Like it or not, it's here.  The world of Artificial Intelligence , A.I., is fast tracking to be one of the most powerful innovations mankind has ever experienced.  Many are excited, many are skeptical, and many many more are flat out scared! 

It's one thing to think about A.I. as an adult and how you will manage it, but the  concern many parents have is, "what about our kids?".  Technology has proved to be extremely helpful in our lives, but it has also proved to be extremely dangerous.  In fact, it is not the technology itself that is helpful or dangerous, it is how we choose to use it.  A.I. is no different. 

Recently, Merrill and Linda attended a training that discussed the use of and the pros and cons of A.I.  Today's show is a discussion of this new technology and the things we should consider as it becomes more and more prevalent.  

As with most technologies, there is always the naysayer that can never see how or why anyone would ever adopt the use of this new technology. But, one big take away from our training is that we have an opportunity to pull our head out of the sand and jump in to get ahead of all that is good and bad in order to make an informed decision.  

The technology of A.I. is nothing short of amazing, but in the wrong hands, it could be destructive.  As parents, you have a responsibility to be the keeper of the gate in terms of its use in your home.  Don't be ignorant and fall victim to its improper use.  Education is key to helping your regulate and use this tool in amazing ways.   

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Episode 300 is one that all of us have experienced or will soon.  There's the old saying that 'two things are certain, death and paying taxes.'  Today, we are going to turn add one more thing that is certain in life, PAIN.  None of us wants it but all of us will experience it.  Whether it's physical, emotional, or mental, all of us will have more than our desired share of pain.  

This show was inspired by Merrill's long summer of recovery from knee replacement.  Off to a great start he hit week number 3 and things began to get ugly.  His incision began to swell and the knee itself became even more uncomfortable.  It soon led to a doctor's visit where the doctor said that he was allergic to the internal stitches.  His body was going full force battle against the stitches with the collateral damage being the swelling of the knee, and lots of pain and stiffness.  For more than six weeks his knee had 6-7 large pores that were seeping constantly.  Changing dressings two- three times per day and lots of rounds of meds.  

As with all good pain, never let it lose an opportunity to teach us something new. Whether it be about ourselves or life in general.  Merrill's pain has led to an opportunity to learn and hopefully encourage others to get through their pain.  

Pain is one of those areas that tends to drive people closer to God or farther away.  Many grasp for anything God will give them for relief and purpose in the pain.  Others can see no good reason why a loving God would let such pain exists.  The bottom line is, pain does exist and hope is the best way through to the other side.  And God is the author of hope!  

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Introducing Bridgitte Price - Assistant Executive Director!
It's always exciting to add new people to your staff.   New ideas, new energy, and new talents are just the tip of the iceberg about what Bridgitte is already bringing to Rock Solid Families.  

Bridgitte comes to Rock Solid Families with past experiences as a school counselor at Batesville Community Schools.  She has also worked with women and children through Safe Passage.  And, she and her husband have been involved with Young Life in their local community.  From her past work experience, it is evident that Bridgette has a heart for people and her local community.  

Bridgette states that one of the biggest reasons she has made the move to Rock Solid Families is because she will get the opportunity to introduce God and all his Word to her clients.  The greatest tool in the tool box will now be at her finger tips! 

More specifically Bridgette will be working with children, adolescent girls, and young women and moms.  She brings a smile and great enthusiasm into the office.  She is currently seeing clients and making herself more available to those in need.  If you have questions about working with Bridgitte or for Rock Solid Families, please call us at 812-576-7625.

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If you go to the car shop your mechanic is going to diagnose your car with visual observation, measurement, and even computer diagnostic equipment.  When he is finished, he's going to have a pretty good idea of what's wrong with the car.  When you go to the doctor because your're not feeling well, they are going to begin the diagnostic process with blood work, scans, and monitoring equipment to get the best feedback possible to make their diagnosis.  Perfect? No, but much more reliable than what you're going to see in the mental health field.  

This is not to blame mental health professionals. Most are doing the best they can with what tools they have.  Mental health simply lacks pure testing processes and equipment to deliver reliable diagnosis.  

