BACK TO SCHOOL
/BACK TO SCHOOL
For some school has already begun and for others like myself it will start the day after Labor Day. I have never been comfortable starting school before that last summer holiday. Tradition is hard to break. But this has nothing to do with what is on mind today. School is on my mind right now as I prepare to begin another year teaching high school students what God is all about and how to have a relationship with Him. Really though the issue of when school starts is nowhere to be found in the deep crevices of my little grey cells.
If you are a Christian then you and I need to have a talk. If you are not a Christian then go take a siesta because none of this will make any sense to you. By the time the average kid graduates from high school they will have spent roughly 11,963 hours in school. (This is just an average compiled from several different studies I looked at.) This does not include homework, which if included would kick this number up considerably.
Once your kid graduates from high school they may get married, go to college, get a job or just bum around several years doing nothing more than making themselves an irritation to their parents. This is the life cycle of most kids.
If a kid is raised in an average Christian home where mom and dad go to church once a week those kids will spend 624 hours receiving some sort of Christian education by the time they graduate from high school. Minus a few weeks missed every year due to family vacations the amount drops to 588 hours. But lets say your kid belongs to a youth group during their middle school and high school years. This can bring the number up to an estimated 1,392 hours of Christian education. I think I am beginning to see a problem here.
11,963 hours in an environment primarily concerned with teaching a kid things they need to know in order to function and get a job in a world cursed by God and run by self-centered sinners. We counteract this with 1,392 hours of Christian education on such things as Samson killing a bunch of Philistines with the jaw of a donkey, (of an ass if you learn that story in high school) David killing the giant Goliath with a sling, Noah building a boat to save his family and all the animals, Jesus being born in a manger, Jesus being crucified on a cross, Jesus raising from the grave, Paul traveling all over the place and getting beat up every where he went. You get the picture. I don’t need to list everything your kids will learn during their 1,392 hours. But it is overwhelmingly insufficient considering the amount of secular schooling we give our kids concerning things they need to know in order to get a job.
In a family that cares about such things a kid in high school will graduate with at least an understanding of Algebra 1 and 2, Geometry, a year of Pre-Calculus and/or Physics. But they won’t know a hill of beans about how to live the Christian life in a world that wants to chew them up and spit them out. Does anyone else see this as a problem? I am not picking on secular education. The main issue here is how little training we give our kids concerning God and their relationship with Him before we send them out on their own.
Mom and dad, this is really your problem so pay attention here for a couple more moments. I wish churches were more involved in helping parents with this problem. I have seen some churches do a lot more than others in regards to this but far too many offer very little help. When all is said and done, parents, this is on your shoulders and rightfully so. God says children are a gift from Him and this is one parent who thinks we need to do a much better job at taking care of the wonderful gifts God gives us.
Here are my suggestion as I look back at child rearing from a grandfather’s perspective. Stop being so focused on your careers, your houses, your cars, your clothes, your hobbies and whatever else takes time away from interacting with your kids in real life. You only have the ability to influence them for a short amount of time so be wordly on your own time – after your kids have grown up and left home. While your kids are under your roof and influence, start doing all you can to learn what God says about relating to Him and teach it to your kids. Teach it to them in everyday life where it really matters. When they are playing, when they are doing chores, when they are eating, when they are mad and fighting with their siblings, when they are bored, when they can’t find anything to wear, when they have to do homework, when they don’t respect you, when they want to go on a date, and when they learn how to drive a car. It is during these situations and a whole lot more that their relationship with God needs to be developed. They are not going to learn how to do this from anyone else. They will either learn from you when they are your children and still growing up, or they will find themselves thrown to the wolves of life when they are an adult and have to learn the hard way like you and I had to do.
This is not my idea. I could never be that smart. This is God’s way. Look what He says in Deuteronomy 6:4-9, “Hear, O Israel! The LORD is one! You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead, You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”
That about sums all this up. One last thing though. You can’t teach children how to do something you don’t know how to do yourself. Rather than wait until your old and grey and have finally learned how to have an intimate relationship with God. Put the time in now and help your kids learn as you learn. Do it together. I know it’s humbling but God loves a humble heart and your kids will find it much easier to learn something you are working on and learning yourself. Now, go educate your kids as a true gift from God!
See you soon.