My time in Lebanon and Egypt has been fruitful, as long as I remind myself to measure my own fruitfulness by the depth of relationships and conversations I have. Please pray for an Arab brother who has an excellent evangelistic ministry. He and his wife seem to have allowed their parents' past physical abuse to cause them to neglect biblical discipline of their own children, who are very defiant. Before sitting down with them, I asked them to read chapter 4 of the book Shepherding A Child's Heart which is entitled "You're In Charge". The jist of the chapter is that Christian parents represent God's authority in the life of a child. Neglecting that position of authority, or abusing it by confusing biblical discipline with sinful punishment, misrepresents God's authority in the eyes of a child. All of us parents have leaned toward one of these two extremes. The gospel promises us forgiveness, which actually motivates us to be more like Jesus, full of both grace and truth.
Now I am in Jordan, where our family had been living for the past 2 years. Please pray for more conversations here about biblical parenting and reproducible church planting.
