There is a lot happening now. The world is in a bit of turmoil. The United States is under attack throughout the middle east, the Mediterranean, and in parts of Europe. If you have young kids they will be mostly unaware, but if your kids are in school, they will be increasingly aware of what is going on and, depending on their personality, will possibly respond in fear, I know I did.
In the late 50's and early 60's the cold war was extremely hot. The Cuban missile crisis was all over the news, Sputnik was pinging away reminding us of our inferiority to the USSR. There was talk of the need to build bomb and fallout shelters in our back yards and we had drills at school so we would know what to do in case of a nuclear attack, it would not have helped much.
I remember a conversation with my parents in the kitchen about the need to have a fallout shelter so we could live. Dad and mom said we did not need one. I was convinced we did and was sure that I was going to die in a nuclear explosion.
At that time we were going to church, but that church had no Biblical foundation. Our family, while engaged in that community, did not have the benefit of strong Christian leadership. The result was that I was not processing what was happening in the world through anything like what one would consider a Biblical world view. I had no conception of a God that was involved in what I was hearing daily, no notion of a way to trust in His ability or desire to engage in the mess that was the World then. My dad was less than ten years removed from coming back from the war to end all wars, he was focused on trying to insulate our family from the financial challenges he had experienced growing up through the depression. He was doing what he knew to be right, engaging in a church, the problem was the church.
My suspicion is that some of your kids are worried and scared like I was then. They need to know that even though it looks messy, God is still engaged. Psalm 75:3 says that though the world is tottering (that is the alternate translation of melt), God is the one who set and is tending the foundation. Our kids, we, need to know and process all that is going on right now through the lens of the reality that it is God's story. He is in control and we can trust and rest in Him during all of this turmoil. Do not delegate that message to your kids to someone else. They need to hear it from you and see it working in your life.
Encourage yourself and your kids in the Lord.
I remember a conversation with my parents in the kitchen about the need to have a fallout shelter so we could live. Dad and mom said we did not need one. I was convinced we did and was sure that I was going to die in a nuclear explosion.
At that time we were going to church, but that church had no Biblical foundation. Our family, while engaged in that community, did not have the benefit of strong Christian leadership. The result was that I was not processing what was happening in the world through anything like what one would consider a Biblical world view. I had no conception of a God that was involved in what I was hearing daily, no notion of a way to trust in His ability or desire to engage in the mess that was the World then. My dad was less than ten years removed from coming back from the war to end all wars, he was focused on trying to insulate our family from the financial challenges he had experienced growing up through the depression. He was doing what he knew to be right, engaging in a church, the problem was the church.
My suspicion is that some of your kids are worried and scared like I was then. They need to know that even though it looks messy, God is still engaged. Psalm 75:3 says that though the world is tottering (that is the alternate translation of melt), God is the one who set and is tending the foundation. Our kids, we, need to know and process all that is going on right now through the lens of the reality that it is God's story. He is in control and we can trust and rest in Him during all of this turmoil. Do not delegate that message to your kids to someone else. They need to hear it from you and see it working in your life.
Encourage yourself and your kids in the Lord.
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