposed to be good.
22:47
Luis: So, nate and I, we talk about the importance of the local church, but I've been guilty of it and I know people that have been guilty of it.
22:56
Luis: We create busyness, even in church, and then we create an idol out of being busy.
23:02
Nate: Yeah, so, and we think, because we're we're busy, that means even with good things, right, church things, school things.
23:08
Nate: It's a Christian school and so, hey, we're doing these good things and and I'm being a good Christian, but we're not.
23:14
Nate: And so, Paul, trip.
23:15
Luis: He says we must teach our children that Jesus is not part of life.
23:18
Luis: He is life.
23:19
Nate: Yep, yep, and with this idea of saying no, it made me think about and this is kind of controversial.
23:25
Nate: So you can email podcast at WayneChristianorg, right?
23:28
Nate: But my parents had a rule growing up, when I was growing up, that we could only play one sport.
23:34
Nate: And so it was like you play one sport a school year and that's your sport.
23:36
Nate: And so it was like you play one sport a school year and that's your sport.
23:38
Nate: And so you know, for us it was always baseball.
23:41
Nate: That was our thing, never really got into anything else.
23:43
Nate: My middle brother wanted a few years to play basketball and my parents said, okay, you can play basketball, but if you say yes to that, you're saying no to baseball.
23:52
Nate: And so they left the decision up to him and he kind of waffled for a little bit and then he came back Waffle it was after 10.30, so breakfast again but he would waffle for a little bit and then he always came back to.
24:04
Nate: You know, baseball is our thing, right, but it was just those times that you're saying no.
24:08
Nate: And they modeled it and then they empowered us to make some of those decisions, recognizing every yes comes with a no to something else.
24:16
Nate: Recognizing, you know, every yes comes with a no to something else.
24:20
Nate: So, as we kind of look into this, and what we don't want to do, though for you listening is we don't want to just kind of end with with a guilt trip Like you need to say no more.
24:26
Nate: You know you're busy season is your fault, which it may be Right, but it's not about guilt, it's about alignment, right?
24:34
Nate: Does your calendar reflect your convictions?
24:37
Nate: Are you just letting your calendar, you know, run your life right?
24:42
Nate: You're going to let the tail wag the dog.
24:44
Nate: And so just what would you say, Luis, to a parent who's sitting there?
24:49
Nate: Maybe they, you know, they know they need to say more or say no more, they're really busy and they're just kind of feeling it.
24:57
Nate: What would you say to them?
24:58
Luis: Look, if you feel behind, if you feel like you've dropped the ball spiritually, listen to this.
25:03
Luis: God isn't grading you, he's inviting you and discipleship isn't a performance.
25:11
Luis: Right, Nate?
25:12
Luis: We've talked about this.
25:13
Nate: It's abiding, abiding, abide in Christ.
25:16
Nate: It's that connection to Him and sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is stop and say Jesus, just to help me make space for you today.
25:25
Nate: Sometimes, the most spiritual thing you can do is rest.
25:29
Nate: Take a nap yeah, especially Sunday afternoons before you have breakfast for dinner.
25:33
Nate: Oh, man this is going to be called the breakfast for dinner.
25:37
Luis: Episode for dinner, um, it's, that's, this is going to be called the breakfast for dinner episode.
25:40
Luis: And you know, what's funny is people.
25:41
Luis: It's people that that have known me my whole life, and people that that know me like they're just going to learn this for the first time.
25:43
Luis: Right, like they're like, you know, breakfast for dinner, yeah, like I mean, we don't we don't do breakfast for dinner.
26:04
Luis: Well, now you know our house, abiding in Christ means living with quiet dependence, not a frantic performance.
26:08
Luis: And so, Nate, I think there's some questions that we can be asking ourselves.
26:14
Nate: Yeah, I think you know, as as you are sitting there and you're thinking about what you're going to do, how you're going to maybe structure your especially May around Christ and discipleship in your family, here's, here's just three questions to reflect on.
26:30
Nate: Okay, what's one small rhythm we can protect as a family this week?
