There haven’t been many themes as near to my heart as this one. Focus on the Family… What do you think of? Good non-profit. Good name for an organization too… Yet, in the States we have over-prioritized family in a sense and I’m so doing under-prioritized it. Allow me to explain how this works from my point of view.

When we serve people in hard places and labor together as a family for the glory of God and to share the hope we have in Jesus with others, something extra special happens. Family is actually lifted higher than it was when it was over-prioritized. When we are truly captivated by our God, in awe of His worth and glory, we begin to rightly understand all other priorities, and these other priorities actually are lifted higher in priority than they would have been when fixated upon.

An example would be visible in my son, Jackson, who I’ve been humbled to watch grow in his love for Jesus despite me not doing as much as I could to sit every day with him in book studies and making sure he can read and understands key truths.

By God’s grace, I am honored to care for Jackson in these ways and am not saying I neglect to sit with him and teach him pretty routinely and enjoy books about life and truth and God and science and math, etc. However, when we spend time together caring for our neighbors and sharing the hope of Jesus and he is involved in the launching and sustaining of a house church ministry, he retains even more about the Lord, multiple times more or would seem thus far.

A couple of days ago I asked Jackson a followup question after reading about Joshua’s obedience to God in leading the people of Israel in how to conquer the city of Jericho.

Who are you supposed to obey?

Jackson answered, “God.”

This was great and I felt surely he’d answer the next question with, “Dadda and Momma.”

Who else are you supposed to obey?

“Jesus”

Okay, totally good. Second person if the Trinity. Good on you, son. But now maybe you’ll mention your parents?

Who else?

“The Holy Spirit!”

Okay, humble pie.

This made me so happy and I literally was reminded that this little guy is ultimately God’s son.

He was in the pool with me a couple of weeks ago and asked to be baptized. He’s six and could definitely go for it. With a little question asking I determined he doesn’t quite grasp what’s happening, but does he need to have it all buttoned up in understanding?

He has witnessed multiple baptisms and loves to see this display of faith and love and joy in the LORD as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It’s been dawning on me that my passion from God to unpack what we do know about the Trinity and the beauty of embracing this mystery and celebrating being welcomed into the perfect fellowship and yet perfectly One God reality of God is being simply and joyfully embraced by my son!

I realize that sentence is a mouthful… yet that’s the heart of what I’m sharing here. As my son witnesses outreach, conversion, passionate following of Jesus for us as a family here in our neighborhood and in our community, as Jackson helps me pray for people whose health is failing in the hospital or witnesses baptisms and people sharing their beliefs in Jesus, Jackson is more and more naturally “getting it” himself.

On a lighter note, he’s grasping what he is learning in school too! In the same morning when he spoke of obeying God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Jackson rode with me to the market to get breakfast items.

As we got out of the car, Jackson shared this:

“Oh, Dadda, you know who else we should honor?”

“Who, buddy?”

“George Washington amd Teddy Roosevelt.”

A couple steps later, “Oh, and Lincoln and all those guys!”

In conclusion, I’m so pleased to see my children learning very important truths while serving alongside us. In these paths of grace they will learn far more than just memorizing data and principles. Truth shows up in love and wisdom when properly applied.

Much love in Christ!