I said, "No, think about this," and I went through the process with him. And then I said, "You know, this is just one of millions of these things that we work with every day, that we depend on every day, that make our life what it is every day that came out of the mind of God. How amazing is that?" And as sort of a joke I said, "If God hadn't made yeast, all of life would be a cracker." He said, "Wow, Dad, that's deep," and walked off. You see, [and prayed for his dad] being a theological community – parents, get this – is not making irritated, sort of self-righteous little sermons to your kids. That doesn't attract those children to you or to God. It doesn't mean using God as the ultimate club. You know, often, the only time we get God out in our families is when our children aren't behaving well and we want to instill some kind of fear in them, so we say something like this. "You know, God's watching right now and He could crush you like a bug." That just makes your child's heart run after God. Isaiah says – I quoted it a minute ago – "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. The whole world is filled with His glory." Luella, my wife and I were in Switzerland. We were at the top of Klausen Pass, some 10-11,000 feet. It was summer, but there was glacier-like conditions up there. And we went to walk across the road to see a marker. And as we looked down at this, I looked down at the base of the mark, it was all ice, there were growing these yellow Arctic flowers. Now, Arctic flower is an oxymoron to me, but there is such a thing. And I realized I could reach down and I could press these blossoms with my fingers and destroy them, but somehow they had pushed their way through the ice and they were blooming in this yellow glory reflecting against the ice. I was transfixed. Luella slid up next to me and I said to her, "Do you know what I'm thinking?" She says, "I know exactly what you're thinking. Who, but our God, could create such a thing?" Here's your job. Parents, get this. Your job is to give awe to your child. Your child is hard-wired to live in awe of something greater than himself. I am terrified of teenagers whose biggest awe is them. And I'm supposed to live than wonder. I'm supposed to be blown away. I'm supposed to be in almost a trembling fear of the grandeur and glory and wisdom and power of this God who I've had pointed to me all the time. Moms, how can you fry an egg without worship? I'm serious. Think about what that thing is. Boil water. Look out at your garden. Watch the power of a rainstorm come in and bend and twist the trees. Hear sounds that your ears are able to process and your brain is able to make sense of, and somebody can say something to you that's deeply meaningful and tears come in your eyes. What an amazing thing! How's that happen? Literally, living with you ought to be, "God, God, God, God, God, God, God, God, God, God, God, God, God, God, God, God, God, God, God, God, I'm blown away." Listen, being in a theological community means I get from [inaudible] to God and back 50 times a day, and developing in my child is this awe of God, this wonder at His wisdom and His glory and His faithfulness. Now I'm about to hurt your feelings. There are many of you in this room who aren't doing that because you look at your world and you don't see God. You see a busy schedule. You see laundry that needs to be done. You see bills that need to be paid. You see the messy chaos of the family, but you don't see God. Parents, hear this. Here's what's always true in parenting. You can't give away that which you do not have. And there are parents in this room, you literally ought to get home tonight, get alone and say, "God, please open my eyes. I'm blind to you and because I'm blind to you, I'm not giving awe and wonder to my child.” Listen, a human being who does not live in awe of God is a profoundly disadvantaged human being. SESSION 2 Now, why is this so important? Why is this giving this wonder, giving this awe, giving this recognition of God so important? Well, there're three things that you need to know about your children. First, they were created
Transcript: Session 2
GETTING TO THE HEART OF PARENTING
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