Insights
Excellent Play
My daddy loves to play and my mama lives her life with tremendous intensity, so growing up that caused a little tension. But my brother, my daddy and I usually won out and the playing continued with my mama smiling and shaking her head. In my house with my own children it was somewhat the same. Mr. Incredible loves to play and I was more the rule person; however, since I was raised to play, that was helpful in our quest to find ways to play with our children. Sometimes it was just that I didn’t get mad when he was playing with them because I was too busy.
What place does play have in our busy lives and the lives of our children? Does play need to have a place? Yes! Play is absolutely crucial in the lives of children. I know that every dad just cheered and the moms eyes rolled, but keep reading mamas, I don’t come at you with this truth. And maybe your house is the opposite and mama is more the one who loves to play. Or maybe both mama and daddy are so exhausted from life that no one is playing.
I remember being on a long road trip when I was 7 yrs old and my younger brother and I were both so bored and getting on each other’s nerves and fighting and suddenly my daddy pulled the car over to the side of the road, headed to the back of our station wagon, threw open the back door and I thought for sure we were about to get in serious trouble. Instead, he climbed in and began to tickle us and wrestle with us and we had a play break on the side of that road. That is such a core memory for me of play. We need it as children and as adults. But as adults, we have lost our ability to switch off responsibility and just play. We view play more as a frivolity than a practice of excellence. Jim Burns, founder of HomeWord, said, “A great thing happens to families when they play together: They begin to talk and laugh and lighten up. Family memories are built, inside jokes are shared, and serious moments of intimacy are communicated. Families need special times together to build lifelong memories and to play together.”
In Zechariah 8, the prophet is painting a picture of what it will look like when Israel comes back from captivity, he is painting a picture of freedom and he says in verse 5, “The city streets will be filled with boys and girls playing there.” When you picture children playing, it paints a story of security, of joy, of a life with few cares creating a firm foundation and a hope for the future.
I know life is filled with pressures and time constraints and bills and responsibility and playing together feels like something we can easily cut out that will allow more time for seemingly more important things. But I promise playing together will yield benefits for the rest of your life with your children, even into their adulthood. They are only little and wanting to play with you for a short season. If you play with them now, that sense of security and fun and trust established in playing when they were young, will guide the relationship you have with them as adults that lasts for decades.
So pick up a basketball, pull out a board game, host an imaginary tea party, play a card game or plan a trip to play hard somewhere this summer. I do not regret one moment of playing with my children or watching my husband play with my children while I finished dinner or did another load of laundry. Purpose to play with your children in small mundane moments and big moments of celebration, you need it as much as they do, and watch the Lord paint a picture of joy and freedom in your home. If play is not your strong suit, don’t complicate it, ask the Lord to help you see and take avenues to play that lead to joy for you and for them. When your children invite you to play with them, as much as you can, do it! You will never regret playing more with your children. As an empty nester, I promise those are some of the moments you miss the most, the moments of play.
Becky Ross
Primary Education Principal
Logos Preparatory Academy
His Heart Beats
A few years ago I was at Andrew Peterson’s, “Behold the Lamb of God” Christmas concert. The first half of this concert is done “in the round” which is simply each artist taking a turn to play a couple of their personal songs before everyone joins together to play the “Behold the Lamb of God” album in its entirety. When it came time for Andrew to play he stepped up to the microphone and played “Is He Worthy?” and a song called “His Heart Beats”.
His Heart Beats, by Andrew Peterson
Take a couple of minutes and watch this video and follow along with the lyrics.
I kid you not, a few lines into the song and I am weeping. “‘Cause the blood that brought us peace with God is racing through His veins”.
With Christ’s death, He brought about new life. Death came through the first man, Adam and through the new man, Jesus, the resurrection of the dead and the reclamation of God’s original plan now comes.
In that grave, when His heart began to beat again, death began seeing the end. Sad things started to come untrue. Do you see it?
You have been redeemed!
You have been bought with a price!
Death doesn’t have to have a hold of you anymore!
Because of Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection we are able to KNOW Him!!
It is my hope that this Easter you are reawakened to the beauty of Christ’s resurrection and as our hearts begin to beat in rhythm with His, I pray we get to see His Kingdom come on Earth as it is in Heaven.
Happy Easter!
He is risen!
He is risen indeed!
