February 12, 2025 • 12 mins
Flag Football has over 7 million kids playing between 6-12. It is a super fast growing sport. I believe one reason it is promoted and funded is to insure the future of football fans in America. It reminds us that what we learn as kids sticks with us as adults and why Christian education of young kids is critical.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Ethan (00:00):
Raising joyful children in an angry world, a podcast
dedicated to faithful parentsnavigating their families
through a stormy culture
Well, the big game this pastSunday had its largest
television audience ever.
I think the record was 122,maybe 125 million viewers.
But the game I want to talkabout is my grandson's last flag
(00:25):
football game of the season, theFriday before in Tampa, this is
raising joyful children in anangry world.
I'm your host, Paul Osborne.
When we got to the field.
My wife and I, we were shocked.
There were these two full sizefootball fields looked like they
were brand new in this parkstadium lighting.
(00:48):
Each field had six games.
They were playing sideline tosideline and they started at
like five o'clock.
So that's 120 kids an hour andthat starts Friday and it keeps
going.
And I've looked this up.
And ever since the NFL gotinvolved with this flag football
(01:09):
stuff, there are now seven over7 million kids between six and
12 playing the game.
That's 28 percent of the kids inthe United States.
Nothing wrong with it.
Great guy.
They're getting exercise, havingfun.
But if you, but the thing I wantto say about this, two things is
(01:30):
one, well, how you keep thatviewership, those fans watching
you every final, right?
120 million viewers and allthese people filling stadiums up
around NFL cities.
Well, you get kids playingbetween six and 12 and when they
become adults, they're morelikely to want to be a fan as an
adult.
I want to say the same thingholds up in Christianity.
(01:54):
I realize that God is the giverof faith.
He, you know, brings the HolySpirit, opens our eyes, all
that, all that doctrinal stuff.
But there's a reality that kidswho are raised with a priority
of church attendance are morelikely to attend and prioritize
it as an adult, particularly ifthey've gone in this tender age
when the soil is soft to theheart, between 6 and 12.
(02:17):
And the other thing I noticed inthis game was it's just a giant
game of tag.
Whoever has the ball is it, andthat's who you're trying to get.
The coach for my grandson'steam, he has like this NFL
playbook armband, right?
He's got all these plays on it.
For these kids to kind of likerun and my grandson and his
(02:40):
friend, when they weren't in thegame, they understood this is
tag.
Well, they kept playing tag onthe sideline.
They weren't watching the teamand learning and all that sort
of stuff, but they are six.
And the thing I want to pointout about it is we've got to
learn.
That's the main thing that thekids see is what's the main
concept here?
(03:01):
What is the main.
Thing that we're trying to teachthem, right?
That can get really lost inChristianity.
As I saw in that game, I mean,the coach has the armband on,
he's picking up the kids.
Some kid figures out how to tiehis flag so that doesn't come
off.
And that causes a controversy.
The referees have to review.
I mean, it was, it was, uh, itwas something.
(03:23):
But the main thing that we aretrying to teach as parents.
I'm really glad that our churchis doing a vacation Bible school
this summer called True North.
Because it gets to the heart ofthe answer and the information
and the concept.
Our faith is simply trying toteach our kids, what can you
(03:45):
trust?
See, true north is essentiallythat, like what's true and what
can you trust?
And so we'll have, we'll talkabout stars and a compass and
Bible stories and we'll playgames, but we all around that
concept of how do I trust?
What can I trust?
Who's trustworthy?
(04:06):
And of course the, the ultimateanswer to that is, well, you
have to trust the Jesus.
Is the king of this world, ofthis universe, because that one
word, that one thing that aperson trusts to be true, I will
tell you, it drives everythingelse that we believe who you can
(04:27):
trust as a trusted guide, whatinformation is true.
Everything comes down to that.
And you really see this, uh, I'mkind of on what I call summer
camp in the winter for retirees,55 plus community, snow birders,
whatever you want to call us.
(04:47):
And you meet a lot of people andyou have a lot of conversations
cause it's, you know, it's kindof summer camp.
You play cards and you playshuffleboard and you have music
and fun times and people meetfor drinks and play games.
And you do get into someconversations, and you realize,
hmm, a lot of people have somereally very weird ideas, well, I
(05:13):
should call them culturallycommon ideas that are not
Christian.
Might see life as a roll thedice.
Oh, I got lucky.
I'm, I'm, I'm lucky.
Or I worked hard and therefore Igot all of this.
It's survival of the fittest.
Like even concepts about love,romance, like your spouse.
I got lucky.
(05:34):
It was all random.
And you see these influences ofwhat people believe and how it
affects them.
Even, even sometimes we have hadsome opportunities to meet some
of the younger people throughsome friends who live down here
and you see kind of the samething.
