A young girl, perhaps 9 or 10 years old, stood at a confessional booth in the Sacrament of Penance Chapel, one of the forward side chapels of St. Peter’s Basilica. She nodded several times with some vigor. I was left to assume the questions the priest was asking from inside that booth.
Meanwhile, a man sat alone in the middle of the chapel, praying.
Outside the ropes (because I wasn’t going into that chapel) I watched curiously.
It only took a few minutes to learn that the man was not, in fact, alone; the girl at the confessional booth was his daughter. The rest of their family was standing just behind me, which I only learned when the two of them passed by me to a younger boy asking, “What were you talking about?” and the father announcing, “She said she felt like she was floating on a cloud.”
It appears that this was his daughter’s first confession and, of all places, it occurred in what can only be described as the most influential, most important building in Roman Catholicism. For crying out loud, the Pope’s house isn’t too far away from that very building.
What struck me, however, was the fact that a dad was able to “walk with” his daughter through this pinnacle event in her life. His joy for her joy was what caught my attention.
Without making ANY evaluation of Roman Catholicism (yet) - Parents, this is your great calling – to pass on the faith to your children. Are you teaching them the Bible? Are you teaching them the doctrines of our holy religion? Are you praying with and for your children regularly? Are you modeling a life of grace and faith and repentance? Will it be your day of great joy when they embrace the faith of their parents?
This doesn't happen by accident. This demands intentional, thoughtful, perpetual labor on the part of the parents. I witnessed what I expect to be the culmination of a life of teaching and training. May God grant to us this same commitment and, even greater, this same result - a child confessing Christ for the first time.
Hurry Up, Already!
Speed and splash matter to us. If we have to wait, we get annoyed and impatient. Our super fast iPhone is no longer good enough; we have to get the newest super-super-fast model. Five minutes in line is an eternity when we’re already “hangry”. I’ve mentioned the profuse apology and gift card I received for having to wait seven whole minutes at a drive-thru window in South Carolina.
But speed isn’t always enough. It better make a splash, too. We want the fanciest and most super incredible ever. A name in lights. Fireworks. Whatever “it” is, it better come with pizzazz and wow-factor. For that matter, one of the most expensive tickets at any Summer Olympics is the 100m dash - splash and speed.
I don’t suppose there’s anything automatically inherently wrong with this, unless you expect God to work that way. Normally, ordinarily, God works slowly and deliberately and without much fanfare. He works in and through the rather mundane activities of life.
Retrospective: 2018 PCA General Assembly
Parental Discretion Advised
Sunday Morning is Hectic, But...
If you are like us, you can become a little overwhelmed when you look at your calendars and to-do lists. Days covered up with work, sporting events, community functions, family obligations, and a whole host of other demands leaves little room for moments of fellowship with your GCC family. As often happens, the idea of adding another event, even a wonderful fellowship opportunity, can lead to frustration rather than refreshment. We all know that time together is vital to the health of our church body, but we also know that many of us struggle with consistently carving out the time needed to develop relationships with the entire GCC family.
What if I told you that you have an opportunity to fellowship with your GCC family weekly with very little change to your already established routine? All it takes is arriving at the library at 10:00 rather than 10:30 for corporate worship. This small adjustment to your weekly schedule can reap big benefits. Our family has grown to love arriving for worship on Sunday mornings at 10:00 rather than 10:30. Yes, it is can be difficult to arrive early, and no, we certainly aren’t there at 10:00 each week. However, we have made it our aim as a family to arrive early to spend time in fellowship with those who are there and to prepare our hearts for corporate worship.
How Does Your Garden Grow?
I don't have a green thumb. Actually, we can't really be sure if that's even true. To test it, I would have to do some gardening...which I don't. But I know some gardeners. I know some people who love it. My mother-in-law can pick up a stick in the yard, jab it into the ground, and in a year, it'll be some flowering bush. My wife's love for gardening is, therefore, perfectly understandable.
Gardening is serious business. Just consider all the work that goes into cultivating a nice, healthy, lush garden.
We Aren't Deists...Are We?
Deism. It's a philosophy, a worldview that says God is not actually involved and active in his creation. He put it together much the way a watch maker puts together the parts of a watch, seals it up, and sends it on its way never to see it again, never to interact with it again, never to be involved in it again. There were some fairly famous deists among our nation's founding fathers.
We, however, are not like them. We believe in the doctrine of providence, God's ordering all things according to the counsel of his will, and that he is very much active in his creation.