7 weeks in Asia, every July and August

Have you ever been embarrassed by your kids?

30 years ago having a wayward kid could have disqualified a guy like me from the ministry. We may be more tolerant now, but a wayward kid will still give your family a bad reputation. My kids are mostly amazing, but my advice is, if you want to have a picture perfect family, don’t have kids.

I was straight up with my kids, “Your parents are leaders and people are watching you – so the pressure is on.” Sound fair?

“While you’re living under my roof, you will follow my rules!” And I’m tough enough to kick you out too, and did, a few times. Wonder how that turned out?

Raising kids successfully isn’t just a matter of what you know, and it’s no longer a matter of what you’ve done right or wrong; the real issue is, “What am I willing to do today?”

Before our youngest finished high school, she had perfected her double life: an obedient missionary’s daughter by day, and somewhat unrestrained the rest of the time. So when she graduated, I came up with a new missions program for youth and hired her to help me. We would take a group of young Canadians across Asia for seven weeks, exposing them to people who lived in extreme poverty, sex slavery, and the terminal diseases that resulted, and we would ride elephants. Our youth would have opportunities to share what they didn’t know they had in places where they could make an amazing difference. And when we pushed these kids to the limits of their physical, emotional and spiritual strength, we found gold, every time!

A few weeks later I heard this daughter tell her story, “I was born again on ‘7 weeks in Asia'” She had come face to face with some of the most desperate people in the world and could no longer just walk away pretending that Jesus, and her life, didn’t matter.

But how could it be that a daughter of mine grew up not knowing Jesus, or her purpose? I don’t know, but my decision to do something radical made the difference for her.

Who do you know that needs a 7 weeks in Asia experience? Do something radical for them! Click the teddy bear on the right for details: 7 weeks in Asia 2014.

Here is something radical you can do today: invite a kid to 7 weeks in Asia.

BTW, if you go to the bottom right corner of this page you can follow my blog via email. Bless you, Al