Parent Update 10/14

On Sunday night we started a series on emotional honesty in the Psalms.  I have always found it refreshing to read the Psalms.  Not just because of the praise you can find in it’s pages, but because of the lament, the agony, the anger, the fear, the despair.  I’m not trying to bum you out, I just like reading words potentially written by the king of Israel and realizing that life was hard for him too.  The Psalms are incredibly relatable to us because between all 150 Psalms we find the entire range of human emotion expressed to God. 

In Psalm 13:1-2 we see this expressed.

“¹ How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever?  How long will you hide your face from me?  ² How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart?  How long will my enemy triumph over me?”

Can you relate to that?  Haven’t you ever felt forgotten, abandoned, or alone?  When we consider that the author is talking to God it becomes clear that the author is expressing doubt about God to God.  It’s crazy to me that we have a God we can express doubt to.  Not only that, God is big enough to absorb our doubt and provide all the same. 

The next few weeks we will talking about dealing with our emotions in a healthy way.  Kids in middle and high school are learning how to process and express emotions that are so much more complex than they previously had access to as children.  Emotions are an important indicator that can reveal truth in our life.  If we don’t learn ho to express them in a healthy way though, they actually cripple our ability to interact with others, and most importantly God.

I think we can communicate to kids sometimes that their emotions aren’t welcome.  Sometime when my daughter throws a tantrum I’ll say something like “Fix your attitude!”  Which is very helpful to her because it just express that I am displeased with her, it doesn’t give her any practical help.  I need to repent of this sort of impatience with her, because I want her to learn that her emotions are good, there are just healthy and unhealthy ways of expressing them.  

Let’s go back to Psalm 13.  If we look at the rest of the Psalm. We get a clearer picture of why healthy emotional expression connects us to God.

³ Look on me and answer, Lord my God.
    Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death,
⁴ and my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,”
    and my foes will rejoice when I fall.

⁵ But I trust in your unfailing love;
    my heart rejoices in your salvation.
⁶ I will sing the Lord’s praise,
    for he has been good to me.

Once the Psalmist expresses their feelings they pivot to trust and surrender.  The trial that the author is experiencing reminds them of God’s unfailing love.  How cool is that?  Experiences create emotional response; those responses bring us back to a place of trust in God.  But if we never learn how to express them in a healthy way, they drive us further from God. 

In the next few weeks we are going to spend time on a few emotions we regularly experience and how we can express them to God in a healthy way.  This Sunday will be anger, after that we will cover fear, anguish, and hope.

We need your help in order for this series to make a real difference in their lives.  We need you to ask them about it when they get home.  For example, after we discuss anger, you could ask your child, “What things make you the angriest?”  “What do you do when you get angry?”  And let them know that you are there for them to hear them when they are angry.  These are just examples to get your creative juices flowing.  You know your child; how can you enter their lives and help them process anger? 

CHANGE OF PLANS-Sunday 10/20 we are taking the High Schoolers to brunch at First Watch during the 9:45 service.  We will have the church bus outside the CLC so when they get to church, they can congregate in the lobby before we load up and go.  We will be back by 11am.  Brunch is on us, no need to bring money.  Middle Schoolers will still have Sunday School as usual.   

Save the Date Rock the Universe 2020- January 24th or 25th 

If you haven't heard of Rock the Universe it is an awesome Christian music festival at Universal Studios in Orlando.  We are planning on going this coming year!  It's a one night event on Friday or Saturday, depending on which night we choose.  There are some awesome bands that will be there including Switchfoot, Bethel Music, Tenth Avenue North, and Chris Tomlin.  Cost will  be about $70.  There will be much more concrete details to follow.  I just wean this on your radar now!

Meal Train link: https://mealtrain.com/481re8

Many of you have been asking if we can re-post the link to sign-up to provide meals for the kids on Sunday nights.  in the future you will be able to find the link for the meals on our youth web page at: https://fumcvb.org/youth/  

We have drinks and paper products covered.  We just need you to bring the food.  We recommend you prepare for 30 people to eat because we also want to provide food for the volunteers and the childcare workers.  Thank you for investing in our youth in this way!  

Do you want to stay up to date with the latest youth news?  

Other than reading this newsletter, you should be subscribed to our Flocknote.  This is our text/email service in which we keep you and your kids up to date about the youth group.  Simply text VBPARENT to 84576 to be subscribed to our parent text group.  Students can text VBSTUDENTS to the same number to be apart of the student service.  Please do this so you don’t miss anything!  

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