IDEA STARTERS!
We’re two weeks away from Memorial Day weekend. It’s wedding season. Grad season & our students are already checked out! (Ok Parents may be even more checked out than their kids! We’re helping our students study for finals, and we’re all catching up with a strange mix of online and in person school. Spring sports are wrapping up and we’re all wondering how we’ll pay for the well needed summer vacation. Camp payments and vacation deposits are due, and the price of everything feels like it rose quite a bit in this last year! After staying home all last summer, our families are ready to travel. Allergies are in full bloom & sunscreen is a daily part of our morning routine. As you look at your family calendar for the next month, don’t you feel like you already have 5 graduation parties, 5 weddings and 5 graduations to attend? Start budgeting for the gifts!
I know this has been a tough school year. Let’s look at what we’ve overcome. Let’s look at what we’ve survived. Let’s look at what we actually have accomplished. Let’s look for things to champion & celebrate. Jesus said it so simply: “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11)
Summer idea starters:
I never know what kinds of shoes to wear with shorts. Trendspotter shares some ideas, but I don’t feel hip enough to pull most of these off! https://www.thetrendspotter.net/best-shoes-to-wear-with-shorts/ Do you have any insecurities about summer?
‘This summer, don’t take a vacation from God. Tune into what He’s trying to teach you. This is a great opportunity to grow in your faith!’ - Jud Wilhite (NYT Best selling author) What’s the best way to set a strategy so we can help our kids grow spiritually over the summer?
How to help your kids grow spiritually this summer. Let's get strategic before school lets out! https://centrikid.com/help-parents-lead-kids-spiritually/
How does your family routine change once summer starts? What do you want to change about your family routine patterns before summer starts? As a parent what stresses you out most about summer routine changes?
As a parent we're busy all through the school year, but let's take authority over our schedule before summer starts. What sort of recreation/hobbies do you want to put back into your schedule so you can recharge this summer?
Hardest job you ever had, that taught you a LOT more than the minimal pay you received for it! Summer jobs discussion starters here.
LOTS of summer call in discussion ideas here.
Studies show ‘success doesn’t drive happiness,’ but maybe happiness actually drives success. Full article here. What do you see has the different between happiness & joy?
What restaurant would you totally swoop in for their leftovers?! The “Too Good To Go” app sells a grab bag of nearly wasted, yet perfectly good food for take out as a method of cutting back on food waste and helping support the restaurant industry. It’s the leftovers app! MORE here.
Discussion starters:
Did hosting SNL cost Elon Musk 20 million dollars? Full article here suggests that! What’s the most expensive decision you’ve ever made?
I’ve already noticed my kids standing in front of the refrigerator when they are bored. I need to break that pattern this summer. What is the snack you crave the most out of the blue? For me it’s always nachos.
You can grab discussion ideas from anywhere. Keep your eyes open to your everyday life! "I used to write laser hair removal radio jingles. What's the most random job you've ever had?" - Jon Acuff
37 million of us will hit the road for Memorial Day weekend. The stats say Americans want to travel! Full article here. Text the show... where you headed this summer... just text 1 word answers!
Gas, groceries, cars, pool chlorine & lumber prices are going up. When prices are going up, how to you strategize & plan differently? What’s the higher price that’s hit you the hardest? Article here
Dry interview audio & listener calls:
Fresh audio from Ryan Stevenson, Jeremy Camp, Author Jon Tyson, Ben Fielding from Hillsong Worship, Bart Millard of Mercy Me & Phil Wickham HERE! https://www.creativecardio.com/dry-artist-audio/
Jayar said his recent chat with Louie Giglio brought up a potentially engaging conversation with the audience: Who's the greatest most impactful speaker you've ever heard? Giglio/MLK/Judah Smith/Luis Palau/ Billy Graham, etc? (We post DRY audio from authors & artists each week in our ARTIST AUDIO page inside CreativeCardio.com for our paid members.
Louie Giglio’s latest book just came out "Don't give the Enemy a seat at your table" Louie talks about the following in this dry audio you can use here. 1) Talk about the new book 2) The first chapter talks about a powerful paragraph in Habbukuk 3 3) Your friend is in a wheel chair and is paralyzed and it caused her to rework the 23rd Psalm using her current situation 4) No gas in the south... what more could go wrong? 5) Do you check the news anymore? 6) How has your interaction been lately w/ your pastor friends around the world?
We also have a DRY CALL STARTERS page for our members too! (this is different than our artist/author audio page)
When we sing along with the songs on the radio, sometimes our kids mess up the words and it’s hilarious. Tell us about the words your kids thought were part of your favorite songs from Chris Tomlin, Casting Crowns & Merce Me? Dry call starters from listeners here, so you can get a discussion going!
Idea starters on faith:
‘So what is maturity? Very simply, it is growing to the place where you think, judge, and react biblically to every situation. When it is the rule and not the exception for you to apply the Bible to your life; when you place every area of your life under the lordship of Jesus Christ. The Bible calls it Christlikeness, because Jesus is intent on making you like Him. Who else is worthy for you to pattern your life after?’ - Dr Tony Evans More here!
