Yesterday after church our oldest son was out in the street skateboarding. His newest thing is to ride without his shirt, so he can "be cool". There is a young adult across the road who has tattoos, piercings and is always outside without his Tshirt. Before I go any further, please let me state for the record: I have no problem with tattoos or piercings. When I was a teenager I pierced my nose,belly button, and have a total of 6 ear piercings. Right after graduating boot-camp I got a tattoo and would probably have more if that one didn't hurt so much. My issue isn't with this young man's appearance but the fact that my son is using him to define what is cool. This point was driven home even more when about 30 minutes later 2 boys showed up in front of our house with skateboards in tow. It seemed peculiar because they were between 15 to 17 years old and I do find it strange that out of everywhere in our neighbor hood they decided to skate in front of our house. Big Daddy and I starting taking about the whole situation and drugs were at the fore front of our minds and then we had a sobering moment. I looked at Big Daddy and told him: "You better make sure you are the apple of his eye, that he looks up to you and thinks the world of you so he doesn't fall into the wrong crowd." I didn't mean this in a bad way, Big Daddy is an awesome dad but as our kids get older we need to ensure that we stay connected with them. I think we can shape the way they look at the world by what we expose them too. We make it a priority to ensure that our children are learning from the Bible and leading them to the foot of the cross so that when the Holy Spirit prompts their hearts they have all the knowledge they need to accept Jesus as their Savior. Sometimes we prepare our children for so much "of this world": sports, education, music, arts and yet the one most important decision they will ever make we don't even equip them for. So many children do not have the knowledge to make the decision to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior or reject Him for the world.
Big Daddy continued our conversation with the stark reality that we will have to teach LJ about drugs and ways to say no. But the truth of the matter is, if LJ doesn't have a real connection with his dad all his words will fall on deaf ears because there will be no respect for what Big Daddy is saying. So I ask you today, who are your children's heros? Are they sports stars, singers, musicians, teachers, athletics or coaches. Do you have your child's heart in the palm of your hand protecting and molding it until they are ready to give it to Christ? As parents, we need to be the super hero in our child's eyes by the way we live our lives, not perfectly but living it out fully for Jesus Christ!!!!
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3 comments:
A huge Amen! Something we all must ask ourselves as parents. Great post!
(side note: Show us the tattoo!!!!).
So true that we indeed do need to teach our children & be the example for them to choose Jesus! And in today's society, that's really one hard thing to do. I pray we're all able to be our children's hero's as God would have us be!
Hugs & Prayers, HL
This is interesting... And you are right. The words will fall on deaf and frozen ears if there is no connection.
As homeschoolers living in the country, I've had no need to discuss drugs with our children, the oldest of whom is 11. But it's time we did. Thank you for the reminder.
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