Erica Bucey reviews God Made All of Me: A Book to Help Children Protect Their Bodies written by Justin Holcomb and Lindsey Holcomb and illustrated by Trish Mahoney. This book helps families to speak about sensitive issues related to bodies as a defense against sexual abuse.

Participants: Camden Bucey, Erica Bucey

During the weeks and months after our first son was born, I struggled to discern my new identity as a mother. I was no longer defined by my previous role at an inner city homeless shelter, and my new job as a continuous diaper changer seemed somewhat less meaningful and exciting.

We now have two young sons, and I am learning that my role as mother is of utmost importance. Along with my husband, I have been entrusted with the job of training my children to love and obey God. This is not an easy task, and I am thankful for more experienced mothers who are willing to guide and encourage me.

In Walking with God in the Season of Motherhood (WaterBrook Multnomah), Melissa Kruger walks alongside moms, gently teaching us how to glorify and enjoy God in our calling as mothers. Melissa is a mom of three school age children, a teacher of women at Uptown Church (PCA) in Charlotte, North Carolina, and the wife of Mike Kruger, president of RTS-Charlotte. You may know her from her book The Envy of Eve. She has also participated in several episodes of Christ the Center.

Walking with God in the Season of Motherhood is structured as an 11-week devotional Bible study that is designed to help us search the scriptures and apply God’s word to our lives. The chapters cover life purpose, time in God’s Word, prayer, ordering our homes, the fruits of the spirit, and our need for grace.

Each week focuses on a topic and includes four days of Bible study and reflection. The fifth day is a devotional reading. All referenced Bible passages are included in the book, which makes it ideal for marking the passages and making notes. However, women who are used to the ESV will probably be disappointed that most passages are in the NIV translation.

The book has the feel of a Titus 2 mentoring relationship, where an experienced wife and mother uses Scripture and personal experience to teach the younger women how to love their husbands and children. This study can certainly be completed by an individual, but it would surely be a blessing to study alongside other moms, both new and experienced. To such end, Melissa includes a group study guide at the end of the book.

Motherhood can seem like the most difficult of callings, and Melissa’s honest portrayal of her own shortcomings invites women to consider their need for daily grace.

More than anything else in my life, motherhood has exposed my need for grace. . . . In the midst of my weaknesses, I need the soul-strengthening refreshment that can come only from time spent with Jesus. (pp. 1–2)

One of the strongest impressions this study has left on me is the importance of starting my day with time spent praying and reading scripture. Not only does this greatly impact my own heart, but it overflows and blesses my husband and children.

It’s easy to read blogs and think that we can make our homes more peaceful if we implement an organized routine and keep little ones busy with creative activities. But the truth is that only God’s grace will bring lasting joy and peace into our lives.

While moms of all ages will benefit from this study, it is a must-read for mothers of young children who are weary from the daily repetition of laundry and dishes. When I spend time in this study, I feel like a burden is being lifted. Parenting in my own strength is a heavy load to bear. Melissa points me to Jesus and shows that spending time in the Word and prayer will refresh my soul and equip me for being a wife and mom who glorifies and enjoys God.

If you ask the average Christian to cite the main differences between Baptists and Reformed Christians, the first thing that would come to mind is probably baptism, its mode and its recipients. Specifically, while there may be mild disagreements over the use of immersion or sprinkling as the mode by which the water is applied, of much greater contention is the issue of who exactly should be baptized. Is baptism only for those who have professed personal faith in the work and death of Jesus Christ or is it to be applied to the children of believers as well? Are the children of believers full members of the covenant community or are they technically outsiders who enjoy certain benefits by virtue of being raised in a Christian family but not because they are members of the Visible Church?

For those of us who adhere to the Reformed Confessions, the answers to those questions are clear and should shape our view of children in the church and what it means to raise them in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. However, it seems that more often than not, the way children are raised in Reformed Churches is no different than what could be found in typical Baptist or evangelical churches that do not subscribe to paedo-baptism. Children are dropped off, prior to the Sunday worship service, with the child care ministry where they are taught Bible lessons, given arts and crafts activities, or participate in children’s church.

Parents do this with good intentions, believing that their children would find the “grown-up” worship service boring. The net effect, however, is that these children of Reformed believers are being implicitly taught that they are not true members of the covenant community since they are not expected to participate in worship with the rest of the church community. Perhaps it should come as no surprise when we find that these same children grow up seeing Sunday worship as something merely optional. Further, as a result of this separation between children and their parents, the children of Reformed believers often grow up without regularly hearing the Scriptures preached and without seeing the sacraments administered. It is no wonder then when many never develop a proper understanding or appreciation for God’s ordinary means of grace.

Parents who are Reformed Christians need to reconsider if raising their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord does not entail having them participate in the regular Sunday public worship. After all, is that not the occasion where God has ordained that we are to worship Him in community and where he reveals himself to us through the ordinary means of grace? Why would we want to deprive our children of the opportunity to hear God’s Word preached with power and to see the drama of redemption played out in the administration of the sacraments? Instead, we try to replace these God ordained means with teachings and drama provided by the latest hip Bible lesson or the newest episode of the Veggie Tales.

My hope is that those of us who claim to be heirs of the Reformed tradition and who have vowed to raise our children as covenant members would consider more fully the implications of those vows. Perhaps we would then see that all the benefits of being members of the covenant community, including access to Word, sacrament, and prayer, properly belong, not only to us, but to our children.

Darryl G. Hart and Camden Bucey converse about family and Sabbath through the writings of Wendell Berry.

Download the audio

Books by Wendell Berry

• What are People For?
• Hannah Coulter
• A World Lost
• The Art of the Commonplace: The Agrarian Essays of Wendell Berry
• Jayber Crow
• Sex, Economy, Freedom and Community: Eight Essays

HT: Mark T. Mitchell

The New York Times reports on an experiment in Vail, AZ in which the school district has outfitted a school bus with a mobile WiFi router. Interestingly, disciplinary problems have all but disappeared. But one has to ask, is this really a productivity booster or are we further capitulating to the entertainment “needs” of today’s students?

The Kaiser Family Foundation has released their study of the use of media among 8 to 18 year olds. The figures are simply astounding. Just to highlight a few of the key findings, overall media use was up to – on average – 7 hours and 38 minutes per day while total media exposure was at 10 hours 45 minutes per day. Many media categories saw increases in use, but music/audio was the biggest category gainer over the 2004-2009 time period. One of the most interesting findings of the study was that more than one media is often being consumed at any given time. Kids are listening to music, streaming Internet video and watching television at the same time. As you might guess, the foundation reports an inverse relationship between media use and academic performance. Read the report and adjust your understanding of today’s reality.

photo from rashdan