Priceless Moments In Fatherhood

I have had a hard time in general when living in Denmark. Sure the summers are beautiful . . . it's just the other 11 months. They keep telling me global warming is coming but it's not coming fast enough. And, truth be told, these are petty and selfish grievances in the light of the sufferings of those in the persecuted church. The real struggle living in Denmark is the total lack of biblical churches. Prior to our church plant I had only attended one church meeting in three years where the Gospel was faithfully preached. And that guy never preached again! The nearest fellowship that feeds the flock with verse by verse expository preaching is in Berlin! For those of you who struggle with Geography, Berlin is in Germany - another country!

This forced my family into a corner. Either we start a church or leave altogether. Well we met a few other like-minded couples to help us venture into the uncharted waters of planting a church. We have now up and moved to another town in Denmark to be close to our colaborers. We are also very grateful for the great assistance that Paul Washer and Heart Cry Missionary provided in laying the groundwork for this pioneering work.

Now, by God's grace, we are up and running and have already had our first two official services. One of the great pleasures of this is that I no longer have to de-program my six year old daughter after being exposed to false teaching. But what has surprised me is how quickly the change has affected her.

To my total surprise, during our open prayer meeting, my little girl chimed in praying of her own initiative. You can't pay me money for that - and it was a good prayer too, thanking Jesus for dying on the cross. But it didn't end there. As the next hymn was announced she picked up a song book, found the aforementioned hymn, and sang along with us reading the words as she went. Cameron was one big proud daddy!

I can never claim to be a model father. But these experiences remind me of the importance of discipling our kids. One of the scariest phrases in the Bible is found in Proverbs concerning disciplining our children. It says to discipline them "while there is hope". I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed but I know that verse is a stern warning that there comes a time when it is too late. Training up our children in the "way they should go" is a safe investment with certain dividends - even in a financial crisis. Denmark is a land where almost all children are being "discipled" in institutionalized day care while both parents work. It's not hard to see the gathering clouds of judgment on the horizon. Paul Washer was struck by the scale of this tragedy when he was in Denmark. This was his response . . .