"Still Growing"

                                            
"I have hid your words in my heart, so that I may not sin against you."  Psalm 119:11

The other morning I was shaving and my seven year old, Chandler, was watching me intently.  He said, "Dad, I am going to have to start shaving pretty soon because I am growing up fast and I already have some hair on my face."  I told him I knew that he was growing up quickly.  He was very excited about the reality of his maturing and the pontential of facial hair.  Of course, I was thinking to myself, shaving every day is not all that young men think it is.  But that thought was overshadowed by the concern of not wanting to see my little man grow up too quickly.  I wanted to tell him that growing  up is a process and that he won't be shaving a soon as he thinks  but I chose to let his boyhood fantasizing continue.

Why is it that when we are young we wish we could grow up faster and when we are older we desire to find a way to make time slow down so we can grow slower, (perhaps in more ways than one)? 

As I thought about the conversation with my youngest son, I thought about how true that this is with our Christian growth.  Sometimes it seems that we forget growing up in the things of Christ is a process.  None of us experience instant maturity, although many of us think that we would like too.  God uses everything in our lives to contribute to our growing up in Him.  Circumstances that we would wish to avoid.  People that rub us wrong.  Set backs and struggles.  Schools, jobs, churches, athletics, the arts, even our hobbies and extra curricular activities can all contribute to our growth as followers of Christ.

As I continue to mature in the Lord I am continually asking God to help me to not despise the process.  Sometimes I would wish for instant maturity, but it never works that way!!  There are some things that we learn by experience.  Some things we learn through books and studies about God's Word.  We learn from other followers of Christ.  We learn in small groups, in large groups and even when we are all alone.  We are continually learning as children of God. 

  

I don't know how soon Chandler will actually be shaving because everyone's growth is different.  To me, the important thing is not WHEN will Chandler shave, but the understanding that someday HE WILL be shaving.  With that in mind, let me encourage all of us that it is not so important how fast we grow in the Lord, but the importance that we ALL should be growing!  Let me close this blog with a couple of questions:  What are you doing, intentionally, to contribute to your growth in the Lord today?  What are you doing to grow in the things of the Lord as fathers and sons?

ACTIVITY FOR THE WEEK:

Find a book to read together that will help you to grow in your understanding of God.   A book that I have been reading with my boys is by C.J. Mahaney and is entitled "The Cross Centered Life".  It is an easy read and is helping us all to grow closer together and closer to God.   All of three of my boys and myself are enjoying the readings. 

"Fathers on the Floor"

       "The Spirit Himself witnesses with our spirit that we are children of God."  Galatians 8:16

My youngest son Chandler doesn't care much for sports.  His brothers play just about every sport available to them, but Chandler has only tried a few.  A couple of months ago he decided to play a sport that neither one of my other sons had ever played, floor hockey.  He was very excited about the opportunity to play something different and I believe that somehow he hoped to identify himself a little more through it. 

I was able to attend his first game and he played hard.  It is not an easy sport to play and Chandler put forth a tremendous effort.  That evening we complimented him on how well he had done just as we normally do.  I wasn't expecting what happend in the early morning hours of the next day.  Chandler woke me at four A.M. the next morning as he crawled into be with Jan and I.  I looked at him and he seemed to be wide awake.  He asked "Dad, did you like how I played last night?"   Now I don't know what you are thinking about at four o'clock in the morning, but I was visiting intensely with Mr. Sand Man and in no condition to respond responsibly.  Chandler's question, however, pulled me out of my slumber.

I really believe that at that moment my son and I had a divine encounter with our Heavenly Father.  I responded to Chandler, "I thought you played great tonight son, but what made me the most proud was the fact that you are my son!  I was just proud to see you out on the floor, playing in the game!"  (I know that had to be the Holy Spirit, because that would not be my normal response so early in the morning.)  Chandler smiled a great smile and then contently snuggled up close to me and drifted back to sleep.

In that moment however, I felt God speak to my heart words that I needed to hear.  I had been walking through a period of time in my life where I was feeling like a total failure.  I felt inadequate as a husband, a father, a minister and even as a follower of Christ.  I felt as though I had disappointed many in my sphere of influence, but it was my wife and my children that were of the most concern to me.  I took some radical steps to try and get some things figured out and attempted to find my focus again.  It was in the stillness of the early hours that morning that I felt God reassure me that He, my Heavenly Father, was pleased with me.  Not because of how I was 'performing' my responsibilities, rather, He was proud of me simply because I am His son and I am "on the floor", playing in the game!  I felt my Father so close it was if He was snuggled up close to me. 

Wow!  I needed to hear those words of life and to feel his presence near.   I began to think differently at four A.M.  I began to understand that my life is not about trying to make God proud of me!  He's already proud of me because I belong to Him!  My Father is pleased with me because I am on the floor, I'm in the game,  not based on my performance!

What about you?  Are you feeling like you have been failing as a father?  As a son?  Do you feel as though you are not 'performing' well enough to please your Heavenly Father?  Today, REST in the reality that those who have committed their lives to being a follower of Christ, belong to Him.  We are His sons!  He is proud of His children, every one of us!!  Not because we 'play' the game well, but simply because we are on the floor!!!!

ACTIVITY FOR  THE WEEK:

Go have a special date together and share with each other how much you mean to one another and how proud you are of them just because!