Mike Walsh

My wife and I were married 33 years ago this coming August 5. 

Like most young couples, when we said our vows we weren’t thinking 30 or 40 years down the road. We were enamored with our young lives and the excitement of the days that were just ahead of us. 

But time goes by, and if we pay attention to each other and to our relationship, we will be together later in life and see the fruit of what God has done through our marriage. 

Children are a great gift from the Lord.  We get to pour ourselves into them, and we get to relive our lives as we watch them grow up. Grandchildren are God’s greatest reward for paying attention, loving each other and forgiving each other. Our kids and grandkids are a reflection of us!

In recent days, I have had a burden for young couples who are just starting to raise children in these trying days. There is so much coming at all of us now, but especially young children and kids growing up in these times. 

I grew up in a family who was in church every Sunday, and we were taught by parents who had committed themselves to raising kids who could stand in hard times. I am thankful now for the upbringing that I had. I am thankful for parents who didn’t just live life and take everything as it came with no plan or strategy for the future. There were a few years in my life where I wandered away and did my own thing, but because I was taught well, I came back.

Raising godly children does not happen by osmosis. Children do not just absorb the things from their parents that they will need to know in their lives. We retain many things from our parents, but unless parents are purposeful in teaching their children about the God of the universe and Jesus our Savior, parents miss the short window. 

The Israelites lived by these words from Deuteronomy 6:6-9: 6. “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. 7. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. 8. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” (NKJV)

The children of Israel knew that they must pay attention to the things they taught their children concerning God.

My encouragement is to start teaching your children today if you haven’t already; raise them in the fear and admonition of the Lord. Having a good church family is an important aspect in kids’ lives. Heaven is a wonderful place, and we need to make sure that we get there and our children get there! 

Proverbs 22:6   6. “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” (NKJV)

(Mike Walsh is pastor at Glad Tidings Assembly of God in Powell.)