"Not Responsible"

Have you ever noticed just how many "Not Responsible" signs are posted here and there?

"We are not responsible for lost, stolen or damaged property," warns one parking
lot sign.

A dump truck traveling down I-75 in front of me, throwing rocks at my
windshield, had this sign plastered on its rear, "Not responsible for damage
caused by thrown debris"

Kings Island reminds me at every ride that I ride at my own risk and that it is
not responsible for my bodily harm or death.

I seem to be seeing "Not Responsible" signs in more and more places. It makes me wonder, who is responsible?

Never is that question more important than when it comes to our children and teens. Who is responsible for the physical, emotional and spiritual health of the next generation?

The first answer to that question is obvious. We parents are first and foremost charged with that responsibility. Somewhere along the way it seems our culture has deceived us into delegating the responsibility of our children to others. We were told to leave the teaching to the schools, the preaching to the church, the playing to the recreational league, the babysitting to the video game and so forth. Our culture has even gone as far as to suggest that your role as a parent is less significant with each year your child ages. Its as though our culture is handing us a "Not Responsible" sign and urging us to put the responsibility for our child into some one else hands.

I want to encourage you, parents, don't let anyone or anything diminish your influence in your child's life. God gave that child to you. You and I can either play the role of the victim or we can play the role of parent and make sure that for every voice our child hears, they also hear ours.

That being said, I have already felt the overwhelming responsibility of parenting and my kids have not even started school. That is why I am thankful that at Living Hope, so many of you take on the role spiritual parents to my and the other children and teens of our church family. One of the reasons we do not hire a Children's Pastor is because we do not waqt to do anything to lessen the participation and buy in we have from so many of you in our children's ministry. It is powerful for a child to see multiple adults pouring into their lives every week in the Kidz Zone classes, Transitions (6th graders), FUEL Teen ministry and Kidz Bible Quizzing. The children experience first hand that it is not just mom or dad who says loving God and others matters most, but many, many others!

This week is fantastic example. Almost 80 adults are serving almost 200 children in our High Seas Adventure Vacation Bible School. It is powerful to see men and women, many of whom do not have children who are VBS age, investing so much in our children. Thank you! As a pastor and, even more so, as a parent I say, "Thank you for not putting up the 'Not Responsible' sign."

Next week our teens will head to Nashville for a Mission Trip. They will have a blast while they make a significant difference. But none of that would happen, if not for the committed adult leaders, many of whom, who do not even have teens of their own, taking vacation days from work to serve your teens. Because these adult leaders do not hang up a "Not Responsible" sign, the teens of Living Hope not only will make an impact and be impacted on the mission trip, they have that opportunity every week in our FUEL small group at the Nuckols home in Springboro. (Just on a side note, I cannot for the life of me figure out why some parents make it a priority to get their teens to everything but the youth ministry).

In short, be encouraged, parents, to take full responsibility for your child. Living Hope Church, I encourage you to not weary in the good you invest in children and teens here. You are all doing an incredible work of God and only time will tell, and perhaps only heaven will fully reveal, just how much of a difference you have made by changing a diaper on Sunday, going to a quiz meet on a Saturday, piling in a van for a teen mission trip in the summer or passing out snacks to 200 hundred little hands in VBS.

Deuteronomy 6:4-7 affirms your value as it says, "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your children. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up."