Parenting - Mike Ruman

A Question To Ponder: A Life Lived With Faith

February 5, 2010 By Mike Leave a Comment

In the book Crazy Love by Francis Chan his college professor asked him “Is there anything you are doing in your life, right now, that truly requires faith?” And Francis was a bit stumped. And so was I.

After reading that question I set the book down and reviewed my life and I admit the answer was “no, or I don’t think”.

I mean there are a lot of things that I rely on God for but I’m not sure if there was anything I actually said “I can’t do this on my own and need your help Lord.”

And I don’t want this to seem like I don’t rely on God for anything. I know he leads my life but I was just stumped trying to figure this question out. It may help if you understood how I interpreted the question. “Mike, is there anything in your life your doing that you couldn’t do on your own?”

I don’t know.

In 2009 Lisa and I stepped out and did something that required faith. And I’ll be honest it has been rough, real rough. In those valleys we’ve been going through are when we surrender (or need to surrender) it to God. Easier said than done, right?

I struggle with that. With the “surrender” part. I like to call the shots, but I’m realizing there are certain things that I just need to trust in God on, and that scares me.

A popular quoted Bible verse is John 16:33. We love to quote the part “In this world you will have trouble.” But sometimes we forget to add the next sentence “But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

And I read the “take heart” as “fear not”.

I know there are going to be more rough patches ahead. How rough? I don’t know. But, I’m relying on God for those. So, Lord, please help me recognize when I need you and help me surrender my life over to you.

So, your turn, is there anything in YOUR life that requires faith?

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Filed Under: Books, Faith, Parenting

Get Your Kids Off Welfare

January 26, 2010 By Mike 1 Comment

That headline above comes from a Dave Ramsey seminar where he referred to giving kids an allowance is like having them on welfare (giving them something for doing nothing).

We’ve implemented Dave’s Commission System (with some of our own tweaks) and it seems work.

Here’s what we do (it may or may not work for you).

1. Each week we print off the chore list and post it on the fridge. (Here is a link to our Chores Template)

MON	TUE	WED	THUR	FRI
Clean Room	Clear Table	Clean Room	Clear Table	Clean Room
$1.00	$1.00	$1.00	$1.00	$1.00
Cat Litter	Cat Litter	Cat Litter	Cat Litter	Cat Litter
$.50	$.50	$.50	$.50	$.50

2. Each chore is worth a dollar amount, some are worth more than others.
3. If the child does the chore they earn that amount, if they don’t, they don’t.

Fairly simple, huh? We’ve come across a few problems with this system and added some tweaks.

Child doesn’t do certain chores.

We added BONUS CHORE – Sounds cool, right? The bonus chore works like this:
- We take the grid and cut out all the chores (done or not done) and place them in a hat. Child then draws a chore.
  - If they DID the chore that week they can either:
    1. Take a set dollar amount OR
    2. Roll a dice and get less than the set dollar or double it. (most times they roll the dice)
  - If they DIDN’T do the chore that week their pay isn’t affected at all. It’s a BONUS afterall.

Child doesn’t do chores at all.

Limit TV, computer, or something else to completed chores.
We don’t allow the child to get on TV or computer until chores are done. They don’t have to do the chores, but they also don’t get the privilege of going on computer or TV.

Is this a perfect system? No. But, it works for us. Will it work for you? Only you can answer that.

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