26:35
Nate: Right For you and your family?
26:37
Nate: It's those Sunday dinners, right?
26:39
Nate: I've talked before about our kind of Sabbath idea on Saturdays, something like that screen-free, phone-free dinner time around the table.
26:49
Nate: Whatever it is for you, protect that rhythm.
26:52
Nate: What's something you can do this week.
26:54
Nate: Another one would be where do I feel pressure to perform rather than rest in Christ?
27:01
Luis: That's really good.
27:02
Nate: Yeah, it's like maybe I've got you feel this guilt that I have to be, you know, all put together when I come to church and do it.
27:07
Nate: No, it's okay, Like if you're busy and you're tired, like be busy and tired, but then you know, obviously do something about it, or?
27:15
Luis: I feel the pressure of having to do all these things.
27:18
Luis: All the things, all these things, because if I don't do them then people are going to think maybe I'm not as spiritual as I think I am.
27:25
Nate: Yeah, or maybe it's not.
27:27
Nate: From a spiritual perspective, I've got to do all of these things because then my kid's going to be left behind and they won't get the scholarships, they won't do the things, they'll be not top of their class, whatever it is.
27:38
Nate: So where do you feel that pressure?
27:40
Nate: And then how can I invite my kids into my walk with Jesus, even when it's messy, right, invite your kids in More is caught than taught, and so just invite your kids in model that for them.
27:55
Nate: So how can you do that here in this next week?
27:57
Luis: So, parents, here's your challenge, right?
27:58
Luis: We try to give you a challenge every week.
28:00
Luis: Hopefully you're listening and you're applying this but pick one moment in your daily routine, whether it's the morning, whether it's the drive to school, maybe it's the drive home from school, maybe it's just bedtime but find that moment in your daily routine and invite Jesus into it.
28:20
Luis: Just one, right.
28:21
Luis: I mean, don't make it complicated and watch how he's going to multiply, Like I just think of the story of Jesus and the fish, right?
28:29
Luis: And how he took something so small and made something so big.
28:32
Luis: Just watch how he multiplies that one thing in your life.
28:36
Nate: Yeah, and just again something we've said a lot in your life.
28:38
Nate: Yeah, and just again something we've said a lot Deuteronomy six it's discipleship.
28:42
Nate: It's your job as a parent to disciple your children, and it's something, not something, you tack onto your life, right, you weave it into everything you do, while you walk by the way, while you rise up, while you lie down.
28:55
Nate: You model it for your kids, and it doesn't have to be perfect to be powerful.
29:00
Nate: Right, you need those moments, you need those rhythms, and so find that in your life.
29:06
Nate: So, Luis, any final words before we sign off for the day.
29:11
Luis: Don't aim for performance, right?
29:13
Luis: We live in that world today where you have to get the perfect selfie, you have to get the perfect filter on your Snapchat, you have to get that perfect sunset for your Snapchat, you have to get that perfect sunset for Instagram.
29:22
Luis: But don't aim for performance.
29:24
Luis: Aim for presence.
29:26
Luis: Let your kids see that a relationship with Christ it's not just a church activity.
29:32
Luis: He is the center of everything that you do.
29:38
Nate: Yeah, that's great.
29:38
Nate: So y'all, if you enjoyed this episode, share it with another busy parent who needs to hear what we've said today and who might find this helpful.
29:50
Nate: And y'all can again, just coming together with other parents and talking about some of these ideas and maybe even disagreeing with us in certain places, that's okay too, but share that with them.
30:01
Nate: And we're still a really new podcast, so the ratings and reviews and all of that go a long way in helping us be seen by other parents so that they can have these tools to be equipped to disciple their children too.
30:14
Nate: Make sure you subscribe so you don't miss our next episode.
30:18
Nate: And if you've got questions or comments or anything like that and you want to tell us how much you love breakfast for dinner, go ahead and send those emails to podcast at WayneChristianorg.
30:29
Nate: Thank you all for joining us today and until next time, keep leading the next generation to stand firm in their faith and influence their world for Christ.