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Key Bible Verse: "You should remember the words of the Lord Jesus: 'It is more blessed to give than to receive' " (Acts 20:35b).
Bonus Reading: Acts 20:34-35

When our family moved to Tennessee, we ended up in a great church that, just a couple of years before our first visit, had gone through a devastating split.

On our first Sunday visit to the church, we sent the girls—they were in the eighth grade and the fourth grade—off to their classes with high hopes. But the drive-home reports were anything but stellar. "There were only three kids in the whole junior high class," Missy whined. "We didn't even sing," Julie added.

"I have an idea," I responded, completely winging it from the front seat. "Let's try that church one more time. But next week let's see if you can find a class of little kids where you can teach them some of the songs you know."

Of course, there was protest from the back seat. I suggested that we try this just once. They agreed. A month later we joined the church.

As a young father, someone had given me a valuable piece of advice. "Don't raise your children to learn how to cope with their surroundings," he'd told me. "Raise them to change their surroundings." Teach them, encourage them, and turn them loose. Don't you love it when stuff works?

—Robert Wolgemuth in Daddy@Work

I could someone move beyond merely coping by . …

Children very often are brought up believing they are guests in the home because they have nothing to do except live there.

—G. Bowden Hunt (author)

Adapted from: Daddy@Work (Zondervan, 1999).

For your convenience, Daddy@Work is available in the ChristianityToday.com bookstore.

Copyright © 2001 by the author or Christianity Today, Inc./Men of Integrity magazine.
Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity.

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Prayer for the Week

Father, use me to develop others' ability to take responsibility for their actions.

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