My son

My son is soon to be officially a teenager. For the past six years or so, I've been discipling, primarily through the Royal Rangers program... a faith-based scout-like organization.

Of course, it's the responsibility of every father that professes to follow Jesus to disciple his children. But back when he was five, I didn't quite understand that. As I took charge of reaching and teaching him, my relationship with him dramatically changed. I remember early on, I'd ask him to do something, and he'd fight back, drag his feet, try to prove he wasn't who I thought he was.

Today, he is growing into a man. The Ranger program is a great vehicle for working with him. Early on, we established that almost every day, we work on something together. Regardless of the program, it's the time spent with him that means everything. In the beginning, I remember taking him to the Arlington police center and checking out the 911 call center and the jail. We went on some day camps, like Granbury's dinosaur park. Later, the work got more challenging, but by now he'd established a stronger work ethic. It served him well through some of the harder merits, like the Gold Bible merit-- he worked on that for parts of four years.

He's getting real close to earning his Gold Medal of Achievement, which is the Ranger's equivalent to the Eagle Scout. The hardest merit left to conquer is the Bachelor's merit. And one thing he has to do for it, is set a goal to purchase something, have a savings plan for it and a way to earn money towards it.

He decided he wanted an iPad. An interesting fad that has started is "survival bracelets." These are cool, hip bracelets braided from paracord. You get stuck on a deserted island, you can take it apart and lash together shelter, make snares, or build a raft to get off (for the really, really long bracelets). So we worked together on setting up a website for people to order these hip, cool, stylish yet practical bracelets. (If you want to check it out, click here, www.s-films.com/cssb).

Then, this past week, he got another opportunity for awesome growth (and me too). While on a camping trip with some family, he was given the permission and responsibility of driving a four wheeler. Which he then accidentally ran up along side a car, scratching the paint and taking off the side mirror. I'm going to pay half. And he's going to pay the other half. So between jobs I hire him for around the house, and "cobra stitched survival bracelets", through hard work, he'll learn some cool responsibility.

Heroes

The image of a Hero that I've grown up with is Indiana Jones jumping from truck to truck, improvising by whatever resources he has. Or Luke and Han escaping from the Death Star.

Today, our culture is preoccupied with heroes. People with extraordinary gifts who do extraordinary things. We've got movies, tv show, and cartoons. Medals are given out to heroes-- in the military, even in the community.

In the Royal Rangers, a boy scout-like program with the Assembly of God, there is a medal for courage and a medal for valor. One is rescuing someone's life, and the other is rescuing the life at risk to your own. But here's one very interesting caveat: You, the rescuer, cannot have been the cause of the other person's peril. You can't get a medal for pulling someone out of a burning tent if you set the fire.

Well, lately, I'm having to re-define what a hero is in my own life with my own family. Uh-oh, our family is facing Big Problem, so I rush in and through quick thinking and ingenuity, defeat the Big Problem and save the family. But where was I when the Big Problem began?

In other words, why didn't Han just turn the Millennium Falcon away from the Death Star when Ben said to? Later, he's no hero for getting out by the seat of his pants. The real hero doesn't get trapped by the Death Star.

I want to be a Hero to my wife and to my kids. It will require planning instead of reaction. Won't be as recognized. But I'm not looking for a medal. Anymore.

Getting Ready

Today has been all about getting ready for Friday night's show. What goes on behind the scenes to show the movie at a church? Especially as a fundraiser? Well I know Cornerstone Church in Nashville just had a very successful screening for their youth missions with over 550 tickets sold.

Here's what's going in to the Teen Challenge screening here in Fort Worth at Bethesda Community church. First, we've been plugging the movie in the bulletins, during announcements (twice showed the trailer) and the Teen Challenge ladies have been manning the booths to sell the tickets.

We've worked on contacting all the churches in the area that support Teen Challenge. We've been giving away tickets on PowerFM 89.7 (thanks Dawn!). We sent out press releases to the newspapers and Christian radio stations.

So we've got a good foundation for attendance in pre-sold tickets and have raised some extra money for Teen Challenge that will come in very handy. Now we'll find out how much more the night of-- all the people who have decided to buy tickets at the door.

Today I typed up an agenda of the night's activities. I printed a flyer for the Royal Rangers, to get volunteers to help usher. I checked the actual movie DVD and ran the entire thing in the DVD player while I worked... so I know the disc is good to go.

Now, it's just about show time. We'll send a few more emails out and reminders to the Imposter groups. But we're looking forward to it.