For to us a child is born,

    to us a son is given;

and the government shall be upon his shoulder,

    and his name shall be called

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Of the increase of his government and of peace

    there will be no end,

on the throne of David and over his kingdom,

    to establish it and to uphold it

with justice and with righteousness

    from this time forth and forevermore.

The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

Action Steps:

• Have each person in the family pick the top two or three things from the list above that they want to focus on in the coming year.
• Get creative! If someone sees a way to bring about that’s not on the list above, share it with one another.
• Create your own family list, adding clarity to or expounding on any one of the above suggestions in a way that’s meaningful for your family. 

“Whoever would love life

and see good days

must keep their tongue from evil

and their lips from deceitful speech.

They must turn from evil and do good;

they must seek peace and pursue it.

For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous

and his ears are attentive to their prayer,

but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear their threats; do not be frightened.”—1 Peter 3:9-14

Action Steps:

Sometime today, or as soon as you’re able, ask your family one of these questions. 

• Where do see peace having a cost?
• Why is it so tempting to “repay evil with evil”? 
• What would it cost you to help bring peace to your environment?

Action Steps:

Sometime today, or as soon as you’re able, ask your family one of these questions:

• Does peacemaking seem practical to you? Why or why not?
• 1 Peter 3:9 says to “repay evil with blessing.” What do you think that means?
• What would peacemaking look like in our daily lives? 

You’ll also want to start planning today for your time together on Sunday. Remember, this all started with Sundays (or Saturdays) being an opportunity to slow down and enter into a different rhythm (Sabbath). This Sunday will be the culmination and reflection of all the weeks and days so far. If peace is something we have to work toward, our own homes are a great place to start. So here’s what you’ll need to begin to prepare. 

Plan a meal that allows time for a longer discussion (approx. 2-3 hrs.). Below is a basic outline of how your Saturday meal/discussion time could go. (Don’t worry we will give you a more detailed plan on Saturday.)

In order for the God of peace to rule over our lives we must first put ourselves in a posture to receive His peace. Here are four key shifts you can begin to make to be in the right posture:

• Shift from hurry to being more intentional and living with hope.
  • Before your meal, come up with a creative way to eliminate hurry from your family’s lives. Get some sticky notes or 3×5 cards to write down what you want to fill your life with in 2020. (More details on Saturday’s email)
• Shift from envy to more joy. 
  • Have this conversation over everyone’s favorite family meal.
  • We’ll give you discussion questions to go over during the meal. 
• Shift from indifference to love.
  • Discussion over dessert. (More details on Saturday’s email)
  • Remember two weeks ago when you gave away your favorite desserts? This week have everyone actually eat their favorite desserts.
• Shift from anxiety/worry to peace.
  • After the meal, go over the discussion questions provided in Saturday’s email.

Anxiety & Depression Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/74326/6740707
Anxiety Conversation Video: https://drive.google.com/file/d/14syvvPgzK6F6-lS_gDxOgc8M1gFU2SB4/view?usp=sharing

Action Steps:

Sometime today, or as soon as you’re able, ask your family some of these questions. 

• What are the biggest causes of anxiety that you’ve seen? 
• What do you think Jesus meant in John 14:27?
• What’s the difference between seeking the peace of God and seeking the God of peace?

• Have you or has anyone you know ever struggled with depression? Anxiety? What did you or they do to deal with it?
• How do your friends talk about mental health issues? Do you have
  someone besides me that you can talk to if you’re struggling?
• How do you feel when talking about mental health?
• Do you wish our church/pastors talked about mental health more or
  differently? If so, how and why?
• What can I do differently to show you that I care about your mental
  health and do not think less of you if you struggle?
• What does the Bible say about dealing with sorrows and worries? How
  can that help us when we’re in the midst of depression or anxiety?
• Has anyone ever given you unhelpful advice for dealing with mental
  health? Why did you find it unhelpful? What would be better?
• How can you and I be more aware of other people’s mental and
  emotional struggles? How can we help them mentally, physically, and
  spiritually?

Action Steps:

Sometime today, or as soon as you’re able, ask your family one of these questions. 

• How does gratitude for God’s love help us love others? 
• When have you experienced profound love from someone? 

What’s one thing our family could do to show love to someone? (Prioritize this one—we’ll say more about it tomorrow)

Action Steps:

Sometime today, or as soon as you’re able, ask your family one of these questions. 

• What does it mean to take care of ourselves? 
• Does taking care of ourselves seem selfish to you? Why or why not?
• How does valuing ourselves help us value others?

Action Steps:

To put living self-sacrificially into practice, we want to encourage you to find an opportunity to serve others this weekend. Is there a soup kitchen, retirement home, rescue mission, or food bank near you at which your family can volunteer to serve others? Find a way soon to serve a local organization. If it’s not possible because of COVID-19, brainstorm as a family a way you can live self-sacrificially and serve others. We recommend not giving money to someone on the corner. Instead find a way to support local organizations that truly know how to help people in need.

Action Steps:

Sometime today, or as soon as you’re able, ask your family one of these questions. 

• Who have you seen living self-sacrificially?
• Why do people act in self-preservation?
• What do you think is the opposite of love?

Action Steps:

As soon as you’re able, discuss the following as a family:

1. What do you think it means to have “abundant life”?
2. Is it possible that what we think would make life abundant might not actually? Why or why not?
3. How do you think joy and abundant life are related to each other?

