Quest Children’s Ministry

Well, January officially is over and I am sorry to say that there were no big winners to the contest I challenged our reading audience with. Here are some of the answers:

My birthday is January 11. The occasion that I was gleeful over and celebrating was the Super Bowl which just sadly passed. My team sadly collapsed. Make sure to send in answers to my very random questions and prizes will happily be awarded!

On to this week’s TMT!

I am constantly reminded about how important my role is as a parent. My son pays attention to every detail of my life. This morning I realized that when I took a bite of my Eggo waffle, Noah would take a bite; when I took a drink of milk Noah would take a drink. Every time there was a change in my actions he would mock it, to the point when I began to laugh at this shadowing game we were apparently playing he began to laugh as well.

Noah’s mind is constantly growing and being formed every day. It is amazing to see the growth in Noah as well as all the children that I see every Sunday morning and Wednesday night. These are for the most part always very positive examples of growth and change, but I would be naive to think that every child is being brought up to reflect and imitate good and Godly examples. I was reminded of this in the news about children being trained under Al Qaeda influence to spread terror to their neighborhoods and community. The article, “Al Qaeda Trains Young Boys as Terrorists, Tapes Show”, is a graphic example of how children are threatened in today’s world. Unfortunately, Al Qaeda is not the main threat in the world.

Children are like innocent little lambs and there is a much more dangerous enemy than Al Qaeda lurking and ready to pounce at any vulnerable moment (1 Peter 5:8). In the beginning of 1 Peter 5 the author encourages the elder adults to be examples to the younger flock. But how does this happen? How can we be examples when we do not have it all together? 1 Corinthians 11:1 has Paul exclaiming to the people of Corinth to imitate him as he imitates Christ. Paul can only say this because of his own connection with the “Chief Shepherd” (1 Peter 5:4). Paul was around his Father so much that he knew his actions could be considered an example to others. It is the same thing with our children. For the most part our children are reflections of who we are. We are their overseer and guide them, but God is the one who works through the parents and in the children’s hearts. There is no formula to raising the model child, but there is a responsibility that God has given to guide and protect this next generations’ minds from the destructive behavior of Satan’s kingdom here on earth.

I do not know about anybody else, but this petrifies me! To think that my child’s mind is as fragile as a little lamb and that there is an enemy out there that wants to destroy both me and my family is very scary… if I were in this thing alone! Thankfully we are not alone and can humbly claim God’s gracious guidance in our personal, parental, and/or marital lives!