As I have become a father over the past two years, I have seen the world change and evolve before my eyes. One of the things I have begun to see more clearly is the lack of control we really have.

Many parents cling to the words of the proverb: ⁶ Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it. (Prov 22:6). It is important for me to be reminded that this is not a direct promise to me, the reader, but it does naturally reflect the truths and wisdom of God. I cannot control the future of my child. I must trust the plans of God that he will hold them safely in his hands. This is a proverb of wisdom, not a promise to Abram.

Yet, when wisdom is displayed, the proverb has great vitality.

This is not to say that when children leave and become lost like the prodigal son, it's the fault of the parent. That ought to be clear. We can model righteousness, and children can eventually choose their own path.

I saw this during my reading today in the story of King Hezekiah. A righteous king, Hezekiah, was committed to the ways of the Lord. Even when generations of previous kings failed to remove the altars of false gods from the land, Hezekiah tore them down. Yet, his son, Manasseh, abandoned his ways and did evil in the sight of the Lord.

Here lies the painful and messy reality of life. There is an unseen reality that plagues the people of God—we must carefully model righteousness for our children, teaching and guiding them in the ways of the Lord, but in the end, we do not control their path.

I fear many parents default to two extremes of practice. They control every aspect of their child’s life with the strictest and most oppressive spirituality, attempting to decimate any form of ungodliness, or they allow the child to make their own decisions, all the while quietly and passively portraying their own faith.

There must be a wise and balanced approach. We must be able to confidently, lovingly, and with the boldness of the Holy Spirit model the path of righteousness and the wisdom of God for our children, all the while trusting that the lives of our children are in God’s hands, not our own.

Training up our children in the ways of God is an active endeavor, but it is not merely about righteousness, but about wisdom—a constant seeking of the Holy Spirit in what we ought to do as parents in this ever-evolving world. The context of our world may drastically change, but the evil and root issues remain the same. We are in need of the Holy Spirit to reveal to us the ways in which we must walk.

May the Holy Spirit reveal truth to us today.

Most days, I see a specific father walk up to …

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Our attention spans are getting smaller…

This past week I have had conversations with multiple people about the limited attention span seemly cha…

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¹³ Blessed are those who find wisdom,
those who gain understanding,

¹⁴ for she is more profitable than silver
and yields better returns than gold.

¹⁵ She is more precious than rubies;
nothing you desire can compare with her.

¹⁶ Long life is in her right hand;
in her left hand are riches and honor.

¹⁷ Her ways are pleasant ways,
and all her paths are p…

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Now sixteen months ago, we almost overnight became parents.

Actually it was 3 days.

We found out about my now foster son on a Wednesday and was there at the hospital to visit him by Friday.

Rebecca and I both have a decades worth of experience with young children. Both of us helped foster (and adopt) infants, toddlers, children, and teenagers.

Compared to…

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I read an article about the over-sexualization of media and the dangers of social media. (DISCLAIMER: The author’s cover image is a scantily-clad woman. It is a screenshot of a post used to highlight the authors post but is revealing nonetheless.)

I have attached the article below. It is an insightful read about the dangers of …

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Every week, I visit some senior adults at an assisted living facility next-door to our church.

Usually, I prepare a devotion and lead that devotion with them every week. But this week, I decided to hear some of their favorite verses and stories from the Bible.

One of the ones that were shared was Romans chapter 8. Paul in Romans chapter 8 explains that th…

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Awhile back, my mother and I were talking about the changes that have happened in our culture and society over the past few years.

My mom was always super careful and wise as we grew up as young boys. She monitored and filtered what we saw on television, she vetted the places we went, and one of the most challenging things she did wa…

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Parents let’s just face it.

Life is not just black and white.

There are so many complex issues and conversations we will have to have with our children as they grow up.

As much as our Christian faith shows us what is right and wrong (so call it black and white), so often our morality is intertwined with people. The black and white be…

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Here are five things that hopefully will challenge and encourage you as a parent regarding prayer.

1. Prayer changes our family.

If we want to see our families get better, stronger, and healthier it comes from prayer.

We must pray for our children… our relationships… our weakness…

Prayer can and will help our families. Pray…

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Parents, I am just going to be blunt.

Our families are too busy.

My family has two boys under the age of 2 and we already run around like crazy. That is with no formal activities like sports or music.

Our families are too busy to follow Jesus well.

We pack our days so full that they never have time to rest, reflect or rea…

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As a new parent, helping children and students experience the goodness of faith in Jesus has become such a passion and burden.

In the modern church’s pursuit of excellence in production we have sought to create clean, perfect, and well-executed …

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Last week, Meta (the parent company for Facebook and Instagram) released a new app called Threads.

This app is similar to Twitter which features posts of short texts. If you remember when Twitter came out, it was famous for its limit of 144 characters.

In a few minutes, I outline some of the key things you need to know as a Christian Parent about this n…

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As a new parent, this publication has become increasingly more important to me.

It has left me with many thoughts and questions as I personally seek to become a good “Christian parent.”

One of the most important things I have been processing over the last few months is:

“What is the main priority I have as a Christian parent?”

What is my main goal as a pare…

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Being a parent requires learning.

Listening and talking with your student about the world they live in will help you understand with them in an essential way.

Here are some quick idea…

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Your “tribe” is now online

Parents, when you grew up your probably knew most of your neighbors. You played outside until it got dark. You biked your neighborhood. You knew all the kids on your block.

That is (generally) no longer the case.

We have now entered a society who has largely become consumed with the digital world.

Even though students have friend…

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I hinted at this point in my last post. If you haven’t seen it, check it out here 👉(The Main thing your student is watching online).

Over the past two decades we have invented a new word to designate how we access and find information, “google it.” Google has become the primary way we learn new information or answer our most random of questio…

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One of my favorite church leaders is Brady Shear of ProChurchTools (@BradyShear on all platforms).

He just came out with a video that informed churches that vertical style short videos (~under 3 minutes long) are the main style of content that people are engaging at the start of 2023.

Enter TikTok.

Maybe you don’t have TikTok. That’s ok. You ma…

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