7-day-a-week faith

My very first mission trip was to the South Pacific with Randy English... He is a terrific and wonderful person who has given his life to his ministry in the Pacific... He and his lovely wife and 5 children (all born in American Samoa!) continue to pour themselves out and into the lives of tens of thousands of souls who likely would NOT have heard the good news if not for God's using the English family.

I'll never forget the lessons I learned from him! The most striking one came at the end of my second trip with him to the Solomon Islands... this trip was very evangelistic in its focus, so we mainly preached and conducted one on one Bible Studies with the natives there... but as we were waiting in the Honiara International airport for the once-a-week-only flight back to 'civilization', I noticed Randy chattin it up with some dude sitting next to him...

(now understand, the rest of our team had 'clocked out' of our mission 'job'... but NOT RANDY! here we were, DONE with our 'mission work', all clocked out, and Randy is talking about Jesus to this stranger! Didn't he know we had 'put in our time'??!!?!)

Anyhow, I am just beginning to learn that lesson 15 years later... and trying very hard to instill that 'lesson' in my kiddos... to be real and genuine and present and, well, to have a 7-day-a-week-faith.

I want to encourage us all to help develop a full-time faith in ourselves and in our kiddos.

I was brought up in a very religious environment... one which placed an inordinant importance on what we did at a building 4 hours a week to the exclusion of what we did for the other 164 hours... and it taught many of my generation that our 'faith' was very location- and time-limited.

so, a few resolutions (I know, a few months ahead of schedule):

I resolve:

1. NOT to teach my kids the 'importance' of 'church attendance' for attendance' sake (there are all kinds of compelling reasons to meet with the saints; 'punching the clock' ain't one)
2. to teach my kiddos to have a servant heart 24/7/365 and always be looking for people whom God places in their path...
3. to model full-time-7-day-a-week-faith for my kiddos
4. to teach my children that their Christianity (spirituality, faith) is not a 'compartment' in their portfolio of life... but that it IS their life and naturally affects every facet of their life
5. to teach my kiddos that salvation's work was done - in total - on a cruel Roman cross over two millenia ago, and that anything we do (and we should DO) is in GRATEFUL RESPONSE to that gift and NOT in an EFFORT TO EARN that gift.
6. to model a Spirit-filled, Spirit-led life which is exciting and vibrant and fun and challenging
   

oh well, that's a start... long long way to go...

God Bless!