The company they kept

My parents kept good company. They made sure we did as well. They hung around people that loved God and, through their minor failings, showed us that not only was a love for God attractive but it could be incorporated into a "normal" life. The people on the periphery for us were those that did not share the faith that we did and engaged in behavior that demonstrated that lack of faith. I wouldn't say that we lived a sheltered life...there were plenty of bas examples to go around and we fell victim to some of them. But the life they constructed for us was a life where we were surrounded by people that could articulate their faith and show that it meant something to them.

I want to do that for my boys as well. I want them to compare and contrast the faith-filled life with the one that is lived apart from God. I want them to see genuine and fraudulent believers in a church setting and for their presence to raise questions and, prayerfully, a bit of abhorrence as well. I want them to see God as a friend and a just judge who loved them enough not to abandon them to their own devices. I pray that they come under the influence of people in love with God that are not part of their immediate and extended families.

Just like I did.

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