Recap of Sunday - 3/30

For those of you who missed, here is a recap of the lesson and discussion

We opened with discussion of what we fear in being new parents. Here is a sampling of answers
- that I will be a bad role model
- that I will have to do it alone
- that even if I do things right my child will still turn out ... somehow wrong
- that I will, even through my most earnest efforts, pass on only a cultural Christianity.

We then looked at the life of Jesus, and were encouraged to see Christ...
- did not fear the world around him (Mark 4:35-41)
- did not fear the future- instructed us to do the same (Luke 12:22-24, & James 4:13-17)
- did not fear the expectations of man and his responsibilities (Mark 1:35-39; 3:7-11).
hear we mean that Christ did not allow his "responsibilities" to get in the way of his desire to rest and rejuvenate in quite time alone with God and his friends.

We then tried to see if our fears mentioned at first reflect a life different than Christ's example
- We seem to fear the future alot : I think God tells us to leave that to him.

Are you trying to train your child in the way of the lord? That is all you can do, I think God is telling us to keep going, but leave the results to him. The future is not ours to govern. Let it go.

We then had a quick few ideas of how to "let it go", how to let go of our fears of parenting and such.
- I think you need to actively engage in things that confront your fears
Are you afraid of finances... give money away... tithe more, give to the poor - start small, give $5 away to the first good cause.
Do you struggle with work/responsibility controlling you. - Make a point to dismiss the work you "should" take home and calmly tell the boss that "I just had to spend time doing X (with family, etc) , I'll get it done as soon as I can."
Do you have a consistent fear that your parenting strategy is, though good, not going to be effective?.... Don't really have a strong suggestiong here.. sorry, ... pray! Tell God that this is your fear. Make plans to tell yourself that you don't know the future, aren't suppose to.

So that makes for a long recap. Next time I lead the discussion we'll talk about the paucity of biblical instruction in parenting. We get about 4 verses... honestly... we'll talk about it.

First Playgroup!!!!

We have our first funtastic playgroup scheduled for Monday, April 7th at 9:45. We will be meeting at the Birch's house and will let the kiddos run around while we visit. We hope to see you there. Email us for directions if you are interested.

Stroller.Cise Class

There is a new class for moms at the Quarries!!! Bring your baby with you in your stroller and make new friends while getting fit. Your first class is FREE!!! After the first class it's $3 a time.
-Meet at the entrance by the Welcome Center
-Bring your babies in their stroller
-Warm up by the tennis courts
-Exercise with your stroller in Balcones Woods neighborhood nearby
-Strength training with bands
-Stretching and abs

This sunday in homebuilders - Caleb

As we strive to be like Christ, one of the most common (especially in parents) human attribute that gets in the way is worry and fear. We are commanded to not worry. We are told to be like the flowers of the field and not work so hard at obtaining perfect situations in life. Come ready to talk about some of your real fears about our kiddos and be ready to discuss Christ's life in relation to his confidence and peacefulness.

This Saturday: Our First Official Class Social!!!!

This Saturday, March 29th, we welcome everyone who has young children and is interested in socializing with the Homebuilders Sunday School Class to join us at Northwest District Park.  The park is located just off of Shoal Creek in Central Austin.  We plan to gather at 4 P.M. with our families and a yummy snack to share with everyone!  Check out the link to our Evite at the bottom of this post.  If you have any questions please email us at Homebuilders.hpbc@gmail.com.

Resurrection Sunday

This Sunday is Easter, folks! So get ready to put on the Sunday best, park a few blocks away (if you're late) and get the easter eggs ready for the kiddos!

So I am being a little bit fecicious here, but seriously, this Sunday morning I want to talk about the Resurrection and what it means to us. Please take some time between now and Sunday and meditate on the Resurrection. Use 1 Corinthians 15 as a scriptural background in addition to the gospel accounts of Jesus' resurrection...and you can use some of Caleb's recommendations below for meditating on certain passages you find particularly meaningful to you!

