For the pod: The frustrations of a fixer

A friend recommended this talk and I am very pleased they did. I had already spotted it but being honest I was not disposed to listen to a Mothers Day talk about 'fixers'. I wrongly assumed I was clearly not the target market. There are some real and anointed nuggets of wisdom in this talk and it will be one I am pretty sure you will pass on to others in your churches and to friends.

I have also been thinking and praying a lot for parents (lone and married) with teenage children these last few weeks and trying to read, pray and listen to some things to assist my understanding. A friend told me of a bunch of ten lads being mentored by a Christian project and one of the ten was being bullied because 'he had a father'. Boris is on to this issue too and is looking for mentors and he is even advertising for them on our buses. These are our days. Although it was a while ago, I do seem to remember I have actually been a teenager, as we all have, but I wasn't born again but was blessed with married parents and a loving home.

It is quite complex for many I know parenting in a Christian home when you were perhaps saved in your twenties and come from a non-Christian or nominally religious background and have no parenting discipleship models to follow. It is often said that it's not the job of the youth worker in a church to do discipleship it's the parents job but many parents simply don't know how a 'Christian home' is supposed to function despite their desire to be one. The worries when all is seemingly not looking like it is going to plan in the teenage years for any parent, Christian or not, can be extreme and very, very painful. I happened upon this teaching from Micah called 'Parenting with hope in the worst of times' and it required me to listen to it twice as there is much to chew on and process. A pal is really not a fan of the Doctor but I have to say he makes my brain work and is in most people's view quite a handy expositor. At very least you can work out why you disagree with him.

I am open to any recommendations on the issue of teenagers, mentoring, teenage church going or lack of it , grace, parenting and the gospel for those not from Christian homes, children and the new birth and any other things you may have discovered and found helpful.