Cultural Topics Archives - Let's Parent on Purpose: Recent Episodes
Jay Holland
To begin our new series, Stories of Hope, I can’t think of a more hopeful testimony to begin with than Rep. Brian Mast who survived an IED explosion in Afghanistan, overcame the loss of both his legs, and now serves in the United States Congress.
Show HighlightsCongressman Brian Mast is in his second term representing the 18th Congressional District of Florida. Prior to his election to Congress, Brian followed in his father’s footsteps by serving in the U.S. Army for more than 12 years, earning medals including The Bronze Star Medal, The Army Commendation Medal for Valor, The Purple Heart Medal, and The Defense Meritorious Service Medal. While deployed in Afghanistan, he worked as a bomb disposal expert under the elite Joint Special Operations Command. The last improvised explosive device that he found resulted in catastrophic injuries, which included the loss of both of his legs. While lying in bed recovering at Walter Reed Medical Center, Brian’s father gave him advice that has stuck with him to this day–to ensure the greatest service he gave to our country and the best example he set for his children was still ahead of him. Brian took this advice to heart and dedicated himself to finding new ways to serve our country and his community.
As a bomb technician in the military, Brian knew that his job was inherently dangerous. Like those in law enforcement, first responders, and firefighters, Brian says you know the risks, then you take the time to learn how to mitigate the risks.
You can’t totally avoid all of them, but you realize that you are serving something more important than yourself, so the risks are acceptable to you. “If something happens to you, it will be without regret because of what you are serving.”
He adds, having you family’s support matters a lot as you enter a difficult and dangerous responsibility.
Brian had a wife and new born baby when he encountered a serious accident on the battlefield. He says, the struggle beyond physical pain is the psychological pain of the unknown. At that point, losing both his legs made him question his purpose of life, and whether he would ever be able to carry kids or play ball with them.
One thought that kept him going while he was bedridden was: How do I still serve my country and continue to set a good example for kids?
Eventually, Brian found himself fighting on a new battlefield – the congress, fighting with words and ideology over a better direction for the country.
Losing his legs not only changed Brian’s future, but also his relationship with God. He says, “Every miracle in the bible was not a passive miracle.” Everybody who received a miracle had to do something actively despite being uncertain as they were doing it.
This became a turning point in Brian’s life, realizing that he had to be an active part of learning to walk again.
From everything he has been through, Brian leaves us with two questions: Do you have courage in your life to be bold, daring, brave, to go out into the unknown? Do you have the will, drive, and fortitude to do everything you can do to make sure you don’t fail at the dreams you have courage to pursue?
Resources Mentioned* Brian’s website: https://mast.house.gov * Website: Operation 300 * Website: Believe with Me * Facebook: 25 United Disaster Relief
If you find this podcast helpful, you can subscribe and click here to find past topics and free resources. Feel free to share with others, as well! If you would like to help support Let’s Parent on Purpose, you can do so by becoming a patron.
I send a weekly email called “Things for Thursday” and it includes things I’ve found helpful related to parenting, marriage, and sometimes just things I find funny! You can sign up for “Things for Thursday” by joining my newsletter on my homepage.
Thank you for your continued support of this podcast. If you have a prayer request or if you have a topic suggestion or question, please contact me at my email.
The post From the Battlefield to U.S. Congress with Rep. Brian Mast appeared first on Let's Parent on Purpose.
Instilling the concept of service and generosity is one of the most impactful things that we do in the formation of our children’s character. It is something that definitely must be started in the home and not just at church. Steven Argue talks to us about the practical strategies that will help grow a heart of service and generosity in our children to ultimately make it a way of life.
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Show HighlightsSteven Argue serves at Fuller Theological Seminary in a hybrid role as assistant professor of youth, family, and culture and as applied research strategist with the Fuller Youth Institute (FYI). He is the co-author of the book Growing With: Every Parent’s Guide to Helping Teenagers and Young Adults Thrive in Their Faith, Family, and Future.
Creating a culture of service and generosity at home takes practice. It is built by repeating important habits over and over again. The idea of serving others and being generous is a transformative and growing force in our kids’ lives that can really help them discover who they are and begin to help them have a sense of the world as well.
