train up a child in the way he should go

Summer vacation with my youngest stepson recently came to an end. For months, I've prayed that God would show up for both his brother and him. I prayed that they would encounter God in a real and personal way. I prayed that, when he came to visit, Alan and I would point him to Christ and align us with God's will in his life.

Parents have such a great (read: huge and fantastic) responsibility when it comes to teaching their children about God. Who God is. Who we are in relation to God. What Christ did. How we respond to all of that.

I didn't realize that until recently. How amazing (read: fearful and awesome) would it be to have that responsibility every day for 18 (or more) years! And on that note, parents, I pray over you ever more fervently, that you would seek God first and allow His will to work in your families.

I found myself questioning where we spent our time. How we spent our time. What movies we watched. What we talked about. I began to realize on a deeply personal level that every single moment is an opportunity to share the Gospel. Every single moment is an opportunity to display Christ.

This is real. This is impactful.

We spent the first week of vacation at Camp Eagle. I got teary when one of the youth leaders told me that she could see that God was working on my youngest stepson. When we returned from camp, we introduced him to family devotionals and explained why we read the Bible.

He asked us about baptism; we explained it and he said he wanted to baptized. Alan told him that he had been baptized a few years ago. He said that he didn't understand it, then. But he understood it now and he wanted to be baptized. So one of our friends, a chaplain, talked to him about baptism.

We had a picnic at a nearby lake with some friends and the chaplain baptized him in living waters.

He started asking me not to open the car door for a few extra minutes when a song that he liked played on K-Love and we were already parked.

The daily things pointed the way to bigger, inside things. May I never overlook the daily for the epic. May I never ask for signs and miracles and ignore the rabbi in front of me, ministering in ways that don't fit neatly meet my expectations.

Saying see-you-later was bittersweet. Because, first of all, I just don't like saying see-you-later to loved ones. But, I also worried if he had a "good enough" foundation. (I don't actually know how to quantify what a "good enough" foundation would be, now that I think of it.) And I was also proud to see how he had begun turning toward God and I knew, deep down inside, that God didn't need either Alan or me in order to accomplish his work in this young man.

He's halfway across the country again. The house is quiet. The dogs are bored. There are well over a thousand miles between us now, but we both know a God who is greater than any distance.

I recently looked up verses about God being close and texted this one to him: The LORD your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing. -Zephaniah 3:17