And, yes, we did take the boys. And , no, we are not crazy.
Vince and I took our first trip to London last summer, and we took Micah with us. And I think people thought we were crazy then, as well.
So why do we take our two toddlers trekking around the world?? I thought I'd go ahead and settle that question before sharing about the trip itself. (Ha! Then you can decide for yourself, whether we're crazy...or not.)
God's Word says...Deut 11:16-21
Be careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them. Then the Lord’s anger will burn against you, and he will shut the heavens so that it will not rain and the ground will yield no produce, and you will soon perish from the good land the Lord is giving you. Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land that the Lord swore to give your forefathers, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth.
More and more Vince and I encounter parents whose children have turned away from the Lord. And these moms and dads seems to be well-meaning and God-fearing, yet their children are disinterested in following Christ for themselves. (And I'm not talking about casual church attendance--these teens/young adults attend church--but only in body, not in spirit.) And everyone, from parents to church leadership, is wondering why the disconnect?? I could speculate, but I honestly don't have an holistic answer. But I can assume that one disconnect has lead to another disconnect.
God's Word also says...Proverbs 22:6
Train up a child in the way he should go;
even when he is old he will not depart from it.
It seems that more and more people are in agreement that parents cannot wait until their children enter their teens before beginning discipleship. Nor should families rely on the church for their children's spiritual training. One to two hours of Bible teaching per week just isn't enough. Not for our children, and not for us as parents.
We don't want to miss the "window" with our boys. We want them to look back over their lives, and say, "You know, I can't remember a time when our family wasn't worshipping or serving the Lord together."
Jesus said...Matt 12:43-45:
“When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none. Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order. Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So also will it be with this evil generation.”
And we especially don't want to our children to flounder...to be worse off...as they get older because mom and dad haven't been disciplined in preaching and teaching the Gospel to them...in season and out of season...which, taking two toddlers to London may appear to be out of season.
There's just too much at stake. Satan is crouching outside our doors, waiting to destroy our children. And we're kidding ourselves if we think education, technology and SEC football are reliable guardians. There is no guardian for the souls of our children, other than the full counsel of the Word of God.
Jesus said...Matt 28:18-20:
{btw- I hate when people leave verse 18 out the Great Commission}
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
So, before you say that we're crazy, I hope you hear our hearts.
God's Word has been fixed upon our hearts, and we are attempting (by God's grace) to teach and train our children...even as we go along the road...that all authority has been given to Jesus for salvation...shutting out false teaching, and worthless idols...and that he has called us to obey all that he has commanded. To the glory of God.
