"Ted Hut" -- Motivating the Family to be Christian Soldiers

Posted by Helper Suitable's Husband:

About a year ago, I decided to take advantage of my oldest son's enthusiasm for "soldiers" and channel that towards being a "Christian soldier". It's amazing the difference this has made in our family.

Once a day, I call the family to "attention" (the boys call it "Ted Hut"). I do inspections before school to see if their hair/teeth are brushed well. I give out assignments/rewards as appropriate. When I give an order, I expect to hear the "Sir, Yes Sir"s, and for a bit of fun, every once and awhile I'll tell them, "I can't hear you!". They then yell out in response, "SIR, YES SIR!". I try to sound as gruff and "soldier-like" as possible, and the boys eat it up.

I've decided to include my notes from our very first "Ted Hut". Parts of this are as much for the wife as the kids, as I think it's important that the children see entire family operating according to the chain of command. If I give her a command during the "Ted Hut", she gives a "Sir, yes Sir"! herself (or something equivalent), and the kids are expected to respond to her orders with a "Maam, yes, Maam"!

I make it clear during several points that God is above me in the chain, and that I need to "Sir, yes Sir"! Him when he gives me an "order" (through his Word).

Failure to follow orders, or pay attention can result in pushups. For some reason, little boys seem think the pushups are fun. For more major offenses, I discipline appropriately, of course.

This little exercise has worked wonders for our family.

------------------------------------------------

TED HUT!!!!!

We need to turn this unit around soldiers. I look around and see we've become:

(ask the kids to define each of these)

Disrespectful
Insubordinate
Slothful (lazy)
Gluttonous
Disorganized
Unhealthy
Unprepared for spiritual warfare
Liars
Lustful
Whiners

We are at WAR! Who is our enemy?

Prompt the kids to answer... Satan should be listed as one.

Satan wants to fight us as individuals, not a unit

• Targets the weak link
  
• Tries to convince you that your chain of command is corrupt
  
• Tries to turn us against each other
  
• Doesn't just want you, but wants you to take us with you
  
• For these reason, all chinks in the armor must be hammered out
  
• We have an obligation to protect each other.
  
• If we care, we will discipline. To allow rebellion is to turn the person over to the Devil.
  
• The Devil is not our only enemy, the world itself is our enemy.
  
• Our only "wordly" protection is the family and the church.
  

Respect/Honor/Obey

• We are in a war
  
• We are Christian soldiers
  
• God is Commander in Chief
  
• The Father is the General
  
• The Mother is the captain
  
• Aiden/Owen are Privates
  
• Bible is law
  
• God is the only Judge
  
• Generals are held responsible for the problems within their unit
  
• Because I am held responsible, I must monitor the family closely and will not tolerate/excuse sin
  
• If I allow poor habits/sin to continue, I put you at risk on the battle field.
  
• Commands are done without question, unless a higher authority (God's word) overrides.
  
• Consultations can be held with "Request to Speak" (in private).
  
• Failure to obey immediately results in discipline
  
• To allow misbehavior once encourages it to appear a second time
  
• Discipline becomes more severe if repeat offender
  
• God's rules first, Daddy's second, Mommy's third
  
• Clean heart and mind. Confess sins to each other, expect the best of others at all times.
  
• Go above and beyond the minimum in all things. If you are asked to go a mile, add a half.
  
• You are required to address those in authority over you in an appropriate manner
  
• Whining, arguing, nagging, or failure to comply with an order is rebellion
  
• Rebellion cannot be tolerated in a war because rebellion breaks us from a unit to individuals
  
• Individuals can be picked off easier than a unit
  
• You are going to do what your authorities command, so find a means to be happy doing it
  

The Written Law

• Always has a divine purpose
  
• Is always correct
  
• Should be upheld at all times
  
• Refusing to follow the law when you know and understand it is like shaking your fist at God
  

Duties

• Everyone has duties to perform, whether at home, at work, at school
  
• Duties can only be missed due to sickness or by permission from your authorities
  
• Some duties will be fun, others a chore, but all should be done with a cheerful heart
  
• Every duty is important, and if anything is undone, it represents a chink in our armor
  
• Some duties are designed to protect/aid your fellow soldier or commander
  
• Sometimes it *is* your job to protect your comrade from sin
  
• A Christian soldier can witness in his actions, perhaps more strongly than in his words
  

The Heart

• Should be kept pure
  
• Should assume the best of people (even sinners) at all times
  
• Should work cheerfully
  
• You are going to do what your authorities command, so find a means to be happy
  
• Work should be done with Joy whenever possible, but always done in love
  
• Avoid contact with temptation
  

The Body:

1. Cleanliness: 1st thing in morning (morning inspection), last thing at night


• A professional looking soldier gets more respect/fear
  
• A professional looking soldier shows he takes his job seriously
  
• Shaved, shower, teeth
  
• Unwrinkled clothes, dress according to role (gender specific).
  
