Leave the family at home...

The other day, I was listening to a radio host and her guest talk about Christians not being active enough, when I was driving home from work.  The first thing I thought of:  I am too busy trying to feed my family to be an active Christian.  But that's stupid of me; I know that God takes care of us (sorry Dad!)  Anyway, after I did a mental check and started to give the host and her guest my time, I was finding myself more and more confused with the conversation.  Apparently, going to church, Bible studies several times a week and participating in other church activities is not enough!  I guess we have to give a little more, then a little more and then we die.  Hopefully, if we gave enough, we get to go to heaven.  Come on!

I realized the reason I was having trouble with the conversation is this; with having to make ends meet, raising children so that they don't end up as money grubbing, antisocial, unpatriotic, baby killing, hate machines is hard work if you look at it like that.  Apparently, I have to make even more accommodations for things that I really don't have time to do, just so I won't feel guilty?

I have a proposal that I hope will make everyone happy. How 'bout those that have time to go on missions for God do so and leave the family out of it.  I admit this may sound like madness!  But hear me out. 

First, let's take a serious look at the family here in America.  I think, without doing any serious research we can safely say the family is in trouble.  Let's stack this up. Think about the divorce rate, which is around 45% [1].  Now think about the divorce rate of those that go to your church.  OK, let's go sit outside of any public high school and look at how the kids act and dress and are conducting activities that definitely will not get them voted as head of the class.  Should I go on? Gay marriage, adultery, drug and sex addictions...let me count the ways the family is in peril.

Now with the family under such attacks, should parents consider a new mission field their own marriage and the welfare of their children as well? 

What would be the result if teens, young adults and those older folks whose children have left home took care of spreading the gospel and all the parents were told to go home, save their marriage and give the kids a solid foundation in Christ?  I wonder if the church did just that, which I have, would we parents have to feel a little less guilty about our role in the church.

Let me toss out a scenario: Mom and dad sitting with the kids talking about their adventures of spreading the gospel before the kids were born and then telling the kids how much fun it will be when it is their turn!  Hmmm.  Sounds a lot better than "daddy still loves you even though he won't be living with us from now on..."

[1] Stanton G. (2008) Do Half of All American Marriages Really End in Divorce? Retrieved from http://www.family.org/socialissues/A000000596.cfm