Can I whisper a bit of hope to your heart tonight, friend? You’re not who that guy says you are. You’re not who that girl says you are. You’re not who social media likes and comments say you are. You’re not who the grades, to-do lists, messes, and mess ups say you are. You’re not who the scale says you are or the sum total of what your flaws say you are. So who are you?
You’re who GOD says you are. And He says you are loved. He says you are held. He says You are His. Forever His. (And if someone else comes to mind as you read this… tag that friend who also needs to hear this truth right now.) - Lysa Terkeurst
“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” – Jesus (from Matthew 11:28-30)
ANGLE: Have you noticed there is a difference to charging up when you are physically tired vs when you are soul tired?
If you’re wondering how to “raise your kids in the way they should go so they won’t depart from it…” Francis Chan explains the #1 reason kids turn to Jesus. Let’s not forget! Full article here. Francis Chan says, “Your mission with the Lord isn’t done when you’re finished dating. But bring kids into the mix, and there’s this sense of contentment. The mentality usually goes, “Yeah, maybe God has plans to use us there, but the kids — they have a school and friends, and a life HERE. We’ll focus on them while they’re young, and once they’re old enough or moved out, we can return to ministry.” But it’s this inward focus that ultimately allows our family to become an idol to us. We live what Chan calls “a Christian version of the American dream.” But that’s not the life that God has called us to, and that’s not the example of faith that we should be setting for our children.”
Bump into a tree and see what falls. Is it fruit? thoughts from Brant Hansen (Jesus said the world will notice we are his disciples when they see our love for one another. Full article here.
W. Tozer said, “God is looking for people through whom He can do the impossible – what a pity we plan only the things we can do by ourselves.”
If you want to take authority over your day, start by reflecting on why God is in control. Here’s a great list! Full article here.
“You and I are unavoidably and irreducibly hope-based creatures. We are controlled not how we live now, but what we think will happen later. Christian hope has to do with the ultimate future, not the immediate.” -Tim Keller
We praise God for who He is and for what he’s done – regardless of our circumstances! In Psalm 148 King David wrote:
“Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens; praise him in the heights! Praise him, all his angels; praise him, all his hosts! Praise him, sun and moon, praise him, all you shining stars! Praise him, you highest heavens, and you waters above the heavens! Let them praise the name of the Lord! For he commanded and they were created.” That’s why we praise Him!
Berni Dymet of Rhema 99.7 in Australia says, “Every person is complex. Ask any man who’s married and he’ll tell you how complex his wife really is. Well, God’s complex too, which is why the half-baked images of Him that we carry round in our heads simply don’t cut it. So how do you go about figuring Him out, when you can’t see Him?
Hebrews 1:3 He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word. When he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. (NRSV) “How? You look at Jesus who, as it turns out, is the exact imprint of God’s very being. (The wording there alludes to a die used to stamp the image of Caesar onto a coin). So you want to know what God’s really like? Look at Jesus. Look directly at Him.”
LOTS of IDEA STARTERS for faith discussions for official members here. https://www.creativecardio.com/forum/christian-content/
Idea starters from Good News stories:
Free swimming lessons from the Nashville Dolphins program helps anyone learn to swim — both for fun and competitively. MSN says, "More than 230 swimmers participate in the programming and over 100 volunteers teach for free, helping families who are often financially burdened with medical expenses. Parents say free swimming lessons are changing lives! MORE here.
She’s cared for 81 infants as a foster mom. Over 41 years, Linda Owens has fostered 81 infants! https://www.cbsnews.com/news/linda-owens-foster-mom-81-infants/?fbclid=IwAR0IjmvSOqfIx1ZBg-diXEmBPbYWXXxePqJ4svDsYfNylCXbED0itHCowkM
A Virginia pastor wondered if a thief who stole his bike may have needed it to get to work. So Pastor Robbie Pruitt began to fix up donated bikes for free. One stolen bike led to hundreds of bikes fixed up for free for needy people in the city! Idea starter: Was there someone in your neighborhood that fixed up bikes for kids who didn't have parents in the mix? There was a dad on our street that would change blown tires for kids and adjust brakes for the neighborhood when all the other dads weren't around. More here!
Nearly 30 years ago Juan Rivera was convicted of a crime he didn’t commit, but while he was behind bars, he met and befriended a prison guard by the name of Bobby Mattison. Bobby opened up a barbershop inside the prison and even turned it into a barber college.
Fast forward to today, Juan’s conviction has been overturned and he and Bobby are now opening up their own barber shop in Rogers Park, Illinois. Juan said, “This started in prison. I saw a need. We want to help the less fortunate. Because once they get out, they usually have nothing to fall back on.” Full story here!
LOTS of fresh May GOOD NEWS stories in our full site for members!
Give CreativeCardio.com showprep a try! It’s $40/month and you can cancel anytime - no contract! (That’s just over a dollar a day) We also have a Member’s Only Facebook Group with TONS of prep idea starters!
-Scott Herrold & Jayar Reeves
