November 10, 2015November 9, 2015 Peter Witkowski Discipleship

Thanksgiving Every Day

thanksgiving blog Sometimes it was painfully awkward; sometimes it was refreshing, and sometimes it was just a touch weird. Yet, we did it. Each Thanksgiving after the pumpkin pie had been put away, all five of us Witkowski kids would go around the table and list the one thing we were thankful for. (The first kid always had it easy. “I’m thankful for my awesome family.” Shocker, right?) Though I wasn’t always a fan of the tradition as a kid, I’ve come to realize that we need to regularly thank our creator. And our thankfulness needs to go beyond a material goods. We need to realize that God’s favor is not tied to stuff, health, or human relationships.

This is hard for us to grasp. From the time we start praying, we tend to focus on stuff. Think about how most young kids pray. “God, thank you for mommy, thank you for our dog Calvin, and thank you for my toy helicopter Aunt sally sent me.” Our thankfulness is often determined by what God has done for us lately.

But God’s definition of love is not tied to today’s stuff; its tied to him. We read in Romans 5:8 that, “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” The best thing Christ has done for you and me is to bring us to God. Our relationship with him is the source of joy, life, and peace. Regardless of what we and our kids have experienced this year, we can be thankful. We can praise Jesus even if we have lost our mom, buried the family dog, and totaled our car because none of those things can separate us from the love of God! Our thankfulness is tied to cross. Let’s start abounding with it 365 days a year!

Does your family have a Thanksgiving Day traditions? I would love to hear about them!

photo credit: <a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/61525950@N02/10874493605″>Pillsbury Thanksgiving Table2</a> via <a href=”http://photopin.com”>photopin</a> <a href=”https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/”>(license)</a>

June 3, 2014February 14, 2015 Peter Witkowski Babies and Birth, Children's Ministry

Changing Diapers For Jesus

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Philippians 2:3-4

Dancing puppets, bouncy bands, and cool smoke machines are transforming the old children’s church wings with decaying pictures of Noah’s Ark into miniature amusement parks complete with complimentary drinks. And there is much to be said for updating Changing Babies For Jesus décor and for reevaluating curriculum to make sure it is gospel infused and connecting with today’s kids. Making “Victory in Jesus” your 2014 VBS theme song is probably not the best way to reach One Direction groupies. But as we take children’s ministry to the “next level,” we cannot forget that family ministry is best done by the church family; not just the children’s pastor or the preschool director.

Yes, church leaders have the important task of helping us parents better love Christ so that we can faithful care for our children. But caring for the exhausted mother and the frustrated dad extends well beyond the walls of the children’s building and even of the sanctuary. For the church to effectively minister to families, Christians need to be in each other homes, offering relief through babysitting, bringing meals, and counseling with the tired. As disciples of Christ, we are called to count others as more significant than ourselves, looking out for the interests of the new mommy, the well-worn mother of five, and the parents struggling with acclimating a newly adopted child.

Placing the interest of others above our own is not easy for singles, senior adults, young couples, or anyone else for that matter. There are a million reasons why not to care for families ranging from jealousy to “I already did my time.” But the basis for our service is not found in what we have or have not done. It’s found in what Christ did and does. If you think changing a dirty diaper is nasty, then think about how repulsive our sin stained skin looked to Christ. We were perpetually nasty and didn’t even have the angelic factor of a newborn or the curious intelligence of a gradeschooler to make us attractive. Yet, God humbled himself so that we might live. He loved us when we were his enemies. If we love Christ, we cannot help but want to be like Christ by humbling ourselves to care for others, even the snotty-nose kiddo’s!

When we do love families with kids running crazy, we cause Christ to shine bright in this dying world. I’ve heard many an exhausted mom rightfully rave about a friend who took their children for a day. And having been loved well by my church family following the births of my two sons through cards, meals, visits, and some late night home nursery care, I can testify of how the selfless care of others strengthens a parent’s hearts.

Admittedly, looking out for others is not natural to us. I frequently have to ask my wife to forgive me for saying something rude. But in Christ, we are new creations, capable of truly loving others. And looking out for the interest of others does not end with the local family. It extends to the entire body of Christ and to the lost world. I fear that many parents feel the need to escape from their kids on Sunday morning because we have not effectively cared for families Monday through Saturday. There are many ways by which we can improve our care for families such as starting a “new mother’s response team “or having a Sunday school class adopt families offering to babysit for free once a month. The solution for each church family will undoubtedly be different. But the need to look out for the interest of others reaches us all!

February 13, 2014July 8, 2014 Peter Witkowski Discipleship, Parenting

From Sochi to Salvation: A Brief Theology For The Parents of Sport’s Nation

The screaming, jumping, whooshing, waving, and excitement of the Olympics is here. And as we click on T.V. screens to see which flips, spins and twists were medal worthy, we also are treated to fascinating personal interest stories. Whether they are covering a petite figure skater or a rough snowboarder, all of the interviews reveal that a spot on the medal podium requires a lifetime of personal and familial sacrifice. As Christians, we are often awed by these athletes’ devotion and wowed by their success. Naturally wanting our children to succeed, we start to wonder if we should send our five-year-old girl off to Michigan to practice figure skating or sign up our ten-year-old son for college football camps in Alabama. What should Christian parents do?

