West Cocoa Chat

Update - The boys rolled in around 1a.m. safe, sound, and full of energy and stories. Out of those 4, I'm 2 and maybe a partial 3 for 4 this morning. Thank you for your prayers.

It has been an interesting week to say the least. I know many of you are old enough that you’ve experienced what we did this past week – the first trip of your child, away from you, on his own, for a long distance. For us this trip brings a lot of warm feelings and thankfulness to God to apparently see how some of our parenting seems to be coming to fruition in Steven. Then again you wonder just how much the Holy Spirit has moved in their lives and how much of it is just plain luck.

I’m sure all parents put a tremendous amount of faith in the investment of time dedicated to bringing up a child in the Lord. I’m also sure that as a friend of ours once put it, you expect a certain “return” on that investment. As the Scriptures say, “Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.” (Eph. 6:4) In other words, I’m sure for most Christian parents, there is a belief that their children will grow up to be faithful teens, young adults, and ultimately Christian parents themselves due to the degree we, their parents, insert them in the life of a church. Yet, we know there isn’t a direct correlation. The faith walk of a parent is not guaranteed to be transferred to a child for a variety of reasons.

So, I sit here in my living room at 8pm awaiting my child’s safe return after being in New Orleans for a week with Zack. They have been doing ministry at 18 that I only began to think about, perhaps when I turned 30. I know they are not perfect, they’ve never been. For that matter, neither have their parents. We didn’t do anything different as we raised them like countless other parents, even parents at our church, have done. As they return and go on with their lives I know they're going to mess up. I still do at almost 50.

But I’m thankful and grateful to God. I’ll even be more thankful when they drive up in my driveway in the wee hours of the morning. I know this thing called parenting isn’t an exact science and I’m not saying that we have it perfected by any stretch of the imagination. But my son is coming home after having committing himself to of all things, serving others in a distant city. He and Zack have given hope to a fellow church, touch the lives of prisoner’s family, and paid for a bunch of folks washing and drying while trying to lead them to the Kingdom.

I ask for a blessing from God on all of our parents and especially those of our teens. I’m convinced that there are many more at our church that stand on the threshold of doing the same kind of ministry that Zack and Steven have engaged in this week. Yet, while they stand on the threshold there is battle going on for their attention, their devotion, and ultimately their souls. I pray that in the coming days hearts will be opened, relationships restored, and ministry breaks out all over our church.

O.K, before I put this post to bed I have to share this with you. A good friend of mine at church loaned me his copy of the book, “A Walk in the Woods” by Bill Bryson. It is his story of hiking the Appalachian Trail. At one point on their hike, Bryson and his hiking buddy end up in a town in North Carolina to get a shower and wash their clothes. His friend makes the mistake of approaching a married woman to which her husband takes great offense. As Bryson’s friend is trying to make it back to their hotel safely, he tells Bryson, “Look, if I’m killed tell my brother-in-law that I buried $10,000 under his front porch.”

Bryson responds by saying, “You really buried $10,000 under your brother-in-law’s front porch?”

His friend answers, “No way, but he such a pain in the butt he deserves to think so.”

I know that has nothing to do with today’s post but when I read that line I laughed out loud at the dealership where I was getting Steven’s oil changed. Have a blessed day.

// posted by cwinwc @ 4:41 PM