Southwood Lutheran Church

VIDEO of the Week: Seeking God's Will

In this week's video on Spirituality Dr. Cloud stresses the need to leave your expectations behind when seeking God's will.

We're real people - a simple solution doesn't often work for our deepest struggles and questions.  Tune in each week on Tuesday to watch a series of videos by Drs. Henry Cloud and John Townsend.  Here you will find advice from seasoned leaders about everything from parenting and marriage, to spirituality, goals, and leadership.

For over 1800 other free videos check out the Solutions for Life website.

VIDEO of the Week: Parenting Influences

One parent asks: I don't like my twelve-year-old daughter's friends. I find them stuck up and gossipy. I told her what I thought, but she got very angry and stuck up for them. How do I keep her from becoming like them?

We're real people - a simple solution doesn't often work for our deepest struggles and questions.  Tune in each week on Tuesday to watch a series of videos by Drs. Henry Cloud and John Townsend.  Here you will find advice from seasoned leaders about everything from parenting and marriage, to spirituality, goals, and leadership.

For over 1800 other free videos check out the Solutions for Life website.

VIDEO of the Week: Non-Negotiables in Parenting

When a married couple is on different spectrums in their parenting ideas, how do you compromise or establish values that are agreed upon? Watch this video and think about your values when it comes to parenting.

We're real people - a simple solution doesn't often work for our deepest struggles and questions.  Tune in each week on Tuesday to watch a series of videos by Drs. Henry Cloud and John Townsend.  Here you will find advice from seasoned leaders about everything from parenting and marriage, to spirituality, goals, and leadership.

For over 1800 other free videos check out the Solutions for Life website.

Link of the Week: The Dragonfly Project

The Dragonfly Project

A small act of kindness to help a grieving family, following the death of their son, led to the creation of The Dragonfly Project in 2002.

When an 11-year old friend died from a brain tumor, Anne Marquardt Brooker sent his family a story about dragonflies and their significance in the cycle of life and death. The story so moved the grieving family with its "message of hope" that it inspired Anne to create a nonprofit corporation that would reach out to others who were grieving the loss of a family member or friend.

The Dragonfly Project consists of volunteers who help put together and mail condolence cards, a copy of the dragonfly story and a dragonfly keychain.

Anne, who is now 17 years old, continues to lead the organization in its mission to offer a message of hope and encouragement to those in need.

Here's the Dragonfly Story by Walter Dudley Cavert:

"In the bottom of an old pond lived some grubs who could not understand why none of their group ever came back after crawling up the lily stems to the top of the water. They promised each other that the next one who was called to make the upward climb would return and tell what had happened to him. Soon one of them felt an urgent impulse to seek the surface; he rested himself on the top of a lily pad and went through a glorious transformation which made him a dragonfly with beautiful wings. In vain he tried to keep his promise. Flying back and forth over the pond, he peered down at his friends below. Then he realized that even if they could see him they would not recognize such a radiant creature as one of their number.

The fact that we cannot see our friends or communicate with them after the transformation which we call death is no proof that they cease to exist."

Click here to learn more about the project or here to send a card to someone who is grieving.

Pastor Sara

VIDEO of the Week: Biblical Love

In this week's video Dr. Townsend talks about a Biblical definition of love that is helpful for us in all of our relationships. We find out that the most basic form of love is "seeking the welfare of another." Listen to this video and think about how this definition would change and renew all of your relationships.

We're real people - a simple solution doesn't often work for our deepest struggles and questions.  Tune in each week on Tuesday to watch a series of videos by Drs. Henry Cloud and John Townsend.  Here you will find advice from seasoned leaders about everything from parenting and marriage, to spirituality, goals, and leadership.

For over 1800 other free videos check out the Solutions for Life website.

VIDEO of the Week: Your Point of View

In this week's video Dr. Townsend talks about relationships and why sometimes we need to suspend our own point of view in order to sustain healthy relationships.

We're real people - a simple solution doesn't often work for our deepest struggles and questions.  Tune in each week on Tuesday to watch a series of videos by Drs. Henry Cloud and John Townsend.  Here you will find advice from seasoned leaders about everything from parenting and marriage, to spirituality, goals, and leadership.

For over 1800 other free videos check out the Solutions for Life website.

VIDEO of the Week: Why Empathize?

In this week's video Dr. Townsend talks about relationships and why empathy is so important. He says: Have empathy because God is an empathetic God.

We're real people - a simple solution doesn't often work for our deepest struggles and questions.  Tune in each week on Tuesday to watch a series of videos by Drs. Henry Cloud and John Townsend.  Here you will find advice from seasoned leaders about everything from parenting and marriage, to spirituality, goals, and leadership.

For over 1800 other free videos check out the Solutions for Life website.

Link of the Week: Rosa Loves

Rosa Loves

Not only are these some of the coolest tee-shirts I've ever seen. But they are made for the greatest reason - to help those in need. You've got to check out this website. Each tee-shirt tells a story about someone in need. The sales from each shirt go toward addressing that particular need. Buy a shirt and make a difference at the same time!

The company is run by two people a graphic designer and a software developer who really want to live out their faith. Check out what one of them had to say about their company:

Rosa Loves is less about charity and more about awareness, awareness that we are all a part of something greater and are therefore joined by common threads. I believe that accepting this truth means accepting our place in community, and more importantly, accepting responsibility for each other. I don't mean to undermine personal responsibility, but it seems to me that "personal responsibility" is used as a crutch - an excuse - to ignore the suffering around us. I believe this chosen ignorance is the architect of deep social chasms that keep us from venturing to places like Sawyer Town.

What I pray is that people come to experience Rosa Loves not as a charitable company, and not even as a company that does the things it does because they are "good things to do." My prayer is that people will realize this is what we as people were intended to do.

I'll close by saying that Rosa Loves is not a Christian company. I tend to hold the belief that "Christian" should not be used as an adjective. Rosa Loves is a company that seeks creative ways to serve others, not coerce. What I will say of myself is that I follow Jesus, and what I do, I do for the glory of God.

Enjoy surfing around on this site and reading the great stories of hope! Let me know if you make a purchase - I'd love to see the shirt on your back.

Pastor Sara

Video of the Week: Letting Go of Guilt

In this week's video Dr. Cloud answers the question: I'm having trouble letting go of guilt about things in my past. I've asked for forgiveness and believe I'm forgiven but I look at every struggle now and wonder if it's because of past sins. How can I overcome this?

We're real people - a simple solution doesn't often work for our deepest struggles and questions.  Tune in each week on Tuesday to watch a series of videos by Drs. Henry Cloud and John Townsend.  Here you will find advice from seasoned leaders about everything from parenting and marriage, to spirituality, goals, and leadership.

For over 1800 other free videos check out the Solutions for Life website.

Link of the Week: Consumed

Do you ever feel like you run out of day before you run out of stuff to do? Or run out of money before you run out of places to spend it? How can you keep from being consumed by the demands and desires of our culture?

I tried out this Consumed Calculator. You answer questions about how you allocate your time and money, and you get a pie chart with your results.

My estimates of time are remarkable for their inaccuracy...I accounted for 208 hours per week -- there are only 168 hours in a week. That's 40 hours I think I spend that don't exist. Either I'm an incredible multi-tasker...or I need to look more carefully at how my time (and life) is being consumed!

Rick and I just did a budget for our family so I had a pretty good idea of what our expenses are. My top 4 categories for spending were:

1. housing
2. saving
3. charity
4. taxes

I did a little guessing, and fair warning, seeing the results after you've guessed might inspire you to get a better handle on where your money's actually going! (check out our Good $ense course for help with that).

Kim