In the meantime, God has seen fit that I walk through the shadow of the valley of death. Pain, sorrow, longing, frustration and anger, all these emotions are present. However, every step of the way I’ve known that God is in control. Although he’s not the author of death and destruction, he’s right here beside us to hold our hands when we experience unbearable loss.

Last night my wife posted the closing verse from David Crowder’s song, “He never lets go.” Since then I’ve had that song on repeat on my iPhone and I’ve listened to it no less than 30 times. What a wonderful picture of of the perfect and loving God we serve!

Enjoy!

When clouds veil sun
And disaster comes
Oh, my soul
Oh, my soul
When waters rise
And hope takes flight
Oh, my soul
Oh, my soul
Oh, my soul

Ever faithful
Ever true
You I know
You never let go
You never let go
You never let go
You never let go

When clouds brought rain
And disaster came
Oh, my soul
Oh, my soul
When waters rose
And hope had flown
Oh, my soul
Oh, my soul
Oh, my soul

Oh, my soul
Overflows
Oh, what love, oh, what love
Oh, my soul
Fills hope
Perfect love that never lets go

Oh, what love, oh, what love
Oh, what love, oh, what love
In joy and pain
In sun and rain
You?re the same
Oh, You never let go

Yeah, I didn’t know what Catechesis was either. I’ve written some posts here and there about catechism and it’s place in the modern protestant church. Most of us, including myself have images of old and outdated practices when we here this word. However, I think that many of us realize that the generation of Christ followers we’re developing are less than grounded. I’m not throwing out the idea of investing in parents to where they have the spiritual lead or throwing out small groups where peers and adult leaders can build into students. I’m talking about some manner of content that aligns the next generation with sound beliefs in a world of relativism. I honestly think we need to take a another look at catechism and see it’s place in today’s church, especially the church like mine where most who attend are totally unchurched. Catechism was designed for such people more than a thousand years ago.

What I found intriguing was how it was the reformers like Calvin and Luther who revived catechism, specifically for children as well as adults. As a response to the reformers, the Catholic church revised their catechism. It’s been a lot of months that I’ve been talking about catechism and I think I’m pretty close to moving on something. Maybe by this time next year I’ll have another angle to share, how we’re building young Christ followers the old fashioned way.

Give me ten minutes with a kid and I can make a child believe just about anything. Kids trust. Kids believe. This is a beautiful part of their nature. But in this respect we have to understand that kids and adults are different. If I met an adult who didn’t know Christ, it would take me some time to lead them to faith. I’d have to show a lot of evidence before someone was ready to believe. I’d have to take them on a journey through scripture and share stories from how God worked in my life. After presenting all the stories, leading him through scriptures and showing him Christ’s love, he may decide to follow Christ. This is difficult. It’s hard. But the payoff is huge!

Kids are different. I can sit down with a child who doesn’t know Christ. I could literally lead them in a prayer in 10 to 15 minutes. Why? Because kids trust. Kids believe.

Here’s my problem though. Just becasue a child will believe doesn’t mean we shouldn’t take the time to walk them through the decision. What are the implications? How will my life be different? What does living for Christ really look like? If we don’t take the time to walk with kids through their decision, are we taking advantage of their trusting nature?

This places huge implications on children’s evangelism. Don’t get me wrong. I’m a big fan of children’s evangelism. However, is the evangelism without a little bit of discipleship (explaining the theology of following Christ) dangerous? This is a totally subjective question, but if 79-80% of Christian teens are walking away from their faith after their freshman year of college, do you think that any part of this statistic is attributed to kids who came to faith as a child without a proper understanding of this decision who managed to stick with their faith through high school but once questioned about it in college they left it at the door?

Thoughts?