What's My Job at Forerunner?

“Hey - what’s my job at Forerunner?”

“To keep us safe.”

“That's exactly right. And I love my job. Do you know why I love my job?”

“Because you love us.”

I keep thinking about this conversation I had with a kid earlier this week when I pulled him out to do a stop & think sheet with me. At the beginning of this year I made it a personal guideline that every time I have a sit-down conversation with a kid about discipline, that I wanted it to be more about me caring about them than just getting them to do what I wanted.

So I started ending discipline conversations with asking them that question, “What’s my job at Forerunner?”, and when they said “I don’t know” or “To tell us what to do” I would let them know that it is my job to keep them safe. I would let them know that the rules are a part of keeping them safe. I would tell them that I have one of the most important jobs in the world, because they are important. And I would tell them that I take my job very seriously and love it very much, because I love them.

I realized that I don’t have to give the whole speech very often anymore, because they know what I’m going to say. Not just because they've heard it from me, but it's something I've seen several of you saying too. But I ask some of those questions still anyway, because saying “You are important”, “I care about you”, “I will keep you safe” is always going to be something our kids need to hear.

When we care more about our kids than ourselves, it changes the heart of discipline. Our kids are used to adults telling them what to do, but in our program, they're getting used to adults telling them the reason why behind what we ask them to do - and it's a reason that changes everything. We love them. We want the best for them. We want to keep them safe. We want to set them up to win. We think they're important. It's not about a power trip or punishment - it's about love.

And the fact that our boys are paying attention to the words we say; that they're internalizing them as fact; that we love them and are going to keep them safe...whew Thank you Jesus and help us to not just say it, but to prove it - in all that we do.