Like there's no real confidencein that something is
trustworthy.
(05:56):
It's all based on some kind ofchance.
And the thing that I think youhave to recognize in parenting
is that the six to 12 year oldis going to reach 13.
They're going to ask questions.
What's love?
What's wisdom?
What's true?
What can I trust?
In fact, there's going to besome storm years.
(06:17):
There's going to be somebetrayals.
There's going to be some stormsthat come into your life,
particularly in the teen years.
And you better have it figuredout.
What can you trust?
What can you, what can you counton?
And then eventually that childreaches the age of 18 or 25.
Oh, well, what is the purpose ofmy life?
(06:39):
What, what's my destiny?
What, what do I need to knowthat's true?
How can I trust a relationship?
You see, in the young peoplethat fail to get this, they
become what the Bible calls thethe chaff, the straw.
That the wind blows away.
In other words, it just kind ofblows with whatever thing is
(07:01):
popular, whatever the culturalinfluences are, that's what
they're chasing.
You, and you begin to realize inAmerica that a lot of us have
sort of thrown off the heritageand the traditions of Sunday
school.
A lot of folks kind of swim awayfrom formalities like teaching
(07:22):
your kids, the catechisms, the,Lord's Prayer, the Apostles
Creed, these kinds of things.
And you're going to beencouraged, your kids are going
to be encouraged to live by selfgenerated convictions, self
generated wisdom, navigating theworld on what they can rely on.
(07:43):
And trust me, they're going tohave, resources in this
artificial intelligence stuffthat can give them answers to
things much faster than any ofus ever could.
And at the same time, right,where we see a society that is
distrustful of the supernatural,it has almost a contempt for the
past.
And so below this way of life.
(08:05):
The child that's not havingthese seeds planted doesn't
understand what's trustworthy,doesn't understand that
everything begins withunderstanding Jesus is the king
of the universe and all truthcomes out of that.
Well, below that life thatdoesn't have it is an ocean of
doubt about the most profoundquestions.
(08:25):
How am I supposed to live?
What's happiness?
Am I created or am I a productof chance?
Is there a God?
What are my duties?
What's a love?
What's a family?
What is a good life?
And you're going to see thesefolks and you meet them and they
just can't escape this flood ofdoubts and restlessness.
(08:46):
And you know, you can mask itwith, with alcohol and you know,
mind numbing drugs.
You can go on experiences, youcan take vacations, you can
build wealth, but to havecertainty, wisdom.
About life's most complex andmost challenging question.
Your child's soul is going tohave to be optimized by God
(09:07):
himself.
And it starts with learning towhat we can trust in the age of
influence.
As I say, that's when the soilof the soul is soft, it's
tillable, and it's ready to beseeded.
And you begin to teach yourkids, this is what we can trust.
That our life is only limited bythe size of our God and our God
(09:29):
is generous.
He redeems.
He refreshes.
He fills our souls witheverything that is good.
You see, for the Christian, ourGod is great and He is generous
and we have this concept.
We now can trust in Himregardless of our circumstances.
That there is no such thing asrandom chance or the life's a
(09:51):
gamble or the world is filledwith scarcity and that you've
got to just go grab all you canright now.
It's kind of funny.
You get into a lot ofconversations down with people,
particularly in my age group,and they often repeat what they
heard on the news.
And what's funny is in thecurrent news media, and I'm
(10:13):
talking both liberal andconservative, you have the
highest.
Ever.
Accounts of having to pay out.
For lying, plagiarizing,slandering, and libel.
The suits that have come aboutare almost unimaginable.
This is why I say, this is, thisis what I want to take away from
(10:33):
flag football.
See the age group peopleunderstand, the world
understands why it'ssignificant.
And understand that doing thatat the earlier of age, you're
going to be able to deal withthe profound questions of what
is.
It to be human, who am I, what,what am I supposed to be about
(10:59):
because being human is complexwhat we don't want to be is the
mimic people who do whatever ispopular and try to fit in with
whatever is popular.
That's, that's the big concern.
What you see seven and a halfmillion kids playing flag
football, do they all reallywant to do that?
Or is this become kind of thething that people do again?
(11:24):
I'm not trying to criticize itor not criticize it.
But for your kids to be able toembrace what's peaceful, what's
joyful, what's, what's great,what's good.
What's beautiful.
They're going to have tounderstand what's true and what
they can trust.
And that has to be done in thehome through the scriptures and
(11:44):
at your church.
And it really has to get donethe earlier, the better.
Then you will find a child thatactually understands who they
are and what they can trust andhas a true vision from God for
their life.
The ultimate battle for theheart and soul is a fight for
(12:06):
identity.
