< Continued from page 3
Kim: You know, you watch them grow and even as early as when they take those first steps, you watch and you know that they're going to fall down and bonk something, but you've got to let them go. As they get older, and you know that they're going to do something that will be to their detriment, much like God lets us go our own way, even when He knows that we're going to fall flat on our faces, we have to let them find their own way to an extent.
Joel: I've learned a lot about having to let go.
I'm a control freak ...oh man ... I mean I am the poster child for control freak. I've always been driven and had a plan. Always trying to protect everything. Having her is like ... there's so many things that are out of your control. I don't want to get too sad or anything, but I heard about that girl getting kidnapped in Florida at the mall and everything inside of me swelled up with anger and fury. I don't think any story has ever made me that angry except maybe September 11th. How could anyone do that? I don't even want her to go outside now. But you can't live like that. She's got to grow up and experience life; experience all the things in life. It's totally up to God to protect her because you can't protect your child everywhere. It's a total area of trust that I've had to develop. I've had to learn how to trust God with all of that. I remember when she was about three months old and I was cutting her fingernails. I was totally scared to do it first of all. I was trying to be as careful and deliberate as I could be.
I got to about the third fingernail and I cut her skin and the blood came out and she screamed and cried as loud as probably any baby in the world. I was crying and my wife was crying because I hurt my child. We were all in this panic until we calmed her down and she went to sleep. I was just sitting in the chair in the living room and I thought, you know, that's what God must have felt when the nails went through Jesus' hands. I just felt so much empathy for her. What a sacrifice He made. I could never give up Elizabeth for a sinful world. These lessons that I'm learning by being a dad are so amazing. I don't know if that made any sense or not.
Kim: Oh it did. I've got six kids so I've been through so many things.
Joel: You have six kids??? Wow!!! That is unbelievable.
Kim: Kids are such a blessing, but they sure can make you feel small and insignificant sometimes. Our youngest is four and she just broke my heart today. She got all serious and said "mommy, I'm sad because I don't have a friend". It just about broke my heart. You can get so busy living life; working, paying bills, cooking and cleaning ... doing all of the stuff ... that you can easily overlook important things. It makes me think about God and how many people get so busy going about the business of living life that they only take out an hour a week on Sunday's to visit with their Father and best friend.
Joel: Oh man ... that's good. There's a song in there somewhere. I just wrote a song called The Things that Pass Away and the chorus goes ...
"This world is not my home
I am moving on my way to the place where I belong
This tide is just a shallow wave
I don't want to waste my life on the things that pass away."
One of the things I was talking about today with a guy that does a lot of worship conferences is the younger generation, the younger Christian generation in particular. You listen to the Gaither songs and the old school gospel songs, and they're always talking about looking for a city or how this world is not my home. Their songs always had an eternal perspective. Today, our generation doesn't think about that. We think about now and how I'm going to get through this moment as of this life is all there is. I think that the trap is that we get so caught up in this world, that we're not living for this world. We're living for eternity. We're basically going to be rewarded for our faithfulness now. I think that is a missing doctrine in today's contemporary church. It's like what you said. What matters? People are eternal. The Gospel and the Kingdom of God are eternal and that's about it. We get so caught up in our careers and in our goals that we forget that these things are going to pass away. I don't want to be 55 years old and have my daughter say something like "Yeah, my dad was a Christian singer but he never lived it at home". You know? It's a trap. We have a responsibility to raise up the next generation of Christians. One of the things that the Christian singer Keith Green said is that we are responsible for the next generation of believers. So often we get so focused that we don't invest in the people.
Kim: You know, you watch them grow and even as early as when they take those first steps, you watch and you know that they're going to fall down and bonk something, but you've got to let them go. As they get older, and you know that they're going to do something that will be to their detriment, much like God lets us go our own way, even when He knows that we're going to fall flat on our faces, we have to let them find their own way to an extent.
Joel: I've learned a lot about having to let go.
I'm a control freak ...oh man ... I mean I am the poster child for control freak. I've always been driven and had a plan. Always trying to protect everything. Having her is like ... there's so many things that are out of your control. I don't want to get too sad or anything, but I heard about that girl getting kidnapped in Florida at the mall and everything inside of me swelled up with anger and fury. I don't think any story has ever made me that angry except maybe September 11th. How could anyone do that? I don't even want her to go outside now. But you can't live like that. She's got to grow up and experience life; experience all the things in life. It's totally up to God to protect her because you can't protect your child everywhere. It's a total area of trust that I've had to develop. I've had to learn how to trust God with all of that. I remember when she was about three months old and I was cutting her fingernails. I was totally scared to do it first of all. I was trying to be as careful and deliberate as I could be.
I got to about the third fingernail and I cut her skin and the blood came out and she screamed and cried as loud as probably any baby in the world. I was crying and my wife was crying because I hurt my child. We were all in this panic until we calmed her down and she went to sleep. I was just sitting in the chair in the living room and I thought, you know, that's what God must have felt when the nails went through Jesus' hands. I just felt so much empathy for her. What a sacrifice He made. I could never give up Elizabeth for a sinful world. These lessons that I'm learning by being a dad are so amazing. I don't know if that made any sense or not.
Kim: Oh it did. I've got six kids so I've been through so many things.
Joel: You have six kids??? Wow!!! That is unbelievable.
Kim: Kids are such a blessing, but they sure can make you feel small and insignificant sometimes. Our youngest is four and she just broke my heart today. She got all serious and said "mommy, I'm sad because I don't have a friend". It just about broke my heart. You can get so busy living life; working, paying bills, cooking and cleaning ... doing all of the stuff ... that you can easily overlook important things. It makes me think about God and how many people get so busy going about the business of living life that they only take out an hour a week on Sunday's to visit with their Father and best friend.
Joel: Oh man ... that's good. There's a song in there somewhere. I just wrote a song called The Things that Pass Away and the chorus goes ...
"This world is not my home
I am moving on my way to the place where I belong
This tide is just a shallow wave
I don't want to waste my life on the things that pass away."
One of the things I was talking about today with a guy that does a lot of worship conferences is the younger generation, the younger Christian generation in particular. You listen to the Gaither songs and the old school gospel songs, and they're always talking about looking for a city or how this world is not my home. Their songs always had an eternal perspective. Today, our generation doesn't think about that. We think about now and how I'm going to get through this moment as of this life is all there is. I think that the trap is that we get so caught up in this world, that we're not living for this world. We're living for eternity. We're basically going to be rewarded for our faithfulness now. I think that is a missing doctrine in today's contemporary church. It's like what you said. What matters? People are eternal. The Gospel and the Kingdom of God are eternal and that's about it. We get so caught up in our careers and in our goals that we forget that these things are going to pass away. I don't want to be 55 years old and have my daughter say something like "Yeah, my dad was a Christian singer but he never lived it at home". You know? It's a trap. We have a responsibility to raise up the next generation of Christians. One of the things that the Christian singer Keith Green said is that we are responsible for the next generation of believers. So often we get so focused that we don't invest in the people.
SHARE
