A Pastor’s Thoughts: Kids Grow So Fast!

By Pastor Kevin Boothby, Tracy Creek Memorial Church —

I remember the day I became a dad. In the early hours of my workday at a warehouse in Maine my wife calls, and she says, “I think my water just broke.” I drove up to the control desk to tell the foreman. 

My dad pulls up to the same desk on his forklift. “Jenessa’s water broke,” I say. He’s alarmed. I don’t know what to think. What is this going to be like? Is my wife going to be okay? I’m nervous. Our nine months are over. It’s my turn to become a dad. My father-in-law calls me and tells me not to speed. I take his advice. At 5:10 the next morning, after 23 hours of labor, Jenessa delivers. The first of what would turn out to be four children (and counting) is born.

Over the years Landon has grown. They all have. Not just physically, but spiritually and emotionally. I think back to the earliest days of our parenthood. Landon is one week old. The sky turns green. We turn on the news to discover a tornado is coming. 

“Stop watching this and get down to the basement,” it said. 

We grab our baby, go down, and buckle him in his car seat and wait. In my heart is this feeling of helplessness and fear. It isn’t ourselves we’re supposed to protect anymore, but our newborn. Thankfully, the tornado never comes. 

Fast-forward almost 14 years to last month. Landon and I are on a campout with Trail Life. In the early morning I hear my son talking to another teenager as they prepare food for the whole camp. He sounds different than I had been used to. I unzip my tent to see if it’s him, and it is. He is beginning to sound like a man! 

It hits me that he isn’t really a “kid” anymore. He is becoming a man and an adult. I zip my tent back up and whisper to myself, “That’s my boy, he’s becoming a man,” and I thank the Lord. Where did his childhood go so quickly?

Being a parent is hard. It can be frightening to be responsible for a life that is defenseless against everything the world throws at it, and to make sure they grow up not just to make it to adulthood, but the right way into adulthood. That’s the responsibility of every parent. It is our God-given privilege to protect our kids from all harm and to not allow them to go down a dark path, even if it’s what they want. 

I often think of the relationship Jesus had with His parents and how they protected Him as He grew up. The night He is born He’s placed in a manger. As a toddler His parents take Him to Egypt to keep Him from being killed when an angel of God informs His parents that a jealous ruler was seeking His life. Afterwards, they settle in a city called Nazareth, where He grows up. 

When He’s 12 He’s left behind as His family caravans. Rushing back, they find Him in the temple with the teachers. They don’t understand where this 12 year-old boy’s wisdom comes from. His mother treasures these things up in her heart, and He “…increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.” He was growing up.

Somewhere along the way Jesus loses His dad. At 30 He begins His public ministry. Thirty-three years later His mother, who as an infant had swaddled and placed Him in a manger, watched Him go to the cross. The pain pierces her in the heart.

Now imagine that Joseph and Mary hadn’t listened to the angel of the Lord. Imagine that Jesus’ parents didn’t protect Him like they should as He was growing up. How much different would the world be today? How much different will the world be if we don’t do the same? 

As parents it is up to us to raise and protect them, training them in the ways of God. It’s up to us to respectfully decline as they are presented with opportunities that could potentially lead them down the wrong path, or distract them from what is truly important in this life, which is to glorify God. It’s up to us, not just to passively observe them as they grow up, but to actively participate in the molding and shaping and forging of their character. 

Mom and Dad – don’t take this responsibility lightly!