  
2. Health


• The body is God's temple
  
• No artificial sweeteners in drinks
  
• No eating out unless there is *no* alternative
  
• Poor eating habits slow the body and dull the mind
  
• Mother will design healthy/balanced meals
  
• Daily exercise is required, and body weight/overall health closely monitored
  

The Home:

1. Orderliness
   
   
   
   • A strict schedule must be maintained
     
   • The house should be clean
     
   • Dishes washed as soon as meal is over
     
   • Beds made: 2nd thing in morning (after personal cleanliness)
     
   
   
2. Team Building
   
   
   
   • No TV, or web browsing for entertainment without permission
     
   • All 3 meals together
     
   • Family Study Time
     
   • Family Play time
     
   • Positive attitude
     
   
   

Training for War:

• complete self-discipline
  
• complete trust in the chain of command
  
• learn to use our weapons (scripture, church, prayer)
  
• Use your chain of command
  
• stick together
  
• nobody gets left behind
  

Discipline

• Immediate
  
• Fair
  
• Consistent
  
• Should be harsh enough to help correct the bad behavior and dissuade from it happening again
  
• If you sin against another, you must confess and ask forgiveness
  
• Discipline should get more harsh if the same behavior is repeated continuously
  
• Those who receive the discipline should learn to thank the authority for the correction.
  

110 Bible Descriptions of Christian Women (Self Evaluation)

These verses specifically target women. There are, of course, many, many more verses that are non-gender specific.

Challenge: try printing this off and doing and circling items where you need work. Not every verse describes how you should behave, but as a whole, I think they give a good picture of a Christian woman.

Please send me a comment with any verse that needs added to this list!

1. Helper suitable (Genesis 2:18)


2. Worth far more than rubies (Proverbs 31:10)


3. Brings husband good all days of his life (Proberbs 31:12)


4. Selects wool and flax (Proverbs 31:13)


5. Works with eager hands (Proverbs 31:13)


6. She is like the merchant ships, bringing her food from afar. (Proverbs
   31:14)


7. Considers a field and buys it (Proverbs 31:16)


8. Out of her earnings plants a vineyard (Proverbs 31:16)


9. Sets about her work vigorously (Proverbs 31:17)


10. Her arms are strong for her tasks (Proverbs 31:17)


11. Gets up while it is still dark (Proverbs 31:15)


12. Provides food for her family and protions for her servant girls (Proverbs
    31:15)


13. Sees that her trading is profitable (Proverbs 31:18)


14. Her lamp does not go out at night (Proverbs 31:18)


15. Noble character (Porverbs 31:10)


16. Holds the distaff and grasps the spindle with her fingers [she sews]
    (Proverbs 31:19)


17. Opens arms to poor (Proverbs 31:20)


18. Extends her hands to the needy (Proverbs 31:20)


19. When it snows no fear for household, all of them are clothed in scarlett
    (Proverbs 31:21)


20. Makes coverings for her bed (Proverbs 31:22)


21. Clothed in fine linen and purple (Proverbs 31:22)


22. Makes linen garments and sells them (Proverbs 31:24)


23. Supplies merchants with sashes (Proverbs 31:24)


24. Clothed with strength and dignity (Proverbs 31:25)


25. Laughs at the days to come (Proverbs 31:25)


26. Speaks with wisdom, faithful instruction is on her tongue (Proverbs 31:25)


27. She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of
    idleness (Proverbs 31:27)


28. Her children arise and call her blessed, her husband also and he praises her
    (Proverbs 31:28)


29. Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all (Proverbs 31:29)


30. A woman who fears the Lord, is to be praised (Proverbs 31:30)


31. A wife of noble character is her husband's crown (Proverbs 12:4)


32. Women should remain silent in the churches (1 Corinthians 14:34)


33. Women should dress modestly, with decency and propriety, not with braided
    hair or god or pearls or expensive clothes, but with good deeds appropriate
    for women who profess to worship God (1 Timothy 2:9)


34. A woman should learn in quietness and full submission (1 Timothy 2:11)


35. I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over men; she must be
    silent (1 Timothy 2:12)


36. Women will be saved through childbearing if they continue in faith, love,
    and holiness with propriety (1 Timothy 2:15)


