We are all faced with great opportunities, but they are disguised as impossible situations
Tim Brooks
It was the first time Eva had been to a funeral, and it was graveside. I stayed back with Charlotte, who was a month old, and Eva walked underneath the tent with her daddy. The girl’s great-grandmother had gone home to be with Jesus.
On the drive home, many questions came racing in Eva’s mind. Questions her Daddy and I could not explain to a five-year-old. She asked, “How do we go to Heaven if our bodies are still here?” Chuck grinned, “I’ll let you take this one.” The more I tried explaining, the worse it got. Eva finally sighed and said, “Mommy, can we be done now.” Chuck remarked, “Nice job.” I rolled my eyes, glad that was over.
Charlotte will tell you at two years old, “God made me, and Jesus lives in my heart.” She will also let you know she has joy, joy, joy down in her heart and that she marches in the Lord’s army, followed by a very loud “YES, SIR” Salut. Eating at the supper table, Charlotte will stop you before you eat and say, “Pray first!”
She clearly cannot understand how Jesus can be so tiny to set up housekeeping in one’s heart and yet so big that he has the whole world in His hands. But that’s okay. We are establishing the beginnings of a beautiful foundation that will follow her for the rest of her life.
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The teaching of Biblical principles that we root in our children through the week will show up as they grow, not on Sunday alone. An hour on Sunday will not even get our children through Noah’s ark. But it will change their lives as you live it out in the home. When they see the rain come and learn to trust God through the storm, the Bible stories become concepts fashioned and rules laid out plainly.
And he said, “How will I know unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. Acts 8:31
Telling the girls about Jesus healing Jarius’s little girl in Mark 5:21, I told how his daughter died. Yet, Jesus looked at Jarius and said, “Don’t be afraid, only believe.” Jesus goes back to Jarius’s house and raises the little girl from the dead. Eva and Charlotte listened intently as I expounded on the story. Then, as if contemplating the impossible, Eva said, “Mom, how? How did Jesus do that?”
I smiled and declared, “Because He is the One who walks on the water. He is the one who hung the stars and puts the sparkle in Charlotte’s eyes. He is the one who makes your heart so tender, Eva. He is the one who showed up in a den of lions and shut their mouths so that Daniel was unharmed. He appeared in the fiery furnace, and not even the smell of smoke singed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And He is the same Jesus that shows up when I need Him.” The girls cheered as their excitement mounted! Although our conversation did not happen in church, it was rooted in knowledge and teachings found within the church.
I find it most profound that Goliath never pulled his sword on David. It was still in the sheath when David killed him, and Goliath never saw it coming. David wasn’t trying to kill Goliath with his stones; he needed only to knock him down to size. He had a sword on his side that could do the rest.
The enemy may laugh at me, thinking he has the advantage, except experience in the trenches has taught me how to fire my weapon. This is how we slay the giant and win for our families—one story at a time.
I knew a lady who had gone to church all her life but didn’t know the power of the Gospel. As she was exposed, she commented, “I knew I could read the Bible, but I didn’t know I could learn like this.” It was a tender moment.
Let’s teach them young, that they may grow up to be giant slayers.
This past Easter, I purchased an egg set that contains one piece of the Easter story per egg. We would open one egg each morning and tell that part of the story. Eva and Charlotte were very disappointed when they opened the last egg, which was empty. Chuck, in his matter-of-fact way, told them it had to be empty because Jesus was alive. I leaned in to expound in full color, “Oh girls, this is the most precious egg of all.” If this egg weren’t empty, every story, every trip to church, and every prayer we have ever prayed would all be in vain. That egg represents an empty tomb! We serve a risen Savior who is alive and well today! They looked at me with wide eyes and delighted countenances.
Many think they don’t have to attend church to be a Christian. They are right. However, Christians are commanded not to forsake the assembly of themselves together. Which happens at church. It is where the week gets a good cleaning, and we continue to learn, serve, and give. It is where I become better. I cannot recall every sermon preached but I see the results over time in my life. And I know how a pew can impact a person’s life, not just on Sunday, but every day.
Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as is the manner of some…” Hebrews 10:25
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