Go Sports Go

Before we zing off to the slopes, the beach, or the practice field, we first need to ask, “Do Christians belong in sports?” I believe the answer is a resounding yes! God has made us physical creatures. He has given us the ability to run, jump, and create fun competitions. As Exodus 28:3, Exodus 35:35, and I Kings 7:14 make clear, all human skills are gifts from God. Even the ability to ski down a mountain or to dribble a soccer ball is a present from our creator. Moreover, sports provide us with the opportunity to relax, fellowship, and responsibly care for our bodies. Employing several sporting analogies, the apostle Paul confirmed that “bodily training is of some value (I Timothy 4:8).” We can and should encourage our children to participate in sports. We and our children belong in sports’ nation.

The True Value of Sports

Yet as C.J. Mahaneny noted, “as soon as you introduce the human heart, things get complicated” (Mahaney 2010, 9). We can’t blindly encourage our kids to just “do it” every time the practice field opens. We need to realize that sports are only valuable when done to the glory of God. When we and our children use sports as an opportunity to encourage others, to accept correction, to serve our friends, to praise God, and to share the story of salvation, sports’ nation is a good thing (I Cor. 10:13).

But, we cannot value sports’ nation simply for the sake of sports. If we do, sports’ nation become more dangerous than facing Barry Bonds in the bottom of the ninth inning with the base loaded and no outs. Nothing created, not even the cute, little guy wearing a T-ball jersey two sizes too big, should take the place of Christ. If we covet success and fame for our children, we transform sports into an Idol. And, covetousness is idolatry (Col. 3:5). If we inflate the value of sports, “Worship is happening – on ESPN and in our hearts” (Mahaney 2010, 40).

Admittedly, we cannot keep little, prideful hearts from boasting in thirty mile-per hour fastballs and three inch verticals. We cannot redeem our miniature superstars (Ez. 18:20). But we can point our children to Christ through our actions! Sports played for the glory of god are immensely valuable.

Breaking God’s Rules

Now, it’s time for the practical side of things. If we fail to follow God’s rules and place our children’s sports’ career above the things of God, our lives will show it. As Paul David Tripp notes, “You are always attaching your inner hope and contentment to something, and when you do, those things take on life-shaping value” (Tripp 2012, 103). Family devotions will be replaced with never ending practices. Church attendance will be regularly bumped off the calendar by weekend tournaments. And, our bank accounts will see giving withdraws redirected to season tickets, uniforms, and that all important swag. Words of gracious love spoken to our children will be replaced with criticism, rants against officials, and complaints about coaches. By virtue of our actions, we will teach our children that the gods of sports’ nation will give them, “what the God the Bible cannot give – success by worldly standards” (Baucham 2007, 38). We will prepare our children to gain their lives only to lose them. And at the end of the day, we cannot be surprised to see our children mature into adults who place the world before Christ. As Voddie Baucham warns, “We cannot expect our children to rise above our example” (Baucham 2007, 40).

Playing God’s Way

For our children’s sports’ activities to glorify God, we must place them comfortably behind Christ, our marriage, and our family. We are children of the king, designed to worship Christ. The prize we should most value and most want for our children is the one consisting of eternal glory (I Tim. 4:8). It is the prize that requires one to lose his life to gain it (John 12:25). It’s the prize that our children can get only through hearing the word of God preached and the seeing the word of God lived out faithfully by their parents and other believers (Deut. 6). Such instruction is far better than any scholarship, trophy, or medal.

Below, I’ve list a few practically ways we can use sports to point are children to Christ. The following is taken mostly from C.J. Mahaney’s book Don’t Waste Your Sports:

Celebrate godliness. We should praise our children for making it to the podium and for hitting a homerun, but we should praise their humility, diligence, and self-control even more.
Prize your family. If your children’s gymnastics event or if watching the Olympic snowboard competitions dominate your family life, cut back on your sports. Skip a practice, turn off the T.V. and spend time studying the word and/or praying together as a family or take your wife on a date.
Guide Your Speech. Speak truth in love. Strive to only say things that support, encourage, and build up your children, the coaches, and the officials. God is sovereign even over peewee football. Are words should reflect our faith in his control.
Love your local church. Missing a Sunday morning or two “doesn’t make you guilty of idolatry” as C.J. points out (Mahaney 2010, 41). But, we can still help our children understand that God comes first. When events fall on Sunday, we can miss practice, arrive late, or visit other Bible believing churches.
Train for life. Use your children’s sporting failures and successes as opportunities to teach them about their hearts and about the character of the one true God.

Game On

Sports are a blessing. For the sake of for disclosure, I must confess that I am sports’ enthusiast. I played baseball until my sophomore year of college. My office is decorated with mini football helmets. I celebrated the coming of my first son by purchasing Chicago Cubs onesie. I even find aspects of Olympic curling to be interesting. As my wife can attest, I am a sports’ junky.

But for all of its benefits and life lessons, sports’ nation will never save. Red Sox Nation, Wrigley Field, and Sochi will all burn. If you start place sports’ nation behind your marriage, family, and church, your child may slide from starter to sub. But isn’t eternal life worth the earthly cost? Is there anything that we or our children sacrifice on earth that will not be returned a thousand times over in heaven? Let’s encourage our children to use their athletic ability to glorify their creator. Let’s point them to salvation!