As we get closer to our trip outwest, people are sharing stories of their travels to the Grand Canyon and surrounding areas. Everybody has another place that we have got to see. Oh, that we would have months to travel! I am going to see all I can. Some of the greatest times that I can remember growing up was traveling in the back of a Buick station wagon with my two mean brothers and our legendary dog. In the 'olden' days the back window would roll down. We were barrelling down the interstate one day with every window down, dog hair flying, and every child safety secured and fighting in the back of that wagon (oh, for the days when kids could roam all over the car without seat belts and such). I am sure I was getting the short end of the stick or my brothers were staring there 'zombie stare' and scaring me to death, when I finally (apparently) had enough. I was about Millie's age and she's not above doing what I did. I grabbed a GI Joe (not a doll but an action figure!) and threw him out the window. Dad stopped and picked him up, threw him back in, and drove a little harder to get there a little faster. That GI Joe now had war wounds and he was always the hero that walked with a limp, missing part of his hair, and with scarring on his face. As Archie Bunker said- Those were the days. My children need some of those days and they are going to get 3500 miles of it, whether they like it or not.
People are not only telling me where I need to go, but they are also reflecting on their own travels. They tell me what they have seen, how they are glad it is me and not them, and then they say 'cant you fly.' Thanks for the encouragement! Last night someone was sharing their Grand Canyon story and said it was beautiful and big and kinda scary. They went close to the rim and saw a couple sitting on the edge reading books. Behind them were two small children running around playing (just a few feet from the edge) while Mom and Dad sat reading their books. Although they said that story is about 40 years old, how much more that scenario is true today. Moms and Dads are busy about their business while young children run undeterred on the brink of disaster. That was my thought when I read Proverbs 22:6 this morning- Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it. And v. 15- Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline drives it far from him. Don't misunderstand me! I am not on a campaign to beat children. However, I am on a campaign to discipline them. They are not in charge. Their little hearts are full of juvenile foolishness. They need leadership. They need not run wild at the edge of a chasm. They need not run wild at the edge of the day and time in which we live. It seems we live in a day of extremes. Either parents hold their children on such a pedestal that all of life centers around that child, his every want, her every whimper or either those poor children better hang on tight because they are raising themselves. Where does that lead us? That leads to either self-centered wimps or buck wild, non conforming trouble stirrers. What the Lord intended is neither of those options. He intends that each parent guide their children in His Ways and as so revered in Deuteronomy 6. 4-9 also called The Shema (which means to hear). It is a great passage that all Jewish families knew well in the days of Moses. It encourages you to love the Lord with all that we are and to take his words to heart. v.7- You shall teach them (His words) 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. It goes on to say that our homes should be marked with His Words.
Oh, that we would take his words to heart, teach them to our children but also guide our children in them. And when on the brink of something beautiful but yet possibly dangerous, take them by the hand and show them the beauty of the Lord and how it is to be dealt with....with humble hearts and careful steps. My God bless our efforts.
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