Can I Be Sure?

How can we ever really be sure of anything? If you can't hold it in your hand, see it, taste it, smell it... somehow physically prove it... how do you ever really know?

Take for instance your spouse. Do you know what your spouse does when you're not with them? No, you don't.

What about the gas gauge in your car? Do you know for sure that it's accurate? Nope. Much like your spouse, you just trust that it's telling you the truth.

Now the biggie... what about God? How do we know He's really there? Can we prove it?

That question is actually going to be left for another day. This blog is about our kids. How do we know that we have done not just an adequate job, but a GOOD job of raising them before sending them off into the world? How do we know we've prepared them?

Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.
~Proverbs 22:6

Both my boys were baptized shortly after they were born. We promised before God and the church to raise them in Christian homes, teaching them about God and His Word. The same minister at my home church in Florida baptized them both. Since they are 7 years apart, much had changed since the eldest was born. Our minister, Fred, had just retired when we asked him to baptize our youngest son, and as a favor to our family he said "of course" he would!

When we lived in North Carolina we attended a wonderful church that baptized by submersion. We were at a point in our lives when our entire family was renewing our faith and becoming much closer to God. We spoke with our pastor and decided to be baptized again as a family. It was a wonderful experience! Our youngest, who was then a very intelligent 5 year old, fully understood that he was committing his life to the Lord and proclaimed his love for Jesus as he was dunked in the river. It brought tears to my eyes! Our oldest was 12, and all of him was baptized except his broken right arm which stayed above water in a cast and plastic bag.

Children make mistakes. It's very hard for me to reconcile the fact that my teenager has choices, and the choices he makes, good or bad, are his alone, and at this point do not reflect upon my parenting directly. He has been raised with values and morals, in a Christian home with a solid upbringing. I don't always agree with his choices, but I guess that's a given. At one point both of his ears were pierced and he was wearing his hair longer than I would have liked. In the past he has dated a few young ladies that I found rather questionable. Could I have kept him from piercing his ears? Sure! I was actually the one who took him to do it. Could I have cut his hair shorter? Absolutely! In the big picture, there are much more important things! He doesn't drink, he doesn't smoke, and he doesn't do drugs... and that is WAY more important than a couple of earrings and long hair.

Still, sometimes his decisions leave me scratching my head. Where did I go wrong? That's just it though, I didn't. This isn't about ME. This is about HIM, and HIS life... and the decisions that HE makes for HIS life. I have done what I was supposed to do. I taught him right from wrong, took him to church, he knows what God expects of him, he knows what we expect of him and he knows that he has a choice to make- it's up to him to choose right or wrong. What he does with that is completely up to him.

In eight (very short) months he could be off to college and making all of his own decisions. Most of the time he makes sound judgment calls... but how do I know that will be the case when he is not at home? Can I be sure he has what he needs to go out into the world and make it on his own?

It all falls back to FAITH. I have to have faith in the job we have done as his parents, faith in the Lord to keep a strong hand on him while he navigates his life, and faith that he will remember he can always turn to us if he needs help finding his way. FAITH.

Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates. ~Deuteronomy 11:18-20

Even when you can hold something in your hand you can be deceived. You can kiss the lips of a snake believing it's a prince. Poison may taste and smell sweet, but it's still a poison. A "friend" may not be a friend after all. The devil will try to beguile us, do not give him the pleasure! His methods are meant to make you doubt. Do not allow him into your head! We have to have faith in ourselves and in our God. He will see us through.  

I feel that we have done our best as parents to instill morals and values in our children, to set good examples for them and try to set them on a good path. Have we made mistakes? Of course! Hopefully we've learned from them and used them as examples, so our children can use them as examples with their children. We only want each generation to be better and have more than the last. 

We pray for their future, we hope we've done enough to prepare them, and live with the faith that the Lord will guide them and the certainty that He will ALWAYS be with them. God gave them as precious gifts to us, and we raise them to glory and honor Him. As children we taught them the song "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so...". Jesus DOES love us, and would do anything for us, even die for us. We can always be sure of that.