Tag: discipleship
final words.
We’re trying to teach our kids about Jesus. To go beyond teaching them “Jesus is your ticket to heaven”, and actually connecting their lives with the story of God bringing redemption and healing to a broken world. Consistently pointing out, and calling forth the Love He is giving them, which is meant to transform the world. The world of which He is already Lord.
But every once in a while, it seems a bit larger than we know how to talk about. 
Enter, the helpful illustrations of Paul. As he was writing to his “son in the faith” (1 Timothy 1:2), and trying to encourage him to live for Christ. Even from prison, Paul was desperate to encourage Timothy to live out the good news that was found in and through Jesus. Limited on time, and probably paper, he packed as much as he could into every message. The outcome, is a bit of a scattered bag of metaphors, as in 2 Timothy 2:3-6:
“Share in suffering like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No one serving in the army gets entangled in everyday affairs; the soldier’s aim is to please the enlisting officer. And in the case of an athlete, no one is crowned without competing according to the rules. It is the farmer who does the work who ought to have the first share of the crops.”
It almost seems like Paul is playing some really important game of “Catch Phrase”. He can’t quite get the complete Truth of what he’s trying to say to Timothy into words, so he’s moving from element to element of that important Truth. Instead of simplifying it into something really easy for Timothy to swallow and move on, safely in his pocket; with every phrase he breaks the chains of expectation and makes this Jesus-thing a whole lot bigger than in the previous sentence.
Imagine what our letters might be like, trying to communicate to our children through one final letter. Knowing this will probably be the last thing we’re able to write before we die. Given limited time/space/resources, trying to scrawl by candle light, one last effort to give them the Hope we have in Jesus Christ. The book of 2 Timothy is an amazingly emotional letter, packed with encouragement and life for Timothy and the rest of us, as we peek in on what someone dying for Christ might say to their followers/children.
The good news is this: You’re not waiting to die in a roman jail-cell. Let that sink in for a moment. Take a deep breath, and be thankful.
Now realize, you’re not limited to bouncing around between metaphors. YOU are the living illustration. Telling our kids about God’s love in their heart is awesome and needed. But what is even more likely to transform their lives and connect them to God’s story, are parents & grandparents and extended family and close older friends who are living examples of the Words of God becoming flesh. As we live out the prayer “Thy Kingdom Come”, and invite our children to follow us. Not to “get their ticket to heaven” with us. But to actually join us in the Kingdom and Lordship of Jesus Christ breaking through into our world by moments of genuine love, forgiveness, justice, and living sourced by His Spirit; denying the ways of a world of self-centeredness, and living together in Christian community…
May our days be filled with living out our “final words”…and may those who walk in our footsteps be blessed in receiving them…
different kids.
“He’s part of the smart and popular group.” I heard a 5th grader describe his friend this past week. Holy Smokes. I don’t remember thinking about “popularity” in elementary school, although I’m sure it was there somewhere. I remember coming to school and getting incredibly good at the art of twisting my hair so that it stood up without using any gel. Throw a cape on my back, because I was super.
I remember some mornings, waiting out by the road for the bus to pick us up. We’d easily get bored, and want to do something more fun. I remember putting frogs in the mailbox for our postal worker to be surprised by. (She wasn’t happy when she found baked frogs in the mailbox. Ooops. Hot fall days.) I remember playing Ninja Turtles. (I preferred Michaelangelo.) I remember squatting down, pulling my coat down over my knees, while hobbling along the road trying to scare the cars driving by into thinking I was some sort of troll. (Probably not the safest thing I’ve ever done along a highway.)
Looking back on who I was growing up, I think is part of the reason I was totally okay when we began our homeschooling journey. Sure, a lot of homeschool kids can grow up a bit weird. But look at me…public school kids can grow up pretty odd themselves. My kids are certainly going to be unique in this world, scripture pretty much demands it. But their uniqueness is not about simply wearing the moniker “Different”. It’s so much bigger than that.
In fact, it’s too big to fit into an awesome sentence that I can make into bold text, and you can quote me on in some place that gets more internet traffic. I want my kids to live authentic lives of experiencing all that God has created them for. I 
pray over them daily that they would be filled with so much love, the world will be changed. I believe it’s possible with all that I am (and the even more that I am not), and parent them that way. Whether they go on to become missionaries in foreign lands, moms who raise the next generation to know the love of God, or a female-fronted version of Five Iron Frenzy. In fact, if they could go on to become a female version of Five Iron Frenzy, at least for a little while, I’d be pretty excited. One thing is for sure – they will be unique. I pray they are unique even in the face of consumer-driven Christianity. That they would ask questions, and push the envelope for how God’s Love can be shown, and how the Holiness of God can be lived.
So for now, we’ll continue to build the foundations of a life lived uniquely toward responding to God. We aim to exercise those spiritual muscles on a regular basis. To invite our children to respond to God with us on a regular basis. To train them to listen to His voice. To point out where some things in our world are broken, or don’t make sense. To help their first reflex and knee-jerk reaction to be Love for God & others. And above all of that, because we cannot guarantee what path they’ll take…..we pray. God, use our family to make things different, as you are Different. Amen.
words from wick 