"The city of Stamford CT was sued recently by the mother of a two year old who bumped his head at a city playground. The mother, who claimed her child was a model, demanded lost wages, “due to his inability to audition or take modeling or commercial jobs while his head heals.”
None of my two year olds have ever earned great wages. But we have tried to teach even our young children that God wants them to do something besides eat junk food and watch TV.
20 years ago 5% of American kids were overweight,
Today, 30% are either overweight or heading that way.
In 1969 80% of kids played sports every day.
Today 20% do.
By age 17, a child has spent 38% more time watching TV than in school.
In most gym classes kids are aerobically active for just 3 minutes.
Don’t wait for the school or the world to teach your child to get active. God wants you teaching them to redeem the time.
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"A man boarded a jet and noticed there was no flight crew. Soon a recorded voice came over the loudspeaker saying, “Welcome to our new fully automated aircraft. In order to serve you better we have replaced the pilots and flight attendants with a more efficient electronic system which controls every aspect of your flight. For your safety this new system has been thoroughly tested and nothing can possibly go wrong, go wrong, go wrong.
Not everything can be automated, but whatever can be automated in your daily routines should be. Assigned seats for children, at the table or in the car, cuts down on squabbles and makes things run smoothly. Developing methods for handling routine requests at work, such as printing out answers to a frequently asked question or making maps to a location you are often asked directions to, are examples of how we can automate to give better service.
The goal of automation is to free time for things we can’t automate, like playing with our children or sharing our faith. Automation redeems the time.
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"On Sept. 6th, 2003, a man walked into a Food Lion store here in North Carolina and bought $150 of groceries. When he handed the clerk a $200 bill he was given the groceries and $50 change. Police are now looking for the man who passed the bill with George W. Bush’s picture and a sign on the White House lawn reading, “We like broccoli.”
Obviously someone was not careful handling money that day. But when you get paper money how do you handle it? The best way is to have a system of placing currency in your wallet or purse all facing the same way with larger bills in the back. Behind the currency, put gift certificates, coupons and receipts. Other items like credit cards and store cards should also be assigned a place so you can find them quickly instead of fumbling at the checkout.
The Bible teaches us God is not the author of confusion. To the extent we bring order to our lives we reflect His nature and redeem the time.
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"A Christian leader, who has been greatly used of God in our day, tells about an incident early in his life that helped him establish right goals and priorities. While still in high school, a youth leader encouraged him to ask two questions before becoming involved in extracurricular activities.
The first was “What will this activity count 10 years from now?” Then, “What will this activity count for eternity?” The counselor explained how those two questions are like the markers that help a farmer plow a straight furrow. An experienced plowman will pick a post at the end of the field and then a distant tree behind it. As long as those two markers line up, he knows he is going in a straight line.
In the same way, when an activity meets the 10 year test and the eternity test it can be considered a good investment of time. But those that don’t line up will hinder us from redeeming the time.
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