My suitcase finally got here! They gave me more air miles every time we drove in and checked so I ended up with 10,000 additional air miles! Hallelujah! I got all my meds and my toothbrush, and clean underwear, life is good.

The weather here is already 18 hours a day of sunlight with temperatures up to 60 degrees, but still some snow on the ground. We are having fun with grandkids and Shelly and Philip. Not much in life is more rewarding than seeing our kids doing well in life, loving the Lord and raising good kids.

Let’s pretend that Patty has a life-threatening physical condition and that only surgery will save her life. We are in a place where there is no one who can do the surgery so it is up to me to do it. We have access to the Internet and I have my iPad so I am going to research and read like crazy and learn as much as I can before I attempt to save my wife’s life. I am a highly motivated learner because the result of my novice doctor attempt will have very serious consequences if I mess up and a major reward if I succeed.

How good and experienced are the average parents at raising up and training their kids to be champions? How serious and consequential will their poor choices and bad parenting practices be with their kids or how amazing will it be to see adult children who love Jesus and are bearing much fruit with their lives for the Lord because of their parent’s wisdom over the years of training their family?

Over the years of Pastoring and counseling, I have observed that many parents had a very casual attitude about a very serious responsibility. They also had a very flawed understanding of their own ability and wisdom to raise kids from birth to adult who were winners for Jesus. As a result there was no sense of urgency in learning a very important skill.

Patty and I went to many parenting seminars, read lots of books, and sought out counseling from parents that seemed to be doing a good job raising godly children. We had an advantage over many in that we were both well-parented so much of what we did was instinctive, but we still acted as if we were the dumbest parents on the planet earth and sought wisdom like gold, silver, and precious jewels.