The Heart of a Child: Parenting 101

What a great quarter! David has been plugging away at classes on Ethics, John's gospel, Preacher and His Work, Advanced Homiletics, and Old Testament 6. As for me, I've been enjoying sitting in on Gospel of John, as well as our womens' classes on the Life of Christ and Parenting. The Parenting class has been extremely intriguing to me, not having children of my own yet, and it's been giving me a lot to think about!

On the first day of class, we saw this image entitled "Bad Parenting" on the screen captioned with the words, "BEGIN WITH THE END IN MIND." How hilarious! This mother duck had no idea that her directions would end up leading her ducklings down the gutter! This perfectly captures the concept of this class - parents are entrusted with something very special: the heart of their child. It is their God-given task to mold and shape that heart to follow God, which - it's true - is done partly by example. But, as this picture so adequately explains, there is more to it than simply going along with a destination in mind and hoping they make it to there, too.

It is vital that children be trained with the end in mind, allowing the example they see in their parents to be the proof of what their parents teach and not something ambiguous for them to somehow impliment on their own. They need to see Mom and Dad applying Biblical principles in their own lives, but they need to be trained how to do so for themselves as well.

Sometimes, it is difficult to look beyond the frustrations of the moment to the rewards brought about through persistence. While I do not yet have children of my own, I remember the challenges that came with my younger siblings in their early years (no offense, guys)! Toddlers test patience and demand such an abundance of energy and attention – it often is all a mother can do to keep her cool. And on top of meeting all of their physical needs, parents are charged with the task of instilling godly principles in their little hearts so they grow to be people who love God. There is not a day that goes by that I don't wonder how my parents managed to do so much - and while I look forward to the joys of being a mother, the challenges that come along with it are certainly daunting.

People say it all the time: "kids don't come with instruction manuals." While there is certainly not a play-by-play 3-step plan for successful parenting, the Perfect Parent did provide His formula for getting the job done right. In all of my naive dreaming, I read about Joseph’s 17-year-old conscience that drove him to flee from sin and think, "Wow! I want my teenagers to possess such character!" I read about Esther's courage in the face of intimidation and pray my daughters will also have enough faith to stand up for themselves and for others. I see young men who have grown up to be preachers of the gospel, loving husbands and fathers, and I want that for my sons.

Beginning with the end in mind means defining your child’s path and walking them through it one step at a time. It means taking them from a self-centered infant to a self-less worker in God’s kingdom by looking not only at the behavior, but at the heart that needs training. It means training them both to know God’s Word and how to apply it from an early age so that when they stop growing physically, they continue to grow spiritually.

It’s been a wonderful class and we have only two weeks of it left. I’m grateful for the time Lee Hanstein has taken to share her experience and the fruit of her study to prepare us for the blessing and responsibility of parenthood. There is a lot to look forward to!

Anniversary!

Well, we have officially celebrated our second wedding anniversary – yay! We had an absolute blast in Estes Park, CO, where we got a great deal on a room at the Fawn Valley Inn. I highly recommend it! We had borrowed several books/movies from the library that we got to enjoy in our warm room – the weather wasn’t terrible, but cold without snow, which is no fun. David thoroughly enjoys walking in the snow, but when it’s just cold it isn’t the same.

The shops were fun to walk through, and we had breakfast at the Egg and I, a fun little brunch nook. That was delicious! We spent Monday and Tuesday up there, and came back to town on Wednesday. All things considered, it was absolutely wonderful. Although we had car trouble the week before, we were able to just relax and enjoy ourselves – I had booked the room back in October and had some money put away on a gift card so we didn’t have to worry. Boy I was glad I did, because the clutch going out on the Subaru pretty much used up our emergency fund plus some.

Now we are enjoying a few more somewhat-quiet days until school starts up again on January 10th. Love to all, and hope you had a great New Year!

Fourth Quarter - Unbelievable!

We're almost half-way done. This year has gone by so quickly, with no signs of slowing down. I think the coolest part about this experience has been the development of the dream. David and I had lots of what-ifs and maybes when we were planning to get married. What would God do with us as a couple? Where would we go and how could we be a part of helping God's kingdom to grow? Now there are no limits. There's not even really any concern about where we'll end up and what we will do when we get there. Two things are certain. We will share the message of God with as many people as we can, and we will do it together. God has left no doubt in our hearts as to our mission. For myself, I'm excited for having children. The mission field in our home is a priority I am preparing for to the best of my ability, and there has been no lack of helpful, practical lessons on the subject. What an incredible charge God has given us! Not only is there a world out there on whom God is anxious to pour out His compassion when they obey the message, but our homes have been built for the express purpose of bringing souls into the world that we can love and instruct from day 1.

On our campaign to Security, Colorado, this was a topic of much discussion in a parenting seminar based on Psalm 127-128. That was an incredible week, not only for the practice we got in reaching out to the local college campus, library, park, and mall to spread the word about the seminar, but also because we saw what God can do in a small congregation of people who strongly desire to be a light to their community. It gave us courage, fortified our love for God and His church, and taught us much in the way of reaching for the extraordinary instead of settling for mediocrity.

We would like to thank you, once again, for your participation in this. David and I have spent hours and hours delving deeper into the Word day after day, hoping that our lights will burn the brighter and that the world will be the better for our efforts. What effect will we have on the kingdom? It's hard to say. But if we have anything to say about it, there will be no small commotion.

MALAWI - New Plan

For those of you who have been keeping up with our progress... I am so sorry for the delay in updates! I want to let everyone know that, due to a major change in the school's schedule, we are having to postpone our mission trip to Malawi. For many years, Bear Valley has started the school year in early September and ended in June. This next year, it will start in early August and end in May. This means that we would go to Malawi in July and start right up when we returned, which was "do-able" for David and I, but not for Wayne Burger, the instructor we were going to be travelling with. This causes a major problem for him since he would not have adequate time between our return and the beginning of the school year to do everything he needs to do to prepare for his classes and take care of things at home.

While we greatly appreciate the donations that we have received - and we will continue to be raising funds throughout the summer and the following school year - we will not have the newsletter as planned with all of the exciting details about our trip until next summer. This does, however, give us a much needed opportunity to travel in the states during the month of July. We hope to have the chance to visit some of our supporting congregations as well as spend some time with family. Thank you again to those who have generously contributed to this effort, which, while delayed, will be worth the time spent preparing and certainly a great work. It will be a wonderful opportunity to build up the brethren in Malawi. God bless, and thanks.

-The Rollerts