"
Author Brenda Jank recently shared with me this story
about teaching the faith to her daughter, Anna:
When Anna was seven, she asked me, "Mom-
my, is the most important thing we can do to
tell other people about Jesus?"
This was a proud-mama moment for me, but it
was short-lived. "Yes, Anna, it is!"
"Then why don't you ever do it?"
Her question changed my life, the lives of my
children, and the eternal destination of Jim
and Peggy, who lived in our neighborhood.
There's nothing like the piercing words of an innocent
child to reveal our blind spots and push us to be better
as a family. That's certainly true for Brenda's family.
Perhaps you have your own story of a little one speak-
ing the words of truth no one else would dare say.
That was also the case for my four-year-old neighbor,
Ali, after she and I played in the sandbox one day as
children. When I told her I couldn't play the next morn-
ing because we'd be at church, she went home to ask
her parents about church—a concept she'd never heard
of. I can hear her inquisitive voice ask, "Mom and Dad,
what's church? Why don't we go?"
A week later, Ali's parents and my parents discussed the
topic, enrolled Ali and her brother in a Christian school,
and started regularly attending church as a family. All
Practicing
beyond Your Family
Hpaly
"
8 Lutheran Life
