Determined Passion & Faith-filled Humility

A couple of weekends ago, Fred and I got to get away for nearly 24 hours. His dad and Terry came down to take care of the kids and we headed up to Atlanta for the night. A sweet and dear family at church gave us this special gift for Christmas and we were so excited for the chance to use it!!! This is only the third time that Fred and I have done this since having Joshua...and the other two times I was 7-8+ months pregnant...so needless to say, we were pretty excited! We got to stay in an amazing hotel in Buckhead. We ordered room service (We had a credit that the couple gave us that was non-refundable-- fun!)...watched a movie in the middle of the day...we ate constantly...shopped at Lenox (and didn't buy one stinkin thing-- I didn't even know what 90% of the stores were!)...we ate a late breakfast...after sleeping in as late as we wanted (which...um...was like 8:15...lame, right?!?)...we sat in the hot tub by the pool sometime mid-morning...and just all-around had probably the most restful day we've had in the past 5 years! But, without question, my absolute favorite part of our getaway was when Fred and I sat next to each other in the plush comfy chairs in our room and read the WORD. It was great to have that uninterrupted time together. We rarely have our devotion time at the same time and to be able to sit and talk about what the LORD taught us was so refreshing. We are reading together through the Bible using the Life Journal and our passage for that day was Judges 1-3 and I Corinthians 12. After reading and journaling, we talked about what stuck out to us. And, wouldn't you know, that God used the exact same verses and we were both challenged with the same thing! Here's what I wrote in my journal:

Scripture: Judges 2:10b "And there arose another generation after them who did not know the LORD or the work that He had done for Israel." (...this being said right after what occurred in Joshua 24:31 "Israel served the LORD all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua and had known all the work that the LORD did for Israel."

Observation: when Joshua and the elders serving with him were alive, the people served the LORD. After that, when the next generation came along, they forsook/forgot the LORD and did what they wanted.

Application: How does this happen?!? How did this next generation become so far from God? How did Joshua's generation (who WAS THERE when Deut. 6 was spoken by Moses!) fail to pass the baton of faith? Joshua knew the words spoken in Deuteronomy. He understood the importance of passing on the Truth and love for God to the next generation. I am humbled and burdened when I read these verses. We have a great responsibility to teach our children and and even greater challenge I think-- to trust the LORD to draw them near to Himself!

Prayer: LORD, please give me and Fred wisdom and endurance to teach and train our children. I pray by name for our Joshua, Anna Bell, Caleb, (and children to come) that they would never forget the works of Your hands. That they would never forsake Your Name. You are worthy. You are worth it. You are Life and what our children need for life and godliness.

***So, thus the title for this post: LORD, You alone can draw these children to Yourself. That spurs in me a faith-filled humility to trust them to You. But I will run hard as I live to use every opportunity with determined passion-- to train them, teach them, and model to them what it means to love You with all that they are. AMEN!