Showing posts with label biblical principles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label biblical principles. Show all posts

Monday, June 14, 2010

Preparing your children for the future

This weekend our oldest son, Michael, along with 734 other students from his high school graduated in the 2010 commencements.

Commencement. I wonder who chose that word initially to term the graduation from their schooling life to that of an adult about to enter the workforce? It really is a great word if you think about it- commencement. The start of something new, not the end.

During the last few months, my wife and I have been a bit melancholy about this date. It seems like just yesterday our little boy was running around in my boots and learning how to walk and talk. And now, he is a strapping young man, taller than me, and quite a good example of a fine human being if I do say so myself.

But we still wonder if we did the right thing. Did we teach him to make the right decisions? Did we teach him to think of others? Did we teach him to honor his family, friends and God? Did we equip him with the right tools to be a successful husband and father? Perhaps only time will tell.

We are not experts by any stretch of the imagination. Rather, we are God-fearing people who are dedicated to the 3 most important things (we think) in life: God, Family and country. For us, there is no family without God, and we cannot imagine living without our faith let alone raising a family in this world so fraught with evil. The family and it’s governance in is chronicled in the Bible. I often joked when I was younger that we (or babies) don’t come with an owner’s manual. How wrong I was!

The Holy Bible has so many life lessons in being a son or daughter, father or mother, a law abiding citizen, yet so many people allows these fundamentals to escape them. The same book also speaks to being a good citizen- to obey laws and when necessary, defending your community or nation. This responsibility has grave responsibilities and is what makes veterans so special in our house. The service of others is perhaps the greatest gift God has given us for when we do serve others, we are doing so out of obedience to Him and love of others. And there are countless servants- the teachers we learned from, the civil servants of our towns who kept us safe or healthy, the people of God with whom we fellowship in church. Each plays an important role in our cultural experience.

I could say we did our “best”, but as long as there was one more lesson, one more question I could have imparted upon him, spent one more minute with him, then I did not do my best. As far as I am concerned, there is almost always just one more thing we can do in our professional or personal lives yet we continually come up short because we are more comfortable with coming up short.

Fortunately, as I opened, he is simply beginning something new. He is not leaving us to never be seen or heard from again. We will still be there when he needs us, even if he doesn't think he does, or if he is to make a mistake.

We are very proud of him- he learned many tough lessons, particularly this past year, but his talent is perhaps where my greatest failure is realized. He has a penchant for playing video games as many his age do, and consequently was not quite as dedicated to his studies as his contemporaries. What is frustrating is he has the ability to have done better based on his SAT score without really preparing for it and having taken it with a broken nose from a wrestling match that weekend. How much better could he have been? He is one of the sharpest young men I know, having more on the ball than some “adults” I know. That comes from his intensity I should think. Perhaps I should have been still firmer in my expectations for him. I do hope I did not do him a disservice.

All I know is I really wanted to be a different parent to my children than my parents were to me, and to that end, I am confident I have thus far been very successful.

I hope not only Michael but all his contemporaries, from all over the world, are open to experiencing life through the eyes of a Christian eye, are ready for the challenges ahead of them in this trying period of our existence, and they cultivate others along the way. I pray Michael will take the lessons we gave him and apply them and emerge the leader I believe he is. But once again, only time will tell, and it will, I pray, reveal to him what his reason for being is.

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Planting the seed...

The other day I had the chance to meet with a friend one evening. He called and said his wife was having a shower or something of the sort at their home so he needed to get out for a while. We met at a neighborhood cigar store and sat outside in the pleasant Texas evening enjoying the sunset and the relaxation of a nice cigar and great fellowship.

Gene and I had worked together previously at a dealership where we met. I took an instant liking to him despite many differences in our lives, but perhaps because of parallel ideals. He has 3 children, is a veteran, and has very similar political views. He is also well-read and a bit of an intellect for someone who has not completed a degree of advanced study(I hope that does not sound arrogant or elitist, it is not intended to).

We had many passionate discussions about American history, current affairs and bringing up a family, though when we turned to religion, Gene had no use for organized religion. He was against it based on the experience he has had in the past with what he felt pastors being more about the offering than the message. Gene had not attended church as a child, a few times in the Navy, but really was not what I would call a religious man, though he did believe in God and Jesus Christ. Like many newcomers to the faith, or perhaps more to his point, casual Christians who are not "all in" in their faith, Gene had several issues with trying to resolve real life with what the Bible says. Thus, he had it set in his head he didn't need to go to church.

I shared with him the need to commune with others of similar belief, and that "religion" is man-made. By that I mean religion is faith combined with rituals we may find comfort in to augment our church-going experience. The need to commune with others is very real. We need to be there for others in their moment of need just as we need them in our time of need. If we only went to church when WE felt the need to be lifted up, no one would be there when things were going smoothly and everyone there would be having difficult times. It is much easier to be a positive when things are going your way.

I suggested perhaps they needed to find a more scriptural-based church to meet his needs. I didn't try to push too hard because I knew I would become one of "those" who had alienated Gene all along to worshiping our God in church.

Not long after that, Gene suggested we meet Sunday after church with the fam to fellowship. It was great. I saw a new gleam in his eyes and he was quick to point out some of the lessons they had learned in the sermon and how he felt it might apply to him.

Now, nearly two years after that initial conversation, Gene and his family are now regularly attending a church he loves. He says every sermon seems to be aimed right at him and his pastor is fearless, and is willing to tackle contemporary issues like teen-age promiscuity, acting like a Christian. These are very convicting sermons. We have a number of "mega-churches" in our are of Dallas here. Some with congregations of over 20,000 people. We have watched some of the sermons on t.v. and have not impressed with the message too much. It seems very "watered down" or too easy-going. They seem more concerned with getting people in the doors and not offending them than truly giving a message Jesus would be proud of.

I ramble. The point of this post is to stress when you are witnessing for Christ, the most important thing to bear in mind is to be a friend first, and understand if you have the chance to witness and try to win someone to Christ, you may not be able to completely win them all by yourself, especially in one discussion. You are planting the seed. Someone else will water it. Someone else will cultivate it. Someone else will harvest that seed. Each step is critical in His work, and the ultimate glory be to Him in the highest, regardless of what role YOU had! You will still be responsible for the actions/inactions you take with those around you as you walk in His way.

Did those conversations make a difference in Gene's life? I would say so, but so did his interaction with my wife and children, seeing how we are an integrated family with a faithful servant's heart (I hope!) and being disciples of Christ, and so did his interactions with other Christian friends. Ultimately, it was not what I said, but what the Holy Spirit said THROUGH
me and others. People from my friend Jipu's ministry Win Bangladesh handing out tracts for Christ



Plant that seed today- you never know how large that vine will grow and how much fruit it will bear for the Kingdom!