This week I posted a video of comments I made to our church about the importance of maintaining unity in the gospel even when we choose to educate our children differently. I've been encouraged by the feedback I've gotten so far. My father, Gregg Harris, who was one of the pioneers of the homeschool movement from the early 1980s to the mid 1990s stopped by the blog and left a comment. I thought his words were so helpful that they deserved to be post. I share my father's thoughts here for your benefit.

Hey Josh, this is your dad. Just for the record, I heartily agree with what you have said so well in this video clip. Educational choices have always been a matter of parental responsibility, not of some extra-biblical standard. Every householder should make an informed decision before God. All should research their local schools, public and private and become fully convinced in the way in which he (or she) decides to use his God-given liberty under the Lordship of Christ to bear the best and most abundant fruit he can for the glory of God.

The only moral issue at stake is whether we are willing to walk in the obedience of our faith in God and His will as we understand it from the Scriptures. Though wisdom and foolishness are called into play, there is no moral superiority to be found in any one educational option. Though dilligence is required of all three options, only our labor in Christ will not be in vain. Then, as the relative fruit of each option is put on display in time, may we all be humble enough to change our ways as needed in order to bear even better fruit for God.

Not all options seem to be equally fruitful thus far. But as a long-time home-schooling father and Christian home-schooling advocate I can honestly say that every option, including home schooling has its problems (as you well know). So, pick your problems, and by the grace of God deal with those problems as they arise. Our family has chosen the problems that come with home schooling. But, as you have said, we pray for all of our fellow parents and their children that God will mercifully bless their efforts to be faithful. We are all one in the body of Christ and that should allow us to support one another wholeheartedly in spite of our differing convictions on how to educate our children. Good job, Josh. I am so pleased with you and your service as a father, a pastor and just as my son. I love you. - Dad

I love you, too, Dad! Thanks for sharing this. I think your insight about "picking your problems" is key. We need to understand both the pros and cons of every option and go into them with our eyes open, depending on God.

For those who don't know, my dad is the pastor of Household of Faith Community Church in Gresham, Oregon. You can also purchase messages from my dad at Noble Books. You can also read more from him at his blog.

And for Covenant Life folks, my dad will be preaching at our church on July 27, the day after he and my brothers Alex and Brett teach at the Rebelution Conference to be held at Covenant Life, Saturday, July 26. I encourage you to sign-up for that. It's going to be a great day.

Note: The picture above is of (l-r), Alex, Brett, Isaac, Joel and my Dad earlier this year.

Last October I posted a prayer request for Myanmar, a nation of 65 million people comprising 135 different people groups, many of whom have never been impacted by the Gospel. With only a small percentage of Christians and no foreign missionaries allowed in, the gospel is carried forth by native believers.

As the news this week records mounting reports of death and destruction wrought by the Cyclone in Myanmar, I wanted to ask that we again pray for this nation.

Included in the prayer needs I listed, was a center for church planting and a prayer, that had been shut down due to government persecution, and asked for prayer for it's reopening. I got an email today from the son of a man who helps lead the center. My friend writes:

My dad...informed us that part of our Training Center was damaged. But it was minor and many people came to our facilities for shelter during the storm. Our main concern is our four church planters who are in the Irrawaddy region that [has been flooded] for several days now. Our best hope is that they still survive. Please prays for these four folks.

Please pray with me for these church planters, for the Christians giving shelter to their neighbors, and that God would do mighty things in the recovery of this nation. Pray that the best healing—that of the Gospel—would go forth in the midst of this tragedy.

A friend passed this on and it made me laugh:

Seven-year-old Mathew was watching his father David, a pastor, write his sermon for Sunday. "How do you know what to say, Dad?" Matthew asked. David replied, "Well, God tells me what to say and I just write it down." Matthew nodded and then asked, "Then how come you're crossing things out?"

Last Sunday our church had a Members Meeting. We do these twice a year. They're a chance for the pastors to update the church on new initiatives, welcome new members and in some cases bring issues of church discipline before the congregation.

They're also a chance to address areas in which our church family needs to grow. For us, one of those areas is being united in the gospel even when we choose different forms of education for our kids. The following video clip is the portion from the meeting where I talked about the pastoral team's concern about division that can exist between public school, private school and home school families.

The members of our church were very responsive and I think glad for this issue to be addressed. I feature it here for the sake of Covenant Life members who couldn't make the meeting as well as for the encouragement of other churches who might identify with the challenges we're seeking to address.

