“Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6 The Bible is clear that our goal as parents should be to raise our kids in such a way that they will be lifelong disciples of Jesus Christ. It is a simple goal that we should all easily agree with. The reality is that parenting is one of the hardest things you will ever do. Parenting can feel like a roller coaster. There will be times that you wonder if you and your teenager are even speaking the same language! Summer is a wonderful opportunity for you to connect with your student. There is more time for you to spend intentional time with your students, so here are some tips on how you can better connect with them. What I hope to do in this post is give you a few practical ideas that...

Dear First Baptist Family, Today is the very first day I have actually felt like much and have been clear-headed and medication-free enough to feel I could communicate reliably. Even though the intense nature of the surgery makes progress hard to judge in the early days and weeks, I am encouraged about where I am. To update you, I’ll first share the most encouraging pieces of information and then pass along some areas where I would love your continued prayers. I am encouraged that, in the grand scheme of things, I am healing rather quickly. Though my neurosurgeon warned that I should prepare for a longer time in the hospital to recover, I actually experienced a relatively short hospitalization. I am experiencing none of the nerve pain that I was before surgery and hardly any surgery pain....

Our tongue is an amazing piece of God’s creative handiwork in our bodies! In one sense, it is an anatomical anomaly. The tongue is the only body part that contains muscles that are not attached to a bone at both ends. Unlike your biceps, which are attached to your elbow and shoulder joints, the tongue is an intertwined matrix of muscles that pull on each other, giving it the flexibility to twist and turn into a seemingly endless array of shapes and sizes. It also possesses tremendous stamina as it works tirelessly throughout the day in the activities of talking, eating, and removing food from your teeth. I mean, when was the last time you said, “Boy, my tongue is tired,” or “Man, my tongue muscles are sore!” Probably never.   But not only is the tongue an intricate mass of muscles,...

On Sunday, I announced my need for a fifth brain surgery and thought the operation was weeks away. On Tuesday, my doctor said he wanted to do the surgery today—Friday. That surprise is a reminder that so much of life is found in all we do not know. The I-Don’t-Knows of Life Life happens in a flash of the immediate present. Once that flash is complete, it instantly becomes the past. Our knowledge of those past moments comes only after the fact. Our future moments are everything beyond the present flash of lived experience. We never know what those moments will bring. Sometimes we have good guesses about what the future holds. But guesses are not facts, and likelihoods are not certainties. There are never guarantees about what is coming. When we try to look ahead beyond the immediate flash...

When a medical emergency occurs, there are many types of systems and levels of care that have been developed to help. You can call 911, and an ambulance can come, and there is a trained EMT onboard. Another option would be to drive to the emergency room and trained ER docs and nurses are there to help. The Urgent Care facility in your area of town is also available to care for your needs. Doctors, nurses, paramedics, imaging technicians, and pharmacists have varying areas of expertise to help when there is a need. We are grateful for all of these options. Here at First Baptist Church, we have also developed various types of care systems, both for immediate and preventative care for those experiencing brokenness in life in general and in marriage in particular. We have done this so we can...