Are you ready for a throwdown?

No, this has nothing to do with Bobby Flay, but it may be just as savory as some ribs he cooks up...

After reading Michael Card's book, "A Better Freedom", I got an idea to start what we call "Family Throwdown". The word "Parable" comes from the greek word, parabole, which means to "throw beside". In essence, parables were stories that were thrown down for us to wrestle with, be convicted by, all with the aim to unlock the mysteries of God's kingdom. A "Family Throwdown" is a time that my family has once a week to unlock the mysteries of God's Kingdom...I hope!

I have been struggling with "family bible time", or worship. I don't think church and Sunday school need to be our "be all end all"...yet for most of us this is the case. At the same time, I was a little overwhelmed with teaching my kids the bible. Where to start...Where to go...Where to end? Well if Jesus used parables to show the kingdom...If it was good for Him, it's good enough for me.

As I gathered my boys, three to be exact, to tell them that we are going to start having Family Throwdowns...they got excited. It sounded like a Saturday Night Main Event...so they responded well to that thought. In fact, right before I told them, Wesley my oldest son says, "Dad, I am reading my bible and these parables Jesus shares are hard to understand!" I was shocked. He had no idea what I was about to say...I told him God was showing him something for our whole family...needless to say, he was excited that God was speaking to him.

Isn't that what is is all about; Jesus speaking to us and us doing it!

We have not actually had one yet because we are doing Advent this year. This will lead us right into our first "Throwdown" in January. I am excited to have these times together.

So in turn, I wanted to start a blog to share our Family Throwdowns with you. Maybe you have a throwndown of your own to share. I called this blog, "Pair of Bowls", a little play on words to show that this blog will hopefully be more like a meal than words on a page. So get your bowl out of the cupboard...and bring it to the table. I will share what God is cooking for us...just be sure to share what God is cooking for you and your family.