Family & Parenting

The family is the primary context in which faith is formed and passed on. Deuteronomy 6:6-7 gives the mechanism: talk about God's commands "when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up." Faith is transmitted through ordinary daily life — not primarily through formal instruction but through the texture of how a family lives.

This makes family both the most important arena of Christian formation and the most difficult. It is the place where we are most seen, most known, and most tested. It is the place where forgiveness and love must be practiced repeatedly, not in theory but in the presence of specific, difficult, beloved people.

On the Prodigal Child

The most significant family text in the New Testament is the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32) — and it is primarily a story about the father, not the son. The father who lets the son go. Who keeps watching. Who runs when he sees the son returning from a long way off. Who restores him completely without conditions.

If you are the parent of a prodigal child, this is your story too. The waiting, the watching, and the running to receive — these are what God asks of you. Not pressure, not preaching, not making your love conditional on their return to faith. Just keeping the door open and the light on.

On Caring for Aging Parents

1 Timothy 5:8 says "anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever." The care of aging parents is presented not as a burden but as an expression of faith. Leviticus 19:32 says "rise in the presence of the aged, show respect for the elderly and revere your God." The two commands — honor the elderly and revere God — are presented in the same breath.

Practical end-of-life planning is part of this care. Ensuring your parents — or yourself — have plans in place that protect family from unexpected financial burdens at death is one of the most loving things a family can do. See SeniorBurialQuote.com for free, no-pressure guidance.