How to Bring Peace to Your Home

Dr. Bob Barnes and Torrey Roberts
3 Mar 2022
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peace

It was twenty-four hours before hurricane Andrew was to come crashing in on south Florida. My elementary age children were helping us get the shutters up and put away outside furniture. Our house was a whirl wind of activity, and I was totally oblivious to the wide-eyed fear on the faces of my kids as they ran around trying to help me get ready. Our home also had two guests: two single, female Christian school teachers from the school my children attended at the time. They were staying with us to ride out their first hurricane. When the windows were […]

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Teaching My Child About Sex

Dr. Bob Barnes and Torrey Roberts
7 Feb 2022
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As you look at our culture, it’s obvious we are not sure about the role or the purpose that our sexuality plays. For far too long the Christian home has attempted to teach a child about sex with one word: DON’T. Then the child goes off to school, or turns on the television, or listens to music or social media or TikTok and hears a totally different message from every other part of our culture: Go for it… experiment! Parents must first decide what they think about sex and then be very proactive in teaching their children about sex. Is […]

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sex

Begin the New Year with a Pause

Dr. Bob Barnes and Torrey Roberts
5 Jan 2022
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pause

“But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart” (Luke 2:19).   It seems like the Christmas season has gotten more and more frenetic as the years have gone on. Especially for parents, December seems like a blur. We have shopping, wrapping, cooking, Christmas parties for us and our children, Christmas programs, church, plus all the pressure we put on ourselves to create memories or keep up the traditions we have established. All this on top of normal everyday life of homework and activities for kids, who are laser focused on the fact that break is […]

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Is It Truly More Blessed To Give Than Receive?

Dr. Bob Barnes and Torrey Roberts
7 Dec 2021
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“More blessed to give rather than receive?” You’ve got to be kidding! What kind of a statement is that? That’s ridiculous! Of course it’s more awesome to receive than it is to give. That’s what we’ve been taught all our lives. That’s what makes us feel good isn’t it; getting more things?   What’s your appetite? But what if it were true? It’s kind of like eating vegetables. Once I was taught to eat them I eventually liked them. Then I really liked them. Then I discovered that I felt better when I ate my vegetables. It actually made me […]

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give

How to Find Purpose in Thanksgiving

Dr. Bob Barnes and Torrey Roberts
15 Nov 2021
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Thanksgiving

What if we’ve completely missed God’s intended purpose of Thanksgiving? What if this is the year we should “do it right” but missed it?  There are great mandates to celebrate by remembering what God has done for us, and yet so often we celebrate the “celebration” and forget the intended purpose. The Lord’s Supper is a perfect example. So often you can take part in the Lord’s Supper at church and totally forget to do the work of doing it “in remembrance of Him.”   Refocus Thanksgiving is another example. The first Thanksgiving celebration was a time of thanking God. […]

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Teaching About Difficulty

Dr. Bob Barnes and Torrey Roberts
19 Oct 2021
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In the Christmas movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life” we get to follow the adult trials and the childhood trainings of George. Each time he faced a difficult situation he asked himself the same question: “What would Dad do?”  Somehow George picked up lessons from his dad that helped him navigate life and become a community hero. What about our children? What are they learning from us? Times are different right now and different times require a different approach to life. But different, even difficult times, offer parents an incredible training opportunity. Dealing with Difficulty Everyone will go through their own […]

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difficult

Who Are Your Child’s Heroes?

Dr. Bob Barnes and Torrey Roberts
9 Sep 2021
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hero

Every fall as we pass 9/11 and are in the thick of storm season, I sit and process the amazing sacrifice our first responders and their families make. I can’t imagine weathering a storm knowing that your father/spouse is at the station preparing to go protect and serve the community. What a truly heroic act. Then it makes me stop and think about my kids and who they look up to…  Who do your kids look up to? Who are their heroes? Is it even important to think about who our children look up to? Only to the extent that […]

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How Start And Stay On Track In School

Dr. Bob Barnes and Torrey Roberts
4 Aug 2021
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When we are in the mountains on vacation, there is an amazing toy store. It is always so fun to go explore, and my boys save their money for months, looking forward to going. One year they bought a toy race car set. It had a race track with a groove down the middle of each lane. Once you learned how to keep your car in that groove, those little cars would fly around that track. The secret to winning was to get it properly in the groove at the start of the race and keep it there. If you […]

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track

Why Are Boundaries Important?

Dr. Bob Barnes and Torrey Roberts
7 Jul 2021
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boundaries

This last month our family spent some time in North Carolina. We love many things about being in the mountains: the fresh air, the trees, the rivers and creeks, and hiking. We usually spend several days exploring trails that lead us to amazing finds like gorgeous mountain tops and waterfalls. My two, like their dad, are explorers at heart. They spend hours by the creek where we stay finding salamanders, building forts and observing other wildlife. They love to wander “off the beaten path.” As we were hiking through a nearby national forest, I started noticing signs. “Please stay on […]

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What Do My Kids Hear?

Dr. Bob Barnes and Torrey Roberts
3 Jun 2021
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The volume and words a parent uses around their children and to their children has an impact on them. But what about the more subtle things we say? What about the things we say on our mobile phones, when we forget the kids are in the back seat listening? What about the things we say when the kids are in the other room… listening? And they are listening! What Do The Kids Hear? What do my kids hear when my kids hear me? What are the lessons we teach our kids… unintentionally? “Lord, may the words of my mouth…be pleasing […]

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