Our 11 year-old son Julian has been away at a summer camp down in NC for a whole month. He’ll be back at the end of this week. This is the longest he’s ever been away from home. His mother and I miss him but he seems to be having a great time so that’s good. He’s been writing letters a couple times a week. He has my decidedly bad handwriting scrawl and instead of writing “Dear Mom and Dad” he addresses us in the letter as “Parents” but it’s cute to see him describe his experiences. He’s having a blast amen to that.
At first I was worried about him going down there: whether he’d make new friends, whether mean kids would pick on him, whether he’d get homesick, whether he’d be safe, whether he’d make good decisions and not buckle under peer pressure. He’s an only child and perhaps because of this we’ve noticed he’s had difficulty in the past interacting with kids his own age. Kids acting silly like, well, kids sometimes frustrates him into having little meltdowns. But he’s got to be able to grow in those difficult situations. We can’t and shouldn’t interfere by trying to shield or protect him from every little thing that comes along.
We’re not done raising him he’s still just a boy. But this time apart is just a glimpse of when the day comes where our role as parents will naturally diminish and he’ll want to be his own man, left to find his own way in life according to his judgment and decisions he makes. So we try to raise him as best we can to respect himself and others and get along, to love and fear the Lord and make decisions reflecting as much. The rest we leave to God.
What occurred to me is that this journey is similar to our experience as Christians. As Christian parents or in a given ministry leadership role such as Sunday school teachers or oikos leaders, God has placed certain people in our care to shepherd them through their faith journey. To be a small part of someone coming to Faith for the first time is a beautiful thing. But there are many forces of this world that seek to undermine, discourage and distract them from their faith journey. We worry and fret over their well-being and want them to experience nothing but God’s love. But as we are all children of God and the whole world is under the control of the evil one we realize we cannot protect them from every dimension of spiritual battle. We are used by God to do His good work but at the end of the day we accept that their lives are in God’s hands.
There is a second part of the title verse of this column. When Jesus sent out his disciples in Matthew 10 as “sheep among wolves” to preach the good news he also cautioned them to be as “shrewd as snakes and innocent as doves.” I get the innocent part as being pure and Christ-like, but to be shrewd suggests there is a level of wisdom and discernment born over time and experience. His disciples were wise to the world but no longer of it. Perhaps the trials and tribulation one endures seeking Christ are part and parcel of the cross we bear daily. Amen to that.
From Pastor Mark’s Heart
August 9, 2015