This is important because the world that our kids live in right now is so different from the world that we grew up in. They have a window to the world in a way that we did not have before. They are aware of news of injustices and atrocities committed around the globe and they see it in real time.
Young people end up asking themselves: “What am I supposed to do about that?” This impulse to take action is a good opportunity for us to engage and talk to them about these challenges and what to do – how they can be of service.
An important thing from them to understand is not only what they can do, but more importantly why they should serve. Why is a meaning-making question that will help them have a deeper understanding of service.
Another valuable thing to let your children know is that they may be of service to people around the world on day, but they can also practice service and generosity in their community and even just at home.
A practical way in introduce the concept of service and generosity in your family is to have conversations about it – not necessarily big, serious family meetings – but everyday short conversations like when you are in the car, or before you go to bed, or over a meal. These make the concepts a part of your everyday. These small conversations prepare us for larger conversations.
Teach your children to be generous in their relationships with their classmates and friends. Steven suggests one small but meaningful way to do this is to always think of who else they can invite to a playdate or a party. Stay away from forming cliques and leaving others out. Make your home a safe space where their friends are always welcome.
As parents, talk about the process of serving. Before you go out to volunteer for a soup kitchen or a charity event, discuss what you are doing, why it’s important, and what are the stories behind it. Let your kids reflect on what they feel during their experience of service.
Then, debrief afterwards. Talk about what they found exciting, what was scary, and what they would do differently next time. The idea of service and generosity is then turned into a process that they are reflecting on. It will give your children deeper roots and transformative understanding of what they are doing.
Don’t forget to be generous yourself positive reinforcement when you see your child is being of service in their own ways.
As parents, Steven points out that we are often too quick to look at our kids through the lens of Genesis 3 where we see their sinfulness and everything that they do wrong. But, the narrative of the scripture starts with Genesis 1, which tells us that we are created in God’s image. There is certainly sin that needs to be addressed, but ultimately there are flashes of the Divine in each of us, including our children.
Call out the Genesis 1-ness of your children instead of beating them down with their Genesis 3- ness.
Instead of always calling out their mistakes, bring attention to the times when they do good. But when they do blow it, instead of saying “There you go again. I knew you would do that”, try saying, “I’m really surprised you did that because that’s not how I see you to be.”
Let your kids reflect on what they feel during their experience of service.
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Resources Mentioned* Steven’s website: http://www.stevenargue.com/ * Book: Growing With by Kara Powell and Steven Argue * Book: Sticky Faith by Kara Powell and Chap Clark * Institute: Fuller Youth Institute * Previous episode: Sticky Faith in an Anxious World With Kara Powell
If you find this podcast helpful, you can subscribe and click here to find past topics and free resources. Feel free to share with others, as well! If you would like to help support Let’s Parent on Purpose, you can do so by becoming a patron.
I send a weekly email called “Things for Thursday” and it includes things I’ve found helpful related to parenting, marriage, and sometimes just things I find funny! You can sign up for “Things for Thursday” by joining my newsletter on my homepage.
Thank you for your continued support of this podcast. If you have a prayer request or if you have a topic suggestion or question, please contact me at my email.
The post Serving and Generosity with Steven Argue appeared first on Let's Parent on Purpose.
There has been a major shift over the last several years in music and pop culture. Artists today are first brands, and then musicians. Social media, music streaming and youtube have radically changed music discovery, delivery, and influence. I have to be honest, I knew nothing about many of the top 10 Billboard artists of
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When families come together for the Holidays, sometimes it's a clash of worldview and parenting styles. Here are some steps to ease the pain.
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If you're normally a reader of this blog, can I ask you, for just one week, to Listen to this Podcast? I had the special, and extremely rare, opportunity to interview Dr. Samuel Thomas of Hopegivers International recently. Dr. Thomas is a hero of the faith. More than 60 years ago, his father M.A. Thomas
The post Can Orphans Change the World? appeared first on Let's Parent on Purpose.
Over the last few years I’ve noticed a pretty significant change in the way people are involved with their church. When I was a kid and young adult, “regular” church attenders were involved in Sunday School, a Worship Service, and generally the Sunday and Wednesday night services. Your most faithful attenders would miss perhaps one
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