Our king invites our kids toknow who they are, what to
believe, and where they belong.
Until next time, let's rememberthe words for theirs is the
Kingdom of Heaven.
Raising joyful children in an angry world, a podcast
dedicated to faithful parentsnavigating their families
through a stormy culture
Well, the big game this pastSunday had its largest
television audience ever.
I think the record was 122,maybe 125 million viewers.
But the game I want to talkabout is my grandson's last flag
(00:25):
football game of the season, theFriday before in Tampa, this is
raising joyful children in anangry world.
I'm your host, Paul Osborne.
When we got to the field.
My wife and I, we were shocked.
There were these two full sizefootball fields looked like they
were brand new in this parkstadium lighting.
(00:48):
Each field had six games.
They were playing sideline tosideline and they started at
like five o'clock.
So that's 120 kids an hour andthat starts Friday and it keeps
going.
And I've looked this up.
And ever since the NFL gotinvolved with this flag football
(01:09):
stuff, there are now seven over7 million kids between six and
12 playing the game.
That's 28 percent of the kids inthe United States.
Nothing wrong with it.
Great guy.
They're getting exercise, havingfun.
But if you, but the thing I wantto say about this, two things is
(01:30):
one, well, how you keep thatviewership, those fans watching
you every final, right?
120 million viewers and allthese people filling stadiums up
around NFL cities.
Well, you get kids playingbetween six and 12 and when they
become adults, they're morelikely to want to be a fan as an
adult.
I want to say the same thingholds up in Christianity.
(01:54):
I realize that God is the giverof faith.
He, you know, brings the HolySpirit, opens our eyes, all
that, all that doctrinal stuff.
But there's a reality that kidswho are raised with a priority
of church attendance are morelikely to attend and prioritize
it as an adult, particularly ifthey've gone in this tender age
when the soil is soft to theheart, between 6 and 12.
(02:17):
And the other thing I noticed inthis game was it's just a giant
game of tag.
Whoever has the ball is it, andthat's who you're trying to get.
The coach for my grandson'steam, he has like this NFL
playbook armband, right?
He's got all these plays on it.
For these kids to kind of likerun and my grandson and his
(02:40):
friend, when they weren't in thegame, they understood this is
tag.
Well, they kept playing tag onthe sideline.
They weren't watching the teamand learning and all that sort
of stuff, but they are six.
And the thing I want to pointout about it is we've got to
learn.
That's the main thing that thekids see is what's the main
concept here?
(03:01):
What is the main.
Thing that we're trying to teachthem, right?
That can get really lost inChristianity.
As I saw in that game, I mean,the coach has the armband on,
he's picking up the kids.
Some kid figures out how to tiehis flag so that doesn't come
off.
And that causes a controversy.
The referees have to review.
I mean, it was, it was, uh, itwas something.
(03:23):
But the main thing that we aretrying to teach as parents.
I'm really glad that our churchis doing a vacation Bible school
this summer called True North.
Because it gets to the heart ofthe answer and the information
and the concept.
Our faith is simply trying toteach our kids, what can you
(03:45):
trust?
See, true north is essentiallythat, like what's true and what
can you trust?
And so we'll have, we'll talkabout stars and a compass and
Bible stories and we'll playgames, but we all around that
concept of how do I trust?
What can I trust?
Who's trustworthy?
(04:06):
And of course the, the ultimateanswer to that is, well, you
have to trust the Jesus.
Is the king of this world, ofthis universe, because that one
word, that one thing that aperson trusts to be true, I will
tell you, it drives everythingelse that we believe who you can
(04:27):
trust as a trusted guide, whatinformation is true.
Everything comes down to that.
And you really see this, uh, I'mkind of on what I call summer
camp in the winter for retirees,55 plus community, snow birders,
whatever you want to call us.
(04:47):
And you meet a lot of people andyou have a lot of conversations
cause it's, you know, it's kindof summer camp.
You play cards and you playshuffleboard and you have music
and fun times and people meetfor drinks and play games.
And you do get into someconversations, and you realize,
hmm, a lot of people have somereally very weird ideas, well, I
(05:13):
should call them culturallycommon ideas that are not
Christian.
Might see life as a roll thedice.
Oh, I got lucky.
I'm, I'm, I'm lucky.
Or I worked hard and therefore Igot all of this.
It's survival of the fittest.
Like even concepts about love,romance, like your spouse.
I got lucky.
(05:34):
It was all random.
And you see these influences ofwhat people believe and how it
affects them.
Even, even sometimes we have hadsome opportunities to meet some
of the younger people throughsome friends who live down here
and you see kind of the samething.
Like there's no real confidencein that something is
trustworthy.
(05:56):
It's all based on some kind ofchance.
