The climb of life is one we begin before we even know we are on it.  We don’t get to choose the climbing team we are born into.  We do choose the climbing team that we marry into.  If we’re honest with each other, when we said, “I do,” to our spouse we had no clue what we were getting into.  The glorious heights that awaited us and the agonizing depths as well.  When I look back at my climb so far, there are some observations that I’d like to pass on to you that should encourage and even challenge you.  I’ll be sharing these over the next several blog posts.

First, I see just how important and priceless a gift it is to grow up in a family that loves Jesus.  If mom and dad love Jesus, they are also going to love each other.  And that’s good, because we spend the first part of our life watching our parents to see what “normal” is.  If they fought and hated each other, that becomes our normal.  If they lived separate and quite lives, that’s our normal.  If they seek to be unselfish and loving and then have the humility to repent when they mess up, that too becomes our normal.

And by God’s grace, that was my “normal” growing up.  I watched my parents battle their own insecurities and selfishness and seek to be Christ-like” to one another.  They were far from perfect, but just the fact that they were trying to climb like Christ, enabled me to enter my adult life with so much more muscle than I would have otherwise.

Brother, today you may be disappointed with yourself.  You might be thinking that you are letting your kids down because their “normal” doesn’t have enough toys or a large enough house.  Maybe you can’t give them the opportunities that you always thought you would like that vacation around the U.S. or purchasing them their first car.  Or maybe you have the exact opposite situation.  You can provide them everything that money can buy, but nothing else.

Yet the God of the universe has given us very simple and profound instructions that tell us exactly what our children truly need.  That is if we want to have what God intends as “normal” for our children instead of what our culture says.

Matthew 18:6 gives me as a parent a strong warning when it says, “But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.”

Wow, is that an encouraging verse or what?  Actually it is.  Because our Lord is telling us what is so important that it’s worth protecting.  He tells us that we should be so careful to not “cause” any of our little ones to sin, but to protect their belief.  How can we practically do this?

By first modeling to them a “normal” in their childhood that loves God more than our self.  As we care for their mother, instead of our selfish agendas they will have their belief protected.  As they see us come home and connect our hearts to theirs, even when we are stressed out by the world, their belief will be protected.

Unfortunately too many childhoods have a normal that left them entirely unprotected.  Their belief was easily snuffed out by the ruthless world around them.  By relatives, by friends, by those who bruised children with their wickedness instead of protecting them for holy belief.

So today I’m asking you to look at the “normal” in your home.  And take note of the simple context that you can give to your children.  A life of love that is protected and safe.  You aren’t called to raise your children to be street-smart and savvy like our culture says.  You’re called to raise them to be holy.  And if that holy exists even in a small part today in your home, it’s because of the Rope that is holding you up even now.