This afternoon the fourth of my four kids graduated from college. It is not the finish line - I guess it is a split, or a transition in a tri... - for my wife and I but it was a huge milestone for us. The kids have been leaving home since 1999, this summer when the youngest married, was more accurately the end but today really seemed like the final push.
We have been married 35 years. For 32 of those years we have had a kid in the house. The transition to all of them leaving started 14 years ago, they came faster than they left.
When the oldest enrolled in college 14 years ago he had to be ready spiritually for what he found there. Same with our daughter and middle son 3 and 4 years later. When we drove away from the dorm they were going to have to stand on their own faith not ours; same with Brian 4 years later.
By God’s grace they all did. Standing up to all of the temptations that they faced at the schools they attended. Our job as parents is to prep our kids for the world they will encounter when they leave the “safety” of our homes. It is not an easy task. It is resisted. It is deemed unnecessary by the world.
It is an assignment that God has clearly given us, especially us dads. Deuteronomy 6:6 – 7, 20 is directed at fathers, not mothers. Mothers are critically important. But the assignment was made to the dads. Too many of us have delegated the spiritual development of our kids to their moms. That is not what God directed through Moses.
This Christian parent thing is a team sport. It takes both of us. But as men, we are supposed to lead.
By God’s grace my wife and I cleared this part of the race today.
When the oldest enrolled in college 14 years ago he had to be ready spiritually for what he found there. Same with our daughter and middle son 3 and 4 years later. When we drove away from the dorm they were going to have to stand on their own faith not ours; same with Brian 4 years later.
By God’s grace they all did. Standing up to all of the temptations that they faced at the schools they attended. Our job as parents is to prep our kids for the world they will encounter when they leave the “safety” of our homes. It is not an easy task. It is resisted. It is deemed unnecessary by the world.
It is an assignment that God has clearly given us, especially us dads. Deuteronomy 6:6 – 7, 20 is directed at fathers, not mothers. Mothers are critically important. But the assignment was made to the dads. Too many of us have delegated the spiritual development of our kids to their moms. That is not what God directed through Moses.
This Christian parent thing is a team sport. It takes both of us. But as men, we are supposed to lead.
By God’s grace my wife and I cleared this part of the race today.
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