This past Sunday our High School Student Ministry Director, Trey Critzer, knocked it out of the park as he spoke about what it looks like for Jesus to be the center of family and parenting. Below are some final thoughts from him. Be sure and watch his message here. And yes that is a picture of his family - "alien pop tarts"!?
Have you ever just taken time to watch people? I know it sounds kind of awkward, but I love watching people do life. I love watching the way they interact with others, sit down and eat together, and especially the way families interact. You have parents trying to order meals, while trying to keep their youngest son seated in his highchair, while keeping their other son from shooting spitballs at the adjacent table, while keeping their daughter’s attention while she’s fumbling through text messages on her phone - and you (the spectator) just watch and observe this crazy thing we call family.
Have you ever just taken time to watch people? I know it sounds kind of awkward, but I love watching people do life. I love watching the way they interact with others, sit down and eat together, and especially the way families interact. You have parents trying to order meals, while trying to keep their youngest son seated in his highchair, while keeping their other son from shooting spitballs at the adjacent table, while keeping their daughter’s attention while she’s fumbling through text messages on her phone - and you (the spectator) just watch and observe this crazy thing we call family.
This past Sunday I had the
privilege of speaking to all of our campuses on the subject of Family. Now this
was hard for me because I’m newly married and we don’t even have a dog that we
have to take care of yet, so I was a little nervous when offered this
particular subject. I felt like what I was going to share, in some way, may be
irrelevant to others “doing family” every day. Could I relate to parents who have an incredible task every day of
raising children, keeping a marriage fresh, cooking dinner, going to church,
working full time, and still trying to breathe from time to time?
![](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9UoodIs3KSU/UUtTgRnBTpI/AAAAAAAAABE/kaWqWKRmKA8/s200/family+pop+tart.jpg)
Then I thought about my grandparents and their
influence on my view of family, and I realized how vital their role was in my
life. I told the story Sunday about the legacy my Grandpa Stu left for us, and
how I wanted to continue living out that legacy for the rest of my life. At his
funeral, one of the biggest things that was said about his life was “Always
give away more than you receive.” This is huge for families because so many
times we make family more about what it can do FOR us, instead of allowing God
to work THROUGH us. Your family is not about you. It’s about everyone in the
family, and our goal should constantly be to give, not receive. This can be
hard to live out sometimes though because, at the end of the day, we barely have
anything left to give. I love this passage in Proverbs 11:25 that says, “A
generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed”.
![](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--P1nPl5o288/UUtRYW5H_qI/AAAAAAAAAA0/sfY9yv-bvOw/s200/sign.jpg)
- Trey Critzer, High School Director, Mechanicsville Campus
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