Last Breakfast

Today, Peyton (my 4th grader) and I had our last breakfast meeting for the school year. When the school year started I made a commitment to him that he and I would get up early and have a breakfast meeting every Thursday morning. Over this entire school year we have had breakfast at a little restaurant in Mint Hill just about every Thursday morning. These times have been great! We have spent these times talking about school, sports, sex and other growing up stuff. Of course, this morning, we talked about the heart breaking loss he had last night in our National League Baseball championship.

While I was sitting there talking to him I could not stop thinking...."I can't believe he will be in 5th grade next year." This brings me to the point of the BLOG today. As parents how much quality and quantity time are you spending with your kids? Some of you may be thinking that you don't need both or that you can't do both. As you know, there is an old saying that reads...."It is not the amount of time, but the quality of time you spend with your kids that matter." Well, in my opinion, this is a wrong statement and one that we created to help ease our minds over the lack of time we choose to spend with our kids.

The truth is that our kids need both...quality and quantity time. This is very true for kids who are very relational and need a bunch of time to feel loved by a parent. Moreover, as our kids get older they need us to spend more time with them and in those piled on minutes....quality will be happen. For most kids, quality only happens after huge amounts of the mundane.

For example....I spend a bunch of time coaching my son's sports teams. However, it is only when we are alone eating breakfast that we can actually talk. It is when you have spent the whole day with your older teenage kids that you get that quick meaningful chat.

School is out for some this week and for all by next Tuesday. I want to encourage all CSF parents to really think about creative ways that you and your kids can spend some quantity time together. At CSF we are offering some things this summer to help foster this endeavor. Take advantage of them......

Because of our schedules, most of us will have to plan ahead to spend a BUNCH of time with our kids this summer. This summer will be over before you know it....and your kids will be in the next grade and then the next grade and very soon will be gone. The time you have now while they are kids and teens can never come back once they are over......spend them wisely and with no regrets later!

Today's Bible Reading Ephesians Chapter 1

You are going to love this book. This book of the Bible has some of the most read and most quoted verses in all the Bible. Paul started the new church in Ephesus and it was located in a major city. It was a fast growing city and much like Charlotte has become, it was full of people from every race and nationality. Also, just like Charlotte it was growing with people who were not Christians and regular church attendees. In this book we will be encouraged to live a godly life in a culture that has turned away from Christ and we will learn how to be an affective church in a culture that is more and more non-Christian.