Check back soon
Once posts are published, you’ll see them here.
I recently read a powerful story regarding encouragement for parenting which I believe has a broader application.
Baseball star [Cal] Ripken searches for parenting tips. He says the sagest advice he ever received about dadhood came not from the usual child development experts but a former Orioles teammate named Tim Hulett, whom Ripken regards as "the best dad I've ever known."
In one clubhouse conversation still etched in his memory, Ripken recalls Hulett observing, "Your little ones are a blank tape, constantly running and recording information. Whose information do you want on that tape? Yours or somebody else's?"
[Ripkin's] ice-blue eyes locked in. "I want my information on that tape."
For any parent or grandparent who loves their little ones and desires to honor the Lord there certainly exists a desire to implant the most important information upon them. In an age in which the accessibility of information has never been greater, the search for wisdom can be difficult. Our children really are like sponges who are constantly soaking in the information which swirls about them through endless sources. While many of the sources from which they hear will not lead them to truth, all hope is not lost for them to follow in the right path. Solomon writes, “Wisdom cries aloud in the street, in the markets she raises her voice; at the head of the noisy streets she cries out; at the entrance of the city gates she speaks” (Proverbs 1:20-21). God’s truth still rings out through His Word. Parents, grandparents, and all of us have the opportunity to saturate the children around us with the truth of God’s Word.
Even as I write this article, our building is resounding with the sound of children who have participated in Vacation Bible School all week. For five nights, more than one hundred young people gathered each evening as dozens of adults helped in the teaching of God’s Word through various means. Through Bible stories, music, games, crafts, and even food, countless children in our community were inundated with the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. What impact will this make on our community? How will lives be changed for all eternity because of our investment? Only time will tell, but what a story it will be in eternity! Thanks so much to Tina Spires and Bea Nichols, along with many others, who led this important ministry. We have been reminded again this week of the opportunity and responsibility that has been laid before our church to reach this generation and community for Christ. May we continue to invest the most valuable of our resources so that the right information…the gospel of Jesus Christ…is stamped upon the hearts of our children!
Anticipating a great hope,
Jason