Live Free with Josh Howerton - Dream with Your Kids | Ep. 392 | Tuesday, August 6, 2024

Episode Date: August 6, 2024

At every stage, parents are called by God to nurture their children's dreams and support them in following God's unique path for their lives. Trust that God will guide you as you assist your children in pursuing their aspirations; do not hesitate to dream big alongside your child. Remember, it is not the parent's role to shape children into what they desire them to become; instead, recognize that God has destined your child for a life beyond any plans you may have envisioned. For more information, visit lakepointe.church/dailydrive

Thanks for tuning in to today's Daily Drive with Lake Point Church, a daily dose of God's Word for your morning drive. When the word, not the world, becomes the majority of your week, your life will start to change. For that reason, our prayer is that God will speak to you through today's devotional. For more digital content to feed your faith, visit lakepoint.combe. And now let's dive in to today's devotional. Hey, what's up? Thanks for joining us on the Daily Drive. This week we are talking about family, specifically parenting in such a way that gives our kids roots and wings. And I know that many of you who listen are not parents. But like they say, it really does take a village. And I am so grateful

for the single adults, the retired individuals, teachers, coaches, neighbors, uncles, and aunts that surrounded us and still surround us to help us parent our kids. So I'm just encouraging you hang with us this week. We're talking about some principles that I think, could help everybody. And we have some proverbs from God's book attached to each one that I think will resonate in your heart in different ways. Yesterday we talked about giving our kids

the freedom for discovery, that into their curiosity and seeking God, he speaks and begins to reveal himself. And while you're at it, the second principle is this. Let them dance their own dance. Let them dance their own dance. I don't know whether you've been to a shine event, which is a prom for special needs students.

I've been in part of churches that have been doing that for over almost 25 years now. My buddy Brewster came up with that idea to have a prom for special needs students. It has been so fun to see that idea spread like a wildfire throughout the world. I just saw a video from what we call a night to remember, and it was so much fun. The video was amazing, so much unbridled joy and fun. Every student out there on the dance floor had their own unique dance. And I thought all kids are like that. Every kid is unique.

They all got their own dance. So as you give them wings, encourage them to be who God designed them to be. They're not like their brother or sister. They're not like dad. They're not like mom. They're just a whole lot like them. Proverbs 226, kind of a famous verse says,

train a child in the way that he or she should go. And when they are old, they will not turn from it. Now, the Hebrew word for the way carries the connotation of a bent. while there is one ultimate way to point them toward God, there is also that unique way that he ought to go, that she ought to go. If you've got a little extroverted leader, help her develop those leadership skills. If you've got a little introverted Lego engineer, help him develop those creative gifts. There's a tendency to try to force our kids into the mold that we want for them.

I coached sports for a lot of years. I can remember one time standing at the fence with a dead. dad at a little league baseball game. He was so frustrated watching his son struggle to play. And he turns to me as a total stranger and says, I always wanted a ball player

and I got a sissy. I just cringed. I said, well, sir, you know what you got? You got a wonderful, unique, bright, creative, sensitive kid that you were trying to make into a ball player. Just let them dance their own dance.

You know, all three of our kids are different. three have similar interest. They all love God. They all love each other. They love family. But their personality makeup is very unique. Our daughter Jody as a kid was a party waiting to assemble. Anybody else got one of those kids? She always wanted to be up front. She's always, they're always putting on little skits and plays, and she would always have the talking parts, and she would make her brothers be inanimate objects in the skit. She would write it. She would script it. She would produce it. She would be the lead. And now she's an amazing, amazing teacher on staff at Mission Church. in Ventura, California.

Derek, he is as dependable as they come. He was always just steady and ultra-talented. He started singing as a kid. When he was five years old, he entered the Mercer County, Kentucky talent show for adults. He was five years old, and he wanted to sing, all my exes live in Texas. And he won the talent show. It was amazing. It was a great memories of that.

And even though he loved playing sports and still loves it, He just had a gift early on and a passion for music, so I got him a guitar, and I taught him five chords, and now he knows 500. I still know five, and he's now a singer, a songwriter, a worship leader. He plays guitar, bass, keys, banjo, and drums. Our youngest son, Drew, was always kind of a smiling, quiet leader, just kind of a soft glow about him. We were sitting together at high school graduation one time. I think he was maybe like a sophomore or freshman in high school. It was kind of cool to hear some of the dreams of the great.

graduates, they walk across the stage and they say, this is Todd, he plans on owning his own business someday. This is Sarah. She plans to go to the mission field. This is Julie. She plans on going to med school and become a pediatrician. This is Josh. He hopes to one day have a seat on the Supreme Court, and on and on it went. So I turned to Drew, who at the time was just eaten up with basketball, high school freshmen. I said, hey, what are they going to say about you in a few years? He grinned and said, they're going to say Drew Bro has accepted a scholarship to play at the University of Kentucky. after that he plans on a long career in the NBA. And I said, no.

You know what they're going to say? They're going to say Drew Bro recently turned down a basketball scholarship to pursue his dream of someday beating his dad one-on-one in the driveway. Elbows are flying back and forth. We're talking trash. We're punching each other in the back row. Truth is, I haven't able to guard him since he was 15 years old. All of our kids are so different.

A buddy of mine told me one time. I said, bro, you know, it's kind of cool. All three of your kids got a piece of you. your passion, except for Derek's a much better musician, Drew's a much better athlete, and Jody's a much better preacher. He's right on all three. I'm just so proud of who they uniquely are. I want to encourage you. Dream with your kids. Spur them on. Say, you know what? You could. You can. You ought to try. God has so much in store for you. I am so glad that he made you uniquely you. You are going to rock this world someday. Never discourage a dream. When you say things like,

there's no way you could ever do that that's impossible it's toxic and disabling always say to them you know what that's a great dream and god will lead you as you pursue it now he may take you a totally different direction but that dream is a great starting point because it says in proverb 16 9 we can make our plans we can dream our dreams but the lord determines our steps so let's celebrate today how god has uniquely wired us all up and let's trust him to determine our steps. Come back tomorrow for a third thing our kids might tell us about parenting. And man, I hope you have a great day to day. Thanks for tuning in today. For more biblical teaching and worship, join us for our church online live weekend services on Saturdays and Sundays. For more information

about all the digital ministries of Lake Point, visit lakepoint.compt.com slash daily drive. Also, if this podcast was helpful to you, would you be sure to rate, review, and share this podcast to help get the word out.