Here's a shout-out to my old buddy, Drew Garfield, who just got engaged to a wonderful girl named Melanie Dillon. Drew and I moved out from Oregon to Maryland together. And he used to travel with me when I did the "Searching for True Love" conferences. Now in God's kindness Drew has found his true love. I'm happy for you, buddy.

Okay, Mrs. G, you can check "Find Drew a Wife" off your prayer list and start asking God for grandbabies now. (grin)

This week's installment of "Thursdays at the Harris House" from Shannon is an audio clip. She and Emma (age 8) love to sing. This is a recording of the two of them singing "Thirty Days Has September."

After his three denials on the night of Jesus' betrayal, John 21 tells the story of Peter's restoration by Jesus. The Master asked him, "Do you love me?" And how was Peter to show his love? By feeding Jesus' sheep. By providing for God's people, his church.

I'm struck by Jesus' admonition not to worry about the assignment given to another disciple. After Peter heard a cryptic description of his own future, he pointed at John and asked, "What about him?"

Jesus answered, "What is that to you?" How does my plan for him relate to you doing what I've called you to do? "You follow me!"

I need this admonition. Because so often I take my eyes off of Jesus and start looking around at the other disciples he has called and deployed in his work. I want to know where I am in the pecking order. I want to figure out who has been given the best job.

But I don't need this information to fulfill my assignment. I don't have to be better than a fellow-disciple or even know how I "stack up" to serve and obey my Lord.

Jesus says, "You follow me." That's all I need to hear.

My good friend Tullian Tchividjian sent the following note in response to my previous post:

Josh,

Concerning your recent post ironically entitled "A Reminder of God's Faithfulness" where you are pictured with a full head of hair only a few short years ago, I would be actually tempted to question God's faithfulness. It appears, my friend, that your head has experienced what the Puritans used to call "God's dreadful withdrawal."

Tullian

I recently got an encouraging letter in the mail. In it, the parents of a young man wrote,

Thought you would like to see pictures of fruit God has worked from your ministry. The first picture is of you and Micah when he was about 13 years old. He took your challenge, and with God's help didn't "date", although he already knew and "liked" Kimberly, he remained friends with her until they came back from a missions trip when he was 18. He went to her dad, who was discipling him, and declared his love and intent of marriage. The second picture is their marriage invitation for this past December, age 22 and 20 years old....What a blessing they have been to many....We thank God for His work in their hearts and lives.

Micah and Kimberly, we wish you all the best in your new marriage and service to the Savior.

I said I was going to do posts from Shannon on Thursdays, but I'm afraid the schedule got thrown off a bit last week. So who cares? It's Monday and here's a post from my wife on homeschooling...

Lest you readers should think that all moments around here are crafty and exciting, here is a photo of the kids working at the kitchen table. Everyone was hoping I would call it a free day, because it was so nice outside. It's hard to be the bad guy sometimes.

The last few years I've experimented with a few different materials, trying to find my way through the maze of curricula out there. To some degree or another I've used Math U See, Right Start Math, Five in a Row, Learning Language Arts through Literature, Rod and Staff Spelling, Drawing with Children, Reading Made Easy and My Father's World Kindergarten. I've also tried creating my own unit studies.

But one thing I am learning is that I don't have as much time to plan for school as I thought I would. Even if I have a world of ideas and excitement, none of it matters too much if I am unable to execute it. It seems to me that as soon as I get one week finished, the next week is upon me. And grocery shopping, making meals, church meetings, and the other stuff of life take up a lot of space in the schedule too. So I am finding I need something that requires less planning on my part. My Father's World materials have been a blessing to us in the past and are a lot of fun & not overwhelming. It's a less is more approach, and I think that will be good for my "global, tons of possibilities so I can't decide" type of brain. So that's why we'll be doing their 2nd/3rd grade American History study called "Adventures" next year. The kids will be able a good bit of this together. And Joshua Quinn will also have his own work from MFW 1st grade. I'm really looking forward to using their materials next year.

A few weeks ago I sold some of my curriculum at our church's curriculum sale. I made $55.00! And it was really fun getting to chit chat with all the others there. Emma and Joshua came with me. Emma was helpful, sitting in at the table for me when I needed to take a break or look around, and JQ had a fun time running around the auditorium and greeting everyone on the live mic that he bodly picked up exclaiming, "Attention Ladies and Gentlemen!" (I tried to calmly apologize and mentioned that we have a budding pastor on the way).

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