Family

Father-Daughter Dance Makes Memories

On Saturday night, Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church was transformed into a bustling dance hall filled with fathers escorting their daughters dressed to the nines in their favorite glittering gowns. Overflowing the dance floor, hundreds of fathers danced for hours with their daughters.  Sounds of laughter emanated the room as many fathers illustrated God’s love by creating long-lasting memories with their daughters. These little girls grow up constantly being told stories of princesses and their rescuers. While these stories are fairytales, Saturday night brought a little bit of that magic to life. Whether taking a silly photo or performing an uncoordinated […]

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Balancing Accountability and Grace in Broward County

Florida youth who have committed a community offense are benefitting from services that promote positive change and redemption through the Faith and Community Network and the PROMISE Program. While some believe that all those who commit a crime or community infraction should pay for their offense, others understand that each of us have made regretted mistakes and are in need of grace or a second chance to learn from those mistakes. Matthew 6:14-15 states, “If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive […]

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Lessons Learned in Sportsmanship

The spring schedule of sports and the arts are in full swing. As parents, we desire to give our children a variety of experiences to broaden their horizons. Whether sports or the arts, getting along with others is imperative for any group activity.   Play well with others Sportsmanship is the appropriate and fair behavior used while participating in a competition; it should be a life goal. The “gets along well with others” skills our children learn at a young age will carry them through middle and high school, college and into the adult years of jobs, board rooms, committees […]

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Explorer Program Gives Youth a Taste of Public Service

Imagine you are a police officer. It’s late at night and you’ve just pulled over a suspicious vehicle. As you and your partner approach the car, you must analyze and decide your next move in milliseconds. Suddenly, the driver jumps out of the car and approaches you shouting that he “wasn’t speeding.” As you firmly ask the driver to sit back in his car, the front passenger steps out and pushes past your partner. As your partner commands him to get back in the car, the passenger abruptly turns towards you and reaches for a dark object in his pocket. […]

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The Wrong Kind of Fireworks

If I said, “fireworks” and “marriage,” would you think of a euphoric feeling that overflows from your effervescent love-life? Unfortunately for many couples, marital fireworks may be anger explosions and bitter fighting. Have you ever found yourself doing any or all of these when you fight? Saying “you never …” or “you always …” Humiliating Yelling Threatening divorce Using force Blaming Abandoning Playing the martyr/victim Interrupting These are all symptoms of dirty fighting – the conflict style that wounds instead of builds.   Who wins? There is always one winner of a dirty fight – Satan. His goal is to […]

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Speak Their Love Language

Everyone wants to be loved and this is the month when our minds and hearts focus on relationships. People talk about falling into and out of love. They wonder, “Why can’t it always be the way it was in the beginning when we first fell in love?” Once that emotional high, known as the infatuation stage, wears off they often feel the relationship is over. This phase of love usually lasts around two years and is greatly affected by our brain chemistry. Our thoughts are obsessing on the person and this is why it is hard to focus on anything […]

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Experience Bethlehem in Coral Springs

“For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11) An interactive recreation of Bethlehem, the renowned city of David and the birthplace of Jesus, can once again be experienced in Coral Springs. Sponsored by First Church of Coral Springs, Bethlehem Revisited will be presented from December 11 to 15 at the church located at 8650 W Sample Road, Coral Springs. Bringing the city of our Savior to life in this intimate and interactive way has been a unique tradition of First Church of Coral Springs for 24 years. […]

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What’s On Your Family’s Wish List

What does your family Christmas wish list look like? I’m sure if your family is anything like mine, your wish list will have little to do with toys and a lot to do with technology. Whether it’s the new iPhone 6s, iPods, iPads or iTunes, the massive takeover of technological devices and gadgets is what most consumers will be placing under the tree this year. But as popular as everyone thinks it is, have families, including mine, stopped to think about the real price that will be paid by giving everyone so much technological and media attention? I understand that […]

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How to Parent Foolishly

Twenty-one years old, I sat holding my six-day-old baby. I realized that, quite frankly, I had made a mess of my life up to now. The only thing I had gotten right so far was convincing this wonderful man next to me that I was a catch worth keeping, and somehow got him to marry me! I was a handful as a kid — smart-mouthed and cute enough to talk my way out of most scrapes. I had walked through life about as gracefully as a bull in a china shop. Politely “released” from boarding school in 7th grade, I […]

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What Should We Tell Our Children About Santa

Christmas brings with it a number of ethical questions: how should Christians engage in what certainly can be a holiday of excess, pride, selfishness and greed? How can we make sure our children realize the far greater importance of Easter and the resurrection when culture has made Christmas so much more important? These are important questions, but one small but niggling question is asked of me every year by parents who are members of the Kingdom of God and want to know the opinion of a pastor and professor. The question is, Should we tell our children that Santa is […]

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