Need a little structure

I've been asking myself the question lately in ministry whether I don't need to give more structure to some of the training I do with Russians. So often I run up against an inability (it seems) to manage giving assignments that are too open-ended (whether time-wise, or in terms of how to fulfill the requirement). This lesson got brought home to me the other day in parenting when I was giving an assignment to Kerith.

He and Simon were not getting along over something, and I decided I needed to step in. One of the tasks I assigned was for him to ask them to come up with an appropriate Bible verse to memorize, one "that would please me" (I've been drilling the idea of getting him to try to "catch my heart." He came up with Proverbs 7:18:

Come, let us go make love all night.

Diana's only comment was, "that sure would please you."

And his reasoning: that would be a good verse if people started protesting on the streets. (He had been hearing about Egypt.) I think we need a little more structure next time.