Matthew 18:14

Aspen Forrest, Aspen, Colorado, October 2013

So it is not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones should be lost.
Matthew 18:14

Faith does not happen by accident.
It is gifted, nurtured, shared, strengthened, and lived.
It flourishes in community. It is embedded in family.
With everything parents are ready to do for their children, 
even die for them, 
why would we ever believe that others can model for them 
faithful living, what it means to be saint and sinner,
broken, yet redeemed, better than we ourselves?
If faith is not a real part of our life, 
how likely will it be a real part of theirs?

The faith of our children is never served well 
when we declare "Do as I say, not as I do"
so that we in our freedom may relegate faith 
to meaninglessness by our action or non-action.

Church communities exist to love us,
to equip us, to encourage us, and 
to hold us accountable.
But they can never be us,
never,
for our children look to us to be who we have promised to be.
Not perfect, hardly.
But authentic and honest as we struggle in the tension 
between belief and unbelief,
and never uncaring about matters of faith.