Partners in Parenting, March 28, 2011

Protect Your Kids!

Last Wednesday, I drove to Cincinnati, Ohio for the Lutheran Education Association Convocation with three of our teachers.  Just about 20 miles north of Cincinnati, it began to rain as we entered into a storm.  I heard a few high pitched sounds on the windshield, and I began to wonder if it was hailing or just raining huge raindrops.  After going a few miles, it became obvious that it was hail.  Then, hail began to fall so hard that you couldn't hear anything inside the van.  It was absolutely deafening!!  I've enclosed a picture of what it looked like in about 20 seconds.  I took the picture in order to have proof of the hail in case there was some kind of damage to the van.  Thankfully, there was not.  Incredible experience!  I thought that evening about how we were protected inside the confines of that van.  I thought about having to stand in that hail storm and absorb the blows from each small piece of hail.  They were small, but the barrage would have been devastating.  I then thought about how parents have to protect their kids from the "barrages" of the culture in which they live.  Parents, do you protect your kids from inappropriate movies, TV shows, music, foods, drinks, and here's a huge one - THOUGHTS.  I know I do a better job of protecting my own children from all those things listed above, but it is the thoughts that infiltrate their mind that I seem to forget.  As parents, let's be vigilant in protecting our kids on all fronts!

Jesus prayed for his disciples protection against the world and Satan that they would be facing in the days ahead in John 17:14, 15:  "I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world.  My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one."  The van protected us on our trip to Cincinnati in a severe storm.  God protects us on our trip through life in the challenges of being His children.  Parents, protect your kids as God protects you.

Family Discussion Points!

Share a time of being in a storm.  Where did you go to seek cover?

Share some things in our culture that are not good for us (certain movies, video games, music, etc.)

Talk about God's protection in our lives through making good choices that are consistent with His word.  Also share His unending love when we make the wrong choices.