37. Teach older women to be reverent in the way they live (Titus 2:3)


38. Do not be slanderous (Titus 2:3)


39. Do not be addicted to much wine (Titus 2:3)


40. Teach what is good (Titus 2:3)


41. Train the younger women to love their husbands (Titus 2:4)


42. Be self-controlled (Titus 2:5)


43. Be pure (Titus 2:5)


44. Be busy at home (Titus 2:5)


45. Be kind (Titus 2:5)


46. Subject to their husbands so that no one will malign the word of God (Titus
    2:5)


47. I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give
    birth to children (Genesis 3:16)


48. Your desire will be for your husband and he will rule over you (Genesis
    3:16)


49. A kindhearted woman gains respect, but ruthless men gain only wealth
    (Proverbs 11:16)


50. A disgraceful wife is like decay in his bones (Proverbs 12:4)


51. The wise woman builds her house, but with her own hands a foolish one tears
    hers down (Proverbs 14:1)


52. A woman is bound to her husband as long as he lives (1 Corinthians 7:39)


53. Every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her
    head (1 Corinthians 11:5)


54. The woman is the glory of man (1 Corinthians 11:7)


55. Woman was created for man (1 Corinthians 11:9)


56. Long hair is the woman's glory (1 Corinthians 11:15)


57. Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence and likewise also the
    wife to the husband [don't withhold sex] (1 Corinthians 7:3-5)


58. The wife hath not power over her own body. She has power over her
    husband's body (1 Corinthians 7:3-5)


59. The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man [dress like a
    woman] (Deuteronomy 22:5)


60. A prudent wife is from the Lord (Proverbs 19:14)


61. [Husbands] rejoice with the wife of thy youth. Let her be as the
    loving hind and pleasant roe (Proverbs 5:18)


62. [Husbands] let her breasts satisfy thee at all times and may you ever be
    captivated by her love (Proverbs 5:19)


63. Wives submit yourselves unto your own husbands as it is fitting in the
    Lord (Colossians 3:18)


64. So I counsel the younger women marry (1 Timothy 5:14)


65. Bear children (1 Timothy 5:14)


66. Guide the house (1 Timothy 5:14)


67. Give the enemy no opportunity for slander (1 Timothy 5:14)


68. All wives shall give their husbands honour both great and small (Esther
    1:20)


69. A foolish son is his father's ruin, and a quarrelsome wife is like a
    constant dripping (Proverbs 19:13)


70. Cleave to husband in one flesh (Genesis 2:24)


71. Obeys husband (1 Peter 3:6)


72. Calls him Lord (1 Peter 3:6)


73. Bless the fountain (Proverbs 5:18)


74. Open to my beloved (Song of Solomon 5:2-5)


75. I will give you my "love". (Song of Solomon 7:10-12)


76. For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God
    used to make themselves beautiful. They were submissive to their own
    husbands, (1 Peter 3:5)


77. Teaches her children (Proverbs 31:1)


78. Comforts her children (Isaah 66:13)


79. The wife should not leave her husband (1 Corinthians 7:10)


80. For it is written: "Be glad, O barren woman, who bears no
    children; break forth and cry aloud, you who have no labor
    pains; because more are the children of the desolate woman than of
    her who has a husband." (Galatians 4:27)


81. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are
    all one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:28)


82. Shouldn't be contentious and vexing (Proverbs 21:19)


83. When baby is born forgets anguish (John 16:21)


84. Wife must respect husband (Ephesians 5:33)


85. Mother's nurse babies (Exodus 2:9)


86. And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and
    became a sinner (1 Timothy 2:14)


87. Male and female He (God) created them (Genesis 1:27)


88. Shall be called woman (Genesis 2:23)


89. Wife should not be displeasing (Deuteronomy 24:1)


90. The woman folly is loud, she is undisciplined and without knowledge
    (Proverbs 9:13)


91. Should not be quarrelsome (Proverbs 21:19)


92. Wants to be kissed by her husband (Song of Songs 1:2)


93. She is to be a lilly among the thorns (Song of Songs 2:2)


94. She entices her husband to come into her "garden" and taste it's
    choice fruits (Song of Songs 4:16)


95. Her husband's fruit is so sweet to her taste (Song of Songs 2:3)


96. She belongs to her husband and his desire is for her (Song of Songs 7:10)


97. Keeps house (Psalms 113:9)


98. Joyful mother of children (Psalms 113:9)


99. Faint with love (Song of Songs 5:8)


100. Voice is/should be sweet (Song of Songs 1:14)


101. Do not let little things ruin relationship (Song of Songs 2:15)


102. Finds favor in her husbands eyes (Song of Songs 8:10)


103. Delights (Song of Songs 7:6)


104. Monogamous (Song of Songs 8:10)


105. Monogamy rewarded (Song of Songs 8:9)


106. Unique (Song of Songs 6:9)


107. Like wine and honey "in bed" (Song of songs 5:1)


108. Thinks of husband when away (Song of songs 5:2)


109. Her marriage bed is pure (Hebrews 13:4)


110. Avoids fornication (1 Corinthians 7:2)