For My Children

I am so sad that my children will struggle to find a healthy church.  I know that we are struggling ourselves, and now I think it will be nearly impossible for our kids when they grow up.  I also feel so sad for them that my husband and I were not trained in theology and Biblical knowledge growing up.  My parents were not Chrsitians, I lived with different family members and then finally settled in with my father and step mom.  I went to whatever church I could get to, mostly on my own.  My husband’s parents are Christians now, but growing up were functionally not so.  He was allowed to stay home from church with his father.  He doesn’t have skills at all in teaching, and so really doesn’t teach much to his children.  Several times I had hoped he would have a night where he taught bible study time, or maybe he’d find a way to challenge the kids by teaching.  Truth is, we’re both doing more for our kids than we got.  However, I think this is not enough.  I do read to my kids often from the Bible directly, have encouraged them to read it on their own.  My oldest has read through the entire Bible I believe twice (he’s 12) from cover to cover.  I bribed him 25c a book.  My 10 year old has read straight through many books of the Bible, and even my 8 year old got to Leviticus on an attempt to read the Bible straight through.  We encourage scripture memory, and take the kids to Awana for now (until something better comes along).  We pray before putting the kids to bed as a family, each one says their own prayer.  We try to model prayer for them, and we pray at meal time.  They know why we left our former church, and the older ones understand it’s doctrine. 

With what we do, I still fear we’re missing the mark with our kids.  We need to teach more.  We also need to figure out who to challenge them to read.  What pastors and authors are not just pop Christian feel good types but actually will help keep my kids on the right path with a focus on Christ?  I need to study up!

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P is for Power

“Great is our Lord and mighty in power…”  is from Psalm 147:5.  This is a verse my five year old is learning through the Awana program.  My older children have all gone through this program, and have had to learn each verse for the Sparks code.  P is for power, and this verse fits.  However, is it a dumbing down, though the verse does speak of God’s mighty power? 

Here’s the “old” verse for P.  “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes…” Romans 1:16. 

I have this version memorized due to the times I worked with them on the verse and listened to the music.  What I notice about this little change (the rest of the code is the same) is that it speaks of the gospel.  This gospel of Christ is His good news, and taking this verse out certainly seems odd.  I realize it’s a longer verse, and they’re trying to make the verses easier.  Sadly, in making things easier, we’re missing out on some of the message they were getting.  In fact, it’s quite frustrating to me.  Our kids did struggle because I am so busy I don’t work with the younger ones as much as I did, however, even getting what we did (which was all of the verses in SPARKS…but not always all the activities), I found it to be a great way to get the Word in.  I hope my little ones don’t miss out on John 1:1-4 and Psalm 23.  I will just have to pull out the old Sparks tapes. 

I have been working harder to read the Bible out loud in my home.  We read Proverbs during the school day, since there are 31 we can have one chapter each day of the month.  I want to read through many books.  My struggle is the older/younger combination.  We were given an easier version of the NIV, but I am so uncomfortable with it and find it dissatisfying to read.  My oldest actually likes the KJV, but the younger ones are so lost listening to that.  I generally read NASB or NIV.  Not sure what version is best for the family.  I want to keep the Word of God in our daily life.  I also want to teach it correctly so that when they hear error, they will know it.

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