Joel Gutowsky
Director of Student Life
Logos Preparatory Academy
My Story
I remember coming home from college one day and telling my mom that no one was ever going to ask me to give my testimony anywhere. We had spent the week listening to others tell their stories of how the Lord had delivered them from drugs or their family from alcoholism or living a life of rebellion or rejection of their Christian faith and on and on. I told my mama that I was thinking seriously of going out and partying a little just so I could have a good story that people wanted to hear and be inspired by. My mama leaned in and so sweetly said, “Baby, you have the best testimony, because you have the testimony of the Keeping Power of God. His ability to teach you how to trust Him, to lead you past the temptation to drink, smoke, chew or go with boys that do and keep you falling more in love with Him everyday is a miracle. It is a testimony of the Keeping Power of God and it is the testimony I most want you to have and share.”
So although at 19 I thought that was really boring, I have grown in my understanding of the precious gift of having that testimony, that story be my story. Not that I have lived a perfect life, only Jesus did that. I have sinned and blown it and repented and been restored a million times. But I have never walked away from the Lord. Where else would I go? He has the words of life! I have been blessed to have parents who followed the Lord my whole life and who helped my husband and I teach our children the truth of the Word and who God is and how much He loves them!
God is writing an excellent story in each of our lives. He is weaving different characters in and out of our lives, placing some there for a lifetime and some for only a little while, plot lines with twists and turns and some straight paths that lead to pleasant places. He is endeavoring to show us how much He loves us and will be present with us in the good and bad. He also somehow still allows us to choose to follow Him everyday or walk away.
If this “excellent story” was easy, everyone would choose to follow the Lord. God doesn’t promise us an easy story, He just promises to be with us ALL the way through our story, the good and the hard; and that is worth everything because He is worthy of it all, all the praise, all the glory, all the adoration for my story, your story and all of our excellent, beautiful, messy stories. I can’t wait to read the next chapter!
Becky Ross
Primary Education Principal
Logos Preparatory Academy
Excellent Hope
A couple weeks ago I wrote about how navigating a call to the ministry through college left me feeling overwhelmed and hopeless. It was in these moments that God gently reminded me that it was of course, only through His grace and mercy in my life that I would be able to proceed in this calling successfully.
This calling led me to serve for 10 years in a pastoral role at two churches in the Houston area. The first church was a soft landing for my first pastoral role. It was a smaller church with a smaller staff with many years of pastoral ministry under their belts. I was able to serve in a place that was comfortable, safe, fun and where I could absolutely soak in a ton of wisdom from the people I served with. We had a smaller youth group at this church with great kids from great families, many of whom I knew prior to starting in my youth ministry role. One thing I learned from my time at this church was that as a pastor, when you let all of the fruit of the Spirit be evident in your life and ministry to your congregation, that is the sweet spot of ministry. While at this church I got to see a very beloved pastor retire after 19 years of ministry to that congregation. I was able to watch what it was like to finish the pastoral race well and to leave a congregation better than when you arrived. It was an absolute joy to be a part of.
After about six years at this church, I moved to take another pastoral role serving students and families inside the loop and, my goodness, did I experience some culture shock! Though the spiritual needs of the students and families were the same, ministering to them was drastically different. For three and a half years I served and ministered in the best way I knew how, but after about three and a half years in, because of ministry philosophy differences, my time at this church came to a close.
At this point, for the first time in my life as a believer, husband, and dad I did not have a church home and my family did not have a church home. For ten years our church home had been where I had served as pastor. For ten years, Sunday morning church was part of my job instead of part of my chosen routine. For the first time that I could remember I didn’t know what to do. I knew the importance of finding a church home, but didn’t know what I wanted to look for for my family or what specifically we needed as a family.
This led us on a journey for a few months where we ultimately landed in the church we are at now. For the last 10 years God has renewed our excellent hope through His local church. Through our church home we have been healed, we have had people walk with us through some very, very hard seasons of sickness and death and we have grown in our relationship with God exponentially.
I want to encourage you to do more than just attend your local church. Put down roots. Invest your time and energy into the people who surround you, as they too are on a journey towards Christ-likeness. It is my prayer that through your local church, you too will be re-energized in the excellent hope that we are given through Christ Jesus.
Joel Gutowsky
Director of Student Life
Logos Preparatory Academy