With that being stated, we have seen an explosion of people seeking mental health therapy in the last 20 years.  Children, men, women, couples, you name it, they're trying it.  But more recently the results have been scrutinized.  Is the therapy truly being effective?  The answer is not clear cut.  In fact, way too often there is little to no benefit, and even more harm than good.  For this reason people should take a closer look at therapy and know what to look for and what their part of the process is in order for a greater chance of success.

In this show, Merrill and Linda unpack the difference between Counseling and Coaching.  They discuss the importance of getting the right therapist for the right job.  The discuss the hard work that is required of the client in order to move towards healing.  They also talk about the most powerful healer in the room, God.  They remind us that God wants better for us, but we have to want to include him on the process.  This is where our humility or coachability come in.  ARE YOU COACHABLE?

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Here we go!  The new school year is ready to get underway whether our kids like it or not.  The start of the school year can provoke a host of different reactions from different students; anxiety, excitement, dread, anticipation, uncertainty, etc.... So, as a parent, how can you help your student start the year in the best way possible? 

As we look ahead to the 2024-25 school year, here are a few tips to start the new year off right: 

Get into a consistent routine as a family. Kids desperately need and thrive in consistent routines. Whether it be nightly family meals, consistent bedtime, packing lunches and backpacks before bed…whatever the routines are. Start them now and keep them consistent to help your child manage the daily stresses of life and thrive in this new school year. Anxiety in children often comes from inconsistency, chaos, and confusion. 

Prioritize your marriage and family over activities. It’s so easy to get swept up into the wave of busyness and distractions in our world today. Our culture has parents convinced that a full schedule=good parenting. 
Don’t get consumed by all the extras. 

Partner with your child’s teacher, administrators, coaches from the beginning. Trust me, no one’s getting filthy rich in this profession. They would love to partner with you from the start to help your child succeed. Email their teacher. Introduce yourself to their coach. Volunteer to help at the school. This spirit of synergy will help everyone win. 

Set the tone for a good year. Your child is watching and listening to you. Set a positive tone for the new school year and encourage your child to do the same. Your children take their cues from YOUR words, actions, and attitude. If they hear you complaining or undermining their teacher, they too will doubt and badmouth them. If you have questions or concerns, talk to their teacher, coach, or administrator privately and address them directly. Don’t air your dirty laundry out on social media. 

These are just a few of the things we focus on every year when our children start school and things we’ve found helpful with families we work with. Remember, our kids are watching us and need our help to start the new school year off right. 

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The story of Possum Trot is what inspired our question this week. In the movie, Sound of Hope, the little town of Possum Trot in east Texas was absolutely moved by the Holy Spirit.  Donna Martin, wife of preacher, WC Martin, became moved by the number of children in need of a home.  She began to look into the idea of fostering and adoption.  Her husband was initially not moved at all. In fact, he resisted the whole idea.  

As only the Holy Spirit can work, it didn't take long for WC to join in with the same passion as Donna. Before you know it they had their entire congregation joining in on the mission.  The town of Possum Trot had 22 families that adopted 77 children.  At one point in time, there were literally no more children that needed a home in the county. WOW!

While the story is amazing the movie also does an excellent job of illuminating the whole experience of adoption.  Yes, it starts with a heartwarming idea, but the reality is that adoption can come with its share of challenges.  The movie depicts this very well.  

The question presented this week ask: What is Adoption and Fostering Really Like? 
Many of you may know that we went through the foster to adopt process for our three youngest children.  In this show we share our story and many of the different experiences we have had.  While our experience is not the same as everyone else's, we believe there are many commonalities.  

If you are interested in fostering or adoption, check out this show.  If you are thinking about the next step, contact your local Child Services department, or a local adoption agency in your area.  Enroll in a class about the process and learn as much as you can.  At the end of the day, we are all called to serve the  innocent and meet their needs.  Adoption may be the way for you to help meet this need. 

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I don't know about you, but sharing my faith has never been easy.  I grew up with my faith being assumed, but seldom discussed in any depth with others.  I especially didn't feel comfortable trying to persuade someone to come to faith.  You know the saying, "never discuss politics or religion."  But, is this right?  

The Great Commission commands us to go out and make disciples.  It speaks of the importance of sharing the Good News and introducing others to the gift.  The question then becomes, "how do I do this?" 

