God has blessed me with 5 wonderful children. Over the past 3 years as we have been on the Church Planting Journey, we have spent countless hours together. I must admit that the majority of the time we are consumed with what we are doing in our missional context or what we need to be doing… Needless to say, I’ve done a lousy job separating our personal life and ministry. I know, I know, I can hear you mumbling under your breath that I should not separate the 2. Well, I believed that lie too!

What I’ve discovered over the past week is that my children long for my attention and focus. They want me, they need me, they want All of me! Since planting our church, the time that I’ve spent with my children, 1 on 1 has pretty much always been doing church errands or making visits. This is good, but its not the BEST!

Every morning when I get ready to walk out of the house several of my kids will approach me and say these words, “Can I Go With You, Daddy?” They don’t really want to go to the hospital to make a visit. They don’t want to sit in my office most of the day and watch me study or make phone calls. They have no desire to work on events or do mailers! They just want to be with me!

This week I’ve made up my mind that I’m going to invest hours and hours in my children outside of our ministry setting! This morning I got up and told my son Caleb, “Son, get ready, you are going with me this morning!” He said, “Where are we going?” I replied, “Does it really matter?” And with a huge smile on his face he hollered back, “NOPE!”

I took him to “The Caboose” and we enjoyed a great breakfast together. He enjoyed eggs, bacon, home fries, and toast! He even ventured out and tried the Raspberry Jam! He even drank a Red Can Coke! As we were getting ready to leave, he said “Daddy, I wonder if they serve ice cream here during breakfast?” I said, “I’m sure they do, go get you one!” “REALLY, Daddy?” I said, “Go For It”!

I don’t think Caleb will ever forget this special time and I’m confident I won’t. Folks, let’s slow down and invest time into our children! It’s worth it! Nothing I can do today will amount to more than what I experienced before 10:30 am with my 8 year old son!

“Can I Go With You, Daddy?” YES!

I’m Committed,

Daddy