Action Steps:

"We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased." -C.S. Lewis

As soon as you’re able, read C.S. Lewis’ words above to your family and ask them what they think it means. Then openly discuss the following:

• What do you think it means to be satisfied in Christ alone? Does that actually seem satisfying? Why or why not?
• If everything were taken away from you, do you realistically think you’d be able to sing the words “It is well with my soul” and mean them? Why or why not?
• Do you think it’s possible to desire Jesus and nothing else? Why or why not? What would it take to get to that point?

Action Steps:

Start planning Sunday’s gratitude experience:

• Ask your kids what their favorite desserts are.
• Buy the ingredients sometime before Sunday.
• If any of the desserts are more involved, do what prep work you can ahead of time (i.e. if the dough needs to sit for a couple days, make it early). You don’t want the baking to take more than a couple hours. 
• Get your kids excited! Sunday’s going to be a fun day, but be prepared for a twist.

Psalm 22:25-26

Psalm 90:13-14

Psalm 91:14-16

Psalm 103:2-5

Action Steps:

Sometime today, or as soon as you’re able, ask your family one or all of these questions. 

• Do you ever feel happy or content? Why or why not?
• Have you ever gotten something you really wanted and felt disappointed? Why do you think that is?
• What is happiness? Is it different from joy? How so?
• What do you think Jesus meant when He said “life does not consist in an abundance of possessions”?

Action Steps:
Sometime today, or as soon as you’re able, ask your family one of these questions. 

• What could we do as a family to develop our capacity to be patient?
• Do you think hope is a dangerous thing? Why or why not? 
• What is the difference between hope and optimism?
• How do you think our family handles waiting?

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Action Steps:
Sometime today, or as soon as you’re able, ask your family one of these questions. 

• Have you ever wanted to help someone but felt you didn’t have time?
• How can we create margin to allow for those beautiful interruptions?

Here are some examples that my family and I have tried and are planning on doing this year to reach those around us:

• Go on regular walks in your neighborhood. Say hi from afar and find a way to stir up conversation if everyone feels comfortable.
• Try dropping off sweets to a neighbor just to let them know you care. A few weeks ago, I gave some desserts to my neighbor who recently lost a loved one. I got a chance to pray for him and his family.
• Send a text or call a friend to just ask them how they’re doing. No favors, no invites, no agenda - just see how they’re doing.

As a helpful aid to this topic of slowing down, consider listening as a family to this episode of the Fight Hustle, End Hurry podcast and allow it to spark conversation.

https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9maWdodGh1c3RsZWVuZGh1cnJ5LmxpYnN5bi5jb20vcnNz/episode/ODc0NGQyMzEtNjczYi00ZjE3LWI2ZjYtZjBhNGJlMDZjODk4?hl=en&ep=6&at=1574786281799

Action Steps:

Start planning a Sabbath this weekend. Consider actually starting the evening before at dinner time. As you plan, keep in mind these important factors that line up with how the Jews practice Sabbath to this day.

• Relent: Stop working. Remember that we must cease from both physical and mental work. So let go of whatever you’ve been trying to think through or figure out, just for a single day.
• Rest: Our bodies need rest, and we rest best when our minds and bodies are free from doing (including staring at screens!). Once you’ve “paused,” rest/sleep will come much easier.
• Remember: Hope has come into the world. Carve out time to reflect and remember that the God who created all things loves us so much He sent His Son to save us. You can make this a part of conversation over meals, in car rides, playing games, going for a walk, getting ice cream, sipping on cocoa or coffee, or whatever else your family enjoys doing together.
• Restore: Take time to consider together: What re-energizes us? What drains us? How can we do things as a family that are fun and energizing? How do we remove the things that drain us? Give yourselves permission to play and enjoy God’s creation.

Action Steps:
Sometime today, or as soon as you’re able, ask your family one of these questions.

• When was the last time you felt truly rested? 
• What things leave you feeling truly rested afterward? 
• What would striking a work/life (or school/life) balance require?

"Come Together" is an event for parents and teenagers to come together and talk about important issues in the family. The presentations will cover issues like, social media, family legacy, sex, drugs, reading the Bible, and redeeming relationships with the hope of Jesus. 

This event aims to help families talk about growing in a relationship with Jesus together while navigating the tough waters of culture, relationships, and family conflict. It's happening on Saturday, May 4th at Fortress Church from 9am-2pm. Tickets are just $10 which includes your lunch and workbook.

Here are some of the sessions we will be discussing:

1.    Jesus' First Words
 *Why kids need their parents, why parents need their kids, and family legacy.

2.    Alone Together
 *How social media, TV, movies, and video games shape us as individuals and as families.

3.    Sex, Drugs, College & Jesus
 *How pop culture can shape our values, and how its vision contrasts with Jesus’ vision.

4.    How To Read The Bible Like The Devil
 *All the ways we tend to misread scripture, and how to properly apply it to our lives.

5.    Hope For Families
 *Where our hope comes from, and how to repair and redeem our relationships.

6.    Jesus' Last Words
 *The ultimate hope of Christianity, and how that informs the way we live as families.

Also, since this is on May the 4th, it will be Star Wars themed, so bring your Star Wars apparel and take pictures at the Star Wars photo booth!

You can register you, your spouse, and your student HERE for the Come Together event on Saturday, May 4th, 2019 at Fortress Church from 9am-2pm.

Together, we can influence our amazing teenagers to Love God and Love People!