The Time of your Life

I felt like I was looking at myself 12 years in the future. It’s graduation time, a time of celebrations and parties and cake…lots and lots of cake. Among all the celebrations, pushed to the side and the back of the mind are fears, worries and frustrations. I was at such a party recently as one of the boys that has been in our youth group since he was old enough to go was graduating high school. I’ve known this guy since he was in fifth grade and had watched him grow up almost every week at church, youth group and various church functions…he’s always been there, and now he won’t be. His big plans for the future include moving to Bloomington (IN) and going to college, maybe looking at a career in finance-maybe law enforcement—who knows. What has struck me, and stayed with me since that party is the palpable concern this kids father had for him…for his physical well-being sure…but he was much more deeply concerned about his spiritual well-being. This father has been through this before…in fact the physical make-up of his family is much like mine…Two girls and the youngest, a boy…all about two-ish years apart. Now the youngest was moving out…the boy has been open enough with his father—they talk—and at a much deeper level of communication than saying “your shirts on fire,” you know, the essential-bare minimum that most guys use to communicate, and he knows his son has been having some real doubts about faith and Christianity and he’s afraid that his son will, like so many others, walk away from the faith.  I certainly don’t want to be in his shoes in twelve years…with those kinds of fears…but if I’m really honest, I have those fears now. The problem is further exacerbated by the fact that we also know that we can do everything right as parents (prayer, catechism, Bible study) and a kid may still walk away from the faith. (Romans 9:18)

What can we, as parents do then to keep this from happening? In short, nothing—we are helpless to keep it from happening if it’s going to happen. What we can do while our children are under our care is to do everything we can to set them on the right path.

The Seven 03.20.13

Seven Great Blog Posts from this past week that you shouldn’t miss.

1) One of the most important, and often least used tool in the Christian’s toolbox is prayer. This article from Past & Present Blog is an important Q & A on how to pray.

2) This past Sunday we celebrated St. Patrick’s Day, this blog post from Via Emmaus looks at how evangelicals are trying to redeem the occasion from Rome.

3) Speaking of Rome the big news this past week, of course, the election of a new Pope by the Arizona St. Louis Cardinals in Rome…a few false teachers “evangelicals” celebrated this occasion, but as Al Mohler reminds us, as evangelicals, this is NOT something we should celebrate or congratulate. And on that same subject a couple of friendly reminders from The Cripplegate, the first being that The Pope is Probably the Antichrist and The “Gospel” according to Rome. Lastly, I would remind you that I’ve covered this ground here at DPS myself.

4) And when you are discussing the above matter with your friends and co-workers here are some helpful ways to keep you from arguing like and idiot.