"Dad, can we read our Bible?"

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I almost fell out of my chair. Here we were, about to put our 6-year old to bed, and she looks at me with those tired, wide eyes, excited to read more stories from God's Word. Without hesitation or checking my watch, I said, "Absolutely."

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As soon-to-be parents, many of us probably took the time to prepare for our first child's entrance into the world. We bought a crib, mounds of diapers, stacks of clothes, took classes, watched videos, read books, and bought all of the useless things first time parents purchase at the baby stores. We are over-prepared. But you're about to take home a baby that is solely dependent on you! Who wouldn't do these things?! It isn't a beta fish, for crying out loud!

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We were VERY prepared for the stage when our child might be seeking answers to the question, "who loves me?"

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As our daughter has aged, I have found myself preparing less and less, and responding more and more. While this comes with their aging, we miss a great opportunity to prepare for the next stage of adolescence when our kids may start asking, "How does God love me?"

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Jesus made you and I to be disciple-makers in our own home. Did you know that? Our children are entrusted to us to be made into disciples of Jesus. Deuteronomy 6:4-6 says this:

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"And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, 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."

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Disciples in Jesus' time were literal mimics to Jesus' every move. Our children are sponges in our homes. Are your children absorbing the right things? How prepared are you for the stage when your child may start asking, "How does God love me?". If your child is beyond that phase, what can you do to prepare yourself for their next phase? 

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Parents are the disciple-makers in their home. If our children are to look like Jesus, they need us to look like Jesus first. Start today preparing your mind and heart for the things your child needs to see and hear. Just maybe, you might find that the questions your child has about God are answered by observing their own parents.

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Blessings!

-Pastor Austin