And the thing that I think youhave to recognize in parenting
is that the six to 12 year oldis going to reach 13.
They're going to ask questions.
What's love?
What's wisdom?
What's true?
What can I trust?
In fact, there's going to besome storm years.
(06:17):
There's going to be somebetrayals.
There's going to be some stormsthat come into your life,
particularly in the teen years.
And you better have it figuredout.
What can you trust?
What can you, what can you counton?
And then eventually that childreaches the age of 18 or 25.
Oh, well, what is the purpose ofmy life?
(06:39):
What, what's my destiny?
What, what do I need to knowthat's true?
How can I trust a relationship?
You see, in the young peoplethat fail to get this, they
become what the Bible calls thethe chaff, the straw.
That the wind blows away.
In other words, it just kind ofblows with whatever thing is
(07:01):
popular, whatever the culturalinfluences are, that's what
they're chasing.
You, and you begin to realize inAmerica that a lot of us have
sort of thrown off the heritageand the traditions of Sunday
school.
A lot of folks kind of swim awayfrom formalities like teaching
(07:22):
your kids, the catechisms, the,Lord's Prayer, the Apostles
Creed, these kinds of things.
And you're going to beencouraged, your kids are going
to be encouraged to live by selfgenerated convictions, self
generated wisdom, navigating theworld on what they can rely on.
(07:43):
And trust me, they're going tohave, resources in this
artificial intelligence stuffthat can give them answers to
things much faster than any ofus ever could.
And at the same time, right,where we see a society that is
distrustful of the supernatural,it has almost a contempt for the
past.
And so below this way of life.
(08:05):
The child that's not havingthese seeds planted doesn't
understand what's trustworthy,doesn't understand that
everything begins withunderstanding Jesus is the king
of the universe and all truthcomes out of that.
Well, below that life thatdoesn't have it is an ocean of
doubt about the most profoundquestions.
(08:25):
How am I supposed to live?
What's happiness?
Am I created or am I a productof chance?
Is there a God?
What are my duties?
What's a love?
What's a family?
What is a good life?
And you're going to see thesefolks and you meet them and they
just can't escape this flood ofdoubts and restlessness.
(08:46):
And you know, you can mask itwith, with alcohol and you know,
mind numbing drugs.
You can go on experiences, youcan take vacations, you can
build wealth, but to havecertainty, wisdom.
About life's most complex andmost challenging question.
Your child's soul is going tohave to be optimized by God
(09:07):
himself.
And it starts with learning towhat we can trust in the age of
influence.
As I say, that's when the soilof the soul is soft, it's
tillable, and it's ready to beseeded.
And you begin to teach yourkids, this is what we can trust.
That our life is only limited bythe size of our God and our God
(09:29):
is generous.
He redeems.
He refreshes.
He fills our souls witheverything that is good.
You see, for the Christian, ourGod is great and He is generous
and we have this concept.
We now can trust in Himregardless of our circumstances.
That there is no such thing asrandom chance or the life's a
(09:51):
gamble or the world is filledwith scarcity and that you've
got to just go grab all you canright now.
It's kind of funny.
You get into a lot ofconversations down with people,
particularly in my age group,and they often repeat what they
heard on the news.
And what's funny is in thecurrent news media, and I'm
(10:13):
talking both liberal andconservative, you have the
highest.
Ever.
Accounts of having to pay out.
For lying, plagiarizing,slandering, and libel.
The suits that have come aboutare almost unimaginable.
This is why I say, this is, thisis what I want to take away from
(10:33):
flag football.
See the age group peopleunderstand, the world
understands why it'ssignificant.
And understand that doing thatat the earlier of age, you're
going to be able to deal withthe profound questions of what
is.
It to be human, who am I, what,what am I supposed to be about
(10:59):
because being human is complexwhat we don't want to be is the
mimic people who do whatever ispopular and try to fit in with
whatever is popular.
That's, that's the big concern.
What you see seven and a halfmillion kids playing flag
football, do they all reallywant to do that?
Or is this become kind of thething that people do again?
(11:24):
I'm not trying to criticize itor not criticize it.
But for your kids to be able toembrace what's peaceful, what's
joyful, what's, what's great,what's good.
What's beautiful.
They're going to have tounderstand what's true and what
they can trust.
And that has to be done in thehome through the scriptures and
(11:44):
at your church.
And it really has to get donethe earlier, the better.
Then you will find a child thatactually understands who they
are and what they can trust andhas a true vision from God for
their life.
The ultimate battle for theheart and soul is a fight for
(12:06):
identity.
Our king invites our kids toknow who they are, what to
believe, and where they belong.
Until next time, let's rememberthe words for theirs is the
Kingdom of Heaven.
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