In this show we take on a question that was presented to us. How do you share the good news with a friend? 
We take on the various aspects that should be considered when discussing faith with a friend, especially a non-believer.  Getting background information.  Knowing a little about their past experience with faith or religion.  Knowing about their upbringing and what if any exposure they ever had to Christ.  These are all important things that need to be considered when approaching this topic.  

Above all, developing a relationship based on trust is essential to truly being heard by your friend.  Being bold with the Word, but cold with the approach may quickly lead to a dead end.  Be patient and allow the relationship to grow.  Be authentic in the relationship rather than seeing it as a way to "win another person to Christ."  Yes, we want to win another person to Christ, but we first have to develop the relationship in order for the person to actually hear our words.  

Some people are gifted with the ability to evangelize.  They speak boldly and others seem to listen.  However, even if we don't seem to carry the gift, we can still carry the words and actions of Christ.  Let our actions speak and demonstrate the Good News in our lives.  Letting others see the good news is just as important as them hearing the good news. 

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Linda was running a reconnaissance mission as she was at the local swimming pool.  Her mission; to find the next question for Rock Solid Families Podcast.  Well, not really, but she couldn't  resist the opportunity when it presented itself.  

While at the pool she overheard a group of young teenage girls discussing whether or not their parents could look at their phones. As they were going back and forth between each other it was pretty clear that none of them felt like their parents had the right to get into their phone.  Needless to say, Linda's ears couldn't resist tuning in just to get a glimpse into their perspective.  

During this show we tackle the question about whether or not a parent has the right to look into their child's phone.  The phone contains so much of our lives these days that many of us can understand how personal this tool is.  However, our kids may not realize that their phone is not quite as private as they would like it to be.  We discuss several questions and scenarios of parents accessing their child's phone.  Parents not only have the right, but now have the responsibility to access the phones.  This is all in an effort to protect and teach our kids about the safety hazards and potential risk that the phone creates. 

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We often get questions about various situations and circumstances in people's' lives. It's also true that we often hear the same kinds of questions. Maybe the details change, but the main idea remains constant.  

In this series we are going to tackle a series of questions that have found their way to us.  Again, some of the details may be a little different from one person to another, but there is. a good chance that the main idea will carry over to many of you. 

In this first show the question covered is essentially, how much should you as an adult get involved in your parents marriage?  With the idea that their parents are not getting along or have the quality of marriage they once had.  As their child, what's your role?

If the roles were reversed it will still be very much the same kind of problem.  As parents, how much should you involve yourself in the relationships of your adult children?  

In a nutshell, we much always realize that we are unable to "fix" people.  People have to "fix" themselves.  With that in mind you begin to find your proper place in how you can deal with these situations.  At Rock Solid Families we like to think that we can open doors for people, but they must be willing to walk in on their own.  The same hold's true in helping your parents with their marriage. 

Encouragement, prayer, and being their is your first and foremost important role.  Counseling or even advice giving is most likely not something you should entertain. Your emotional connection as the child to your parents makes it very difficult to say the things that may need to be said without causing more damage. Yes, you can encourage your parents to get counseling, and you even should.  But do yourself a favor and leave that job to someone that is not emotionally connected. 

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Being prepared is the name of the game for first responders.  They must be prepared to walk into the most difficult of situations and do the right thing.  We would do well to treat our life journey in a similar fashion.  No matter the day, we must be prepared to walk through difficult times and do the right thing.  But, the question is, "What's the right thing?"

In the parable of the 10 Virgins we learn that the right thing is being prepared to meet God on the day of judgement. Are we ready to meet the Bridegroom? 
Our actions of doing good deeds and having faith in Jesus Christ are something that we should practice on a regular basis, not just when we think we are being watched. Or worse yet, minutes before we see the return of Jesus.  

Doing the right thing is more about creating a lifestyle that reflects the Way of Christ.  We know that Jesus will come to judge us by our fruit.  He will look at our relationships, time spent, money spent, talents used, etc... and see if we honored him with all that we had. 

Some of us will procrastinate or even claim ignorance.  Then, at the last moment we may find ourselves grasping for someone to give us a hand to pull us up. Jesus sees this as manipulation of the what he has desired for us.  Frankly, he sees it as cheating.  Too little too late. Other people do not have the responsibility to rescuing a person that chose to swim in a bad current.  We have choices to make and then we have consequences to face.  

In this parable, Jesus is simply asking, "Are you ready?"

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