Short Posts

I am currently reading through this book by Ted Tripp. In fact, we are going through it with a group. So, the plan is to post some thoughts chapter by chapter.

I have known of this book for a few years but have never read it before. It should be interesting and I hope it will be profitable.

The copy I have is the second edition, printed in 2005. It has been revised and updated from the first edition.

Where are we going? Are we there yet? Anyone who has young children, or has had young children, has heard these famous questions. Everyone loads up in the family ride and the journey of a thousand questions begins. A road trip is a grand adventure for little ones and they often wonder if they have arrived, often when they have not even left their own town yet.

When the destination is the grandparents’ house or a favored vacation spot, these questions can be amusing and easily answered. However, what if our darling little ones would ask us these questions in relation to our greater purpose in life—Where are we going? Are we there yet? How does our daily routine fit into the big picture of where we want to go with our families? How are we going to get where we want to go? How will we know when we get there?

The Barna Group released a study in the first quarter of 2005 about the way parents were bringing up their children. There were several interesting findings in this study. One finding worthy of attention was that there was no appreciable difference between the way Christians and non-Christians were bringing up their children.

“You might expect that parents who are born again Christians would take a different approach to raising their children than did parents who have not committed their life to Christ – but that was rarely the case,” Barna explained. “For instance, we found that the qualities born again parents say an effective parent must possess, the outcomes they hope to facilitate in the lives of their children, and the media monitoring process in the household was indistinguishable from the approach taken by parents who are not born again.”

Perhaps it is a good time to assess where we are and where we are going in life. Moses laid out a visionary plan for Israel to bring up their children in the things of God (cf. Deuteronomy 6). He also warned them of the consequences “if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee” (Deuteronomy 28:15). Among the curses that would come for forsaking the things of God for the things of the world was that “Thy sons and thy daughters shall be given unto another people, and thine eyes shall look, and fail with longing for them all the day long: and there shall be no might in thine hand” (Deuteronomy 28:32). Israel was warned that they would lose their children to the world and have no power to reclaim them.

So, Where are we? Where are we going? Godly men, leaders of their homes must answer these questions and lead their families toward those answers. May God give us the grace!

Welcome to the launch of Short Posts. This site exists to exalt Christ and make Him known through the publishing of articles and essays of Christ-centered thoughts on the home and family. This site is still growing and developing, but we are excited to “Go Live.” I pray this site will be a blessing to you and welcome your feedback.