Here a couple of questions to ponder:

1. How important is the Resurrection to my faith?

2. Does the Resurrection have any bearing on my day to day life? How does it affect me on any given day?

I look forward to seeing everyone Sunday morning!


- casey

Recap on Sunday 3/16 - prayer discussion

Here's a little recap on our discussion today with suggestions from me and the group.
We started with the assumption that we want to have better prayer lives than we currently do. I want to apologize again for planning too much and going over time. Elizabeth suggested that I keep the third part for another day and I should have listened. We may revisit again anyway.

When is a good time to pray?
a) time budget your prayer time - it needs to be a priority
b) model prayer with your kids - evening/morning/meals (but not only meals)
c) Also, when kids are asleep, plan time to try more earnest prayer. I suggested that the first 5 minutes of nap or night time, before we set to the work and chores we get done then. There is also the early morning standard. Elizabeth suggested a day that you fast from meals and pray instead. You could start first with just one meal, say lunch on monday, and pray instead and go further later.

How do we pray? - we had several suggestions
a)Don't ever shun the simple prayers that you model for your kids - lord thank you for X, etc.
b)Keep a list of things to pray about and go through it at a certain time.
b) We are normally familiar with "stress induced prayer" of supplication - this is an important time to pray. We need to be responsive to prayer needs at any time and be ready to pray for people in the moment or as we remember.
c) For me, using a "starter prayer" helps me get my mind and spirit going. I memorize a 3-4 line prayer that I created or I got from a book of prayers (like the episcopal book of prayer) and that gets me going onto more personal prayer.
d) use a structure like ACTS (adoration, confession, thanksgiving, supplication) to help you remember to pray consistently.
e) Write your prayers out in a prayer journal - either as a stream of conscientious or compose a formal letter to God. (Casey reflected that a friend's grandfather did this for years and some of them were read at his funeral as a testimony to his devoted life. I hope I can be remembered in a similar way.)

How do we meditate on scripture (aka planned day dreaming) -
a) Actually, literally, repeat the verse a number of times in your mind or aloud to make sure you are familiar with it, memorizing it. ( I even write passages out 10 times in a row- old school memorization)
b) Ponder questions such as "what did he mean by that?" What does that word mean?
c) Key (in my opinion) to scripture meditation is Application and planning. What I mean by this is imaginative pondering/day dreaming of how you might apply this to your life, and actually make plans to do so in the near future.

Be ready to discuss how you tried to improve how much time you pray when we get back together. I'm going to post a survey on the blog for people to respond to later today. Please check it out.

Caleb

This Sunday in Homebuilders - Prayer - lead by Caleb

Hey Guys, On Sunday 3/16 I have planned for us to discuss the topic of prayer and meditation. Specifically I want us to focus on these questions.
1) When in my busy life am I going to pray!?
2) How in my busy life am I going to pray!?
3) What in the world do you mean by scripture meditation?!
3a&b What use is and how do you meditate on scripture.

I believe there are two ways to teacher/lead. One is from a position of mastery, as when a school teachers teaches math problems to her students. Another is one from a leader in an endevour to solve a problem together. This is more like when a professor has question and directs his team of personnel to answer it, all of the team, including the professor, learn in the process. This Sunday's lesson will certainly be from the second position. I will have some of my opinions ready, and we can discuss several from the group as well.

My hope and objective is that this discussion will help us all to pray more frequently and more earnestly for our families, the souls of our friends and our class. Remember, the goal is not to "understand" any philosophy of prayer so much as to "do" more prayer. So come ready to talk some practicals!

What fun we had Kicking off the Class...

First Class!!!!

Our first class was so much fun! Thanks to all who came. It was so nice to discuss the future of the class and the awesome lessons to come. Casey and Caleb did a great job of leading this morning. We had a total of 11 adults and 1 little one. What a great success!

HomeBuilders Kick Off Party

The kick off party was a great success! Thanks to the DeKonings for letting us bombard your house. It was great to see all of the children playing and meet some of the people in the current Door class. We look forward to seeing everyone bright and early in church tomorrow. Yay for donuts and fellowship!!! Also, don't forget the time change!!!