Dave Stone - Building Family Ties with Faith, Love, and Laughter

BUILDING FAMILY TIES
WITH FAITH,
LOVE & LAUGHTER

BY DAVE STONE

Building Family Ties with Faith, Love & Laughter

2012 by Dave Stone

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or otherexcept for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson. Thomas Nelson is a registered trademark of Thomas Nelson, Inc.

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The FAMILY photo which appears on was provided by Carmella Calhoun and used with permission.

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Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com

Scripture quotations marked NIV 2011 are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com

Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from NEW KING JAMES VERSION. 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from KING JAMES VERSION.

ISBN-13: 978-1-4003-1872-8

Printed in China

12 13 14 1516 [RRD] 5 4 3 2 1

www.thomasnelson.com

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to the three most joyful kids in the world
Savannah, Sadie, and Sam.

Anyone whos around you always comments on your faith, selflessness, and joy. You brighten my day. You make parenting fun. The memories recounted in this book dont begin to scratch the surface of countless others that bring an instant smile to my face.

Thanks for the joy you bring. Mom and I are the most blessed parents in the worldall because of you.

Love,
Dad

The Stone Family. lighting His world photography, Tyler Pelan

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

To my wife Beth: your wisdom scattered throughout this book will bless so many. Thanks for graciously putting up with me during these hectic months, and for your constant encouragement and perseverance. We survived the stress of writing a bookmaybe now were ready to wallpaper a room together!

Thanks to Sam and Gwen Stone for modeling how to build family ties through faith, love, and laughter. Those words are a great description of the home in which you raised me.

To the best brother in the world, Jeff Stone. I hope the stories in here bring back fond and fun memories. You are the greatest and most encouraging pastor I know.

This book became a labor of love thanks in part to a multitude of friends who allowed me to bounce my ideas off of them. So thanks to my team of encouragers and readers who invested in this project because of their love for the family. They are: Sara Burke, Carl and Lindsay Kuhl, Tish Cordrey, Kisa Hoeltke, Karissa Sites, Mary Leslie, Rebecca St. James, and Jeff Stone.

Thanks to Michael Howerton for providing a place free from interruptions and just fifteen minutes away!

Thanks to my writing coach, Penny Stokes, for making my ground beef seem like filet mignon. You are a great teammate!

Thanks to my family at Thomas Nelson: Laura Minchew, Lisa Stilwell, Jack Countryman, Jennifer Deshler, and Michael Aulisio.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1
ENDANGERED SPECIES

H ave you ever spent time browsing the endangered species list? Its fascinating. Worldwide there are currently more than 10,000 animals and 9000 plants in danger of extinction. On that list youll find everything from Abbotts booby to Zunigas dark rice rat. Youll find epauletted fruit bats and splayfoot salamanders, skinks and corals, viperous toads and brush-tailed wallabies.

Theres one species, however, that inadvertently got left off the list: the joyful Christian family.

Is it just me, or do you see the distractions and diversions of this world sucking the life out of families? In a world of electronic devices, hectic schedules, and temptation at every turn, the family is suffering. As someone once said, If Satan cant make you bad, hell keep you busyand he has.

So many pressures compete for our time and energy these days. Technology that should free us, instead, seems to absorb our attention like a black hole. Stuff that used to be entertaining, like sports, music and other extracurricular activities, has turned into duties drained of excitement and spirit. Were so exhausted that we drag ourselves through our days, fall into bed, and then get up the next morning and do it all over again.

We dont have fun anymore. Delight has been deleted. Joy and fulfillment have been replaced by worry and hurry.

Its no wonder that the joyful Christian family has become all but extinct.

THE JOURNEY TO JOY

Would you like to rediscover a life of joy and contentment, where your home is the center and your family actually enjoys being together? Then press the pause button, have a seat, and lets explore the way back.

Last year my wife, Beth, and I attended a conference for pastors and their spouses. The event was held at a very nice resortchocolates on the pillows at night and towels folded in animal shapes. This was not some shabby motel.

Throughout our stay I was intrigued by the name badges each employee wore. All the badges had the employees name, of course, but below that was not their hometown or their department at the resort. Instead, there was the word Passion.

Some of the passions listed were predictable: golf, travel, music. One jovial worker listed food as his passion, and no one seemed to doubt his honesty. The novelty of the name badges generated a lot of conversation during that week.

On our last day, out of curiosity, I asked the manager, Whats the most prevalent passion your employees list?

Without hesitation, he responded, Family.

Most folks would claim that family is their number one priority. Why, then, dont more children feel important to their parents? Why dont families spend time together? Why is everybody going in different directions? What happened to the fun?

Think about it. Jesus said, I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full (John 10:10). Life to the fullor, as another translation puts it, life abundantly.

If thats Gods priority, shouldnt it be ours as well? Dont you long for it?

So if Jesus spoke of full, abundant living, and if we all love our families, then shouldnt that be a winning combination (of two ingredients) thats better than a Reeses cup?