Author: Wick

I love to have control of things.  Seriously, it’s a bit of a compulsion or reflex.  So much so, that I don’t even realize it usually.  It doesn’t come in the form of me yelling, “Hey you, do this my way!!” to the people in my life.  It usually comes in the form of me just doing things myself, without asking for much input or assistance.  It can sometimes be a strength.  More often though, it’s definitely a weakness.

So in moments like last week, where my better half has scheduled to take a couple days away with some friends from college, I plan the weekend accordingly.  I create a schedule in my head of the hours she’ll be away, and do my best to fill them with things that the kids love (but let’s face it, they each also meet the requirement of “easy for dad to handle”).  Kill a few hours wandering around a mall? Check.  Buy new dresses at an inexpensive consignment store after having fun trying them on? Check.  Fall asleep on the way home?  Check.  And so the time flew by with a full Saturday as well.  I was even able to get a few errands run, and tasks done around the house.

In their minds, there was an illusion of the children being in control.  After all, they got to lead me around the mall to places we weren’t going to spend any money.  They selected which horses to ride on the carousel I just happened to have 3 tokens for.  They even got to  pick what dresses they wanted from the ones I took off the rack for them. 🙂  See what I mean?

It was most obviously seen as we explored the grocery store, with the younger two in the little car attached to the front of the cart.  I would steer the cart, and they would respond by turning the wheel in the direction I was going.  Mimicking the experience of actually driving their car around the store, they had a blast and made all sorts of attention-getting sounds to go with it.

I enjoyed it to, laughing at their noises and picking up a gallon of milk while I was at it.

You may be smiling, thinking about how awesome my kids are.  I am too.  But I want to point out briefly that unfortunately, that’s the view many people have of God and His involvement in our lives.

Sure, He lets us steer the plastic wheel that’s not really attached to anything – but He’s the one ultimately pushing the shopping cart.   Sure, He’ll let us look at all the options in the shopping mall of opportunities, but He’s ultimately the one who tells us where and when we can make purchases.  See what I mean?

Certainly, God is omnipotent.  Meaning He’s All-Powerful.  Any force or power know and unknown to us – finds its’ source in God the creator.  But He’s also loving, and life-granting.  He has given us freedom to act and choose.  He gave Adam and Eve the freedom to make their own decisions.  He gives their descendants that same freedom today.

There are some people who treat God in the same way they treat some vague notion of “destiny”.  “If it was meant to be, it will be.”  “If God wants it to happen, it’ll happen.”  “If God has made this happen, He’ll help me out of it.”…the list goes on.  This creates a huge separation in our actions and our connection to the consequences.  This gives permission for us to be released from a certain amount of communal confession and burden of Sin that we need to feel…in order to feel the need to approach His throne with humility – asking for His forgiveness & grace.

Certainly there are times and places where God desires something, and moves to ensure it happens.  We’ve experienced this in our own lives.  But we cannot allow ourselves to cheapen His Grace by cheapening the Freedom He gives us out of Love.  He delights in our joy…where will you drive your shopping cart vehicle this week….?

If you’re a follower of Jesus, why/how do you talk to your kids about faith?

Have you yet?  Will you?

Have you ever heard this line:   “You’re not promised tomorrow” ?

So many youth events I’ve gone to (and some “adult” services too), and taken teens to, present evangelistic “get saved now” messages, based on that premise. It’s true, in a world of violence and hate, and random acts of ignorance and greed….and just accidents happening, any of us is a candidate for the grave right now.

But I’m not sure this approach reaches everyone. Let alone, children and teenagers who pretty much view themselves as invincible already. Sure, there may be a few who have had parents/loved ones/schoolmates pass on, and so have a better grip on our mortality. A few who are wise beyond their years. But for the most part, you’d have a hard time convincing Johnny-enjoy-today that tomorrow might not come.

And even if we could….isn’t this approach simply advertising to our young, and to the world, that the main reason to participate in what God is doing comes from a fear of dying?

What if there was something better?

What if there was a reason to live a life seeking God’s _____ , even if you do live through tomorrow?

I know we believe there is…otherwise those of us who have been journeying in that direction would be excited about the prospect of dying at any given moment. So if we’re honestly so excited about living for God, and building towards His Kingdom with as many tomorrows as we can get…why does our main offer to our kids/teens focus so much on “in case you die tomorrow”?

In fact, thinking about it…it’s very similar to messages I’ve heard given at rescue mission type settings too. It may even come from a pure intention. “We don’t know for sure if this child/teenager/person off the street may come back again, so let’s do everything we can to ‘get em saved’ tonight.” But I’m not sure if I agree with that approach.

It’s not like if 20 people came up to the altar, and signed the “I accept Jesus” line on a slip of paper, we could sit back and say “whew, that was close…glad that’s done”.

I think a key to the survival of young adult, family, and adult ministries (teens who didn’t “die tomorrow”), will be in responding a bit better to this issue. After all, God offers us SO MUCH MORE than simply a nice place to retire after we die. Maybe we should tell someone that…