“ … whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” 1 Corinthians 10:31 (NIV).“Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it” Proverbs 22:6 (NIV) I remember landing for the first time at San Francisco International Airport (SFO) way back when there were no scanners and security lines. I was sitting by a window and all I could see was water and no land until what seems like the very last moment. I was very relieved when the wheels of the plane touched solid ground; although I am sure to the flight crew it was just another routine landing.A couple of weeks ago Susie and I were coming home from a long trip to Tanzania and Germany. Three days before our plane landed flight 214 of Asiana Airlines crashed in a routine attempt to land at SFO. As our Delta flight made its approach and landed we could see on the left beneath us the debris field and burned out hull of Asiana’s Boing 777. I was relieved our plane landed in one piece and I am fairly certain most people aboard felt the same way.If you want to mess with the routine of life have kids, adopt a child, or take in a foster child. It is a great paradox that although children love and need routine they are also so very good at messing with it, messing it up.I suggest to you that raising children into healthy, good, and God-loving adults is more difficult than flying and landing a plane. To me the scary thing is that the runway of life is littered with debris of crashed lives, lined with burned out hulls.I am not an aviator (although I would love to be able to fly) but I know the pilots of the plane bringing us home had to file a flight plan, inspect the plane and go through a pre-flight checklist, follow the directions of the tower and air traffic controllers, monitor and adjust throughout the flight, and go through a post flight routine. Pilots follow the routine because they know it helps them with the challenges, the surprises, the unexpected, and the occasional sheer terror of flying. The goal is to take off, accomplish the purpose of the flight, and safely land.As a parent, did you ever have a hard time spotting the runway, knew you were in over your head, were terrified of crashing, or felt like you were running a school of kamikaze pilots? Here is the core of what has helped Susie and me:
- We have tried to use God’s manual, the Bible, to shape us personally and to instruct us on parenting.
- We have tried to stay connected with the control tower and life/parent traffic control through a routine of consistent, daily prayer.
- We have tried to stick with a flight plan for our children. We did not want to leave important things such as character building, values, faith, and good and godly habits up to chance.
- We have tried to be consistent, practice what we preach and expect, and stick with daily and weekly (e.g. church) routines so we and our children would be prepared for the unexpected throughout the flight.
- We tried to remember that we are co-pilots, to submit ourselves to Jesus Christ as the leader of our personal lives, our children, and our family.
- Our goal has been to get them off our plane, to fly their own, and fly it well, to the glory of God.
To God be all glory, love you, Pastor Hans