tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4849880221463921104.post36331268455199788..comments2024-01-27T04:16:46.260-08:00Comments on The Other Adventist Home: The Fellowship of the Church Parents' Roomtheotheradventisthomehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15833587098804932089noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4849880221463921104.post-89282781280572825322017-11-03T21:42:36.053-07:002017-11-03T21:42:36.053-07:00My 36 year-old daughter and 45 year old son-in-law...My 36 year-old daughter and 45 year old son-in-law decided not to have kids because of what a terrible place the world is. Her mother and I and the church have been praying against them for a long time. I believe that having children was God's first homework assignment. As He pushed them out the garden gate He said, "Be fruitful and multiply." Adam and Eve were in trouble when God gave them that instruction. My daughter and her husband have been pillars of the church. He's the head elder. She practically runs the youth ministry. Their house is full of kids constantly (teens mostly). They go as sponsors to every youth conference there is. They have not neglected the work of the Lord.<br /><br />Unfortunately, they also have that desire to parent. Without their own kids they are free and untethered. Borrowed kids don't count as parental experience, because you can give them back at the end.<br /><br />Being tethered to children teaches you lessons you can learn in no other way. Lately, my daughter has exercised her "parenting" instincts upon us, her parents. Fortunately, one dear saint in our church is a professional foster parent. She raises the most desperate babies, born with health issues and other problems who have become untethered from their birth parents. She gets them healthy and then tethers them to likely parents. Today, my daughter and son-in-law became foster parents to a 13 month-old little boy named Eli. They will be tethered to another life now. Their lives will change. They will experience many of the things parents are supposed to experience. I know my daughter. That little boy is as good as adopted. I can't wait to meet my grandson. We're 3000 miles away, but we already love that child. We had a promise when our first child was born. You can find it in Isaiah 54:13. While in labor, my wife suddenly sat up and said, "Isaiah 54:1 and 13". She doesn't remember doing it. In the texts, God expressed sympathy for her struggle and then promised to be our children's teacher. <br /><br />I don't believe you can have God's full education unless you've been a parent. There's something about being tethered to a child that is flesh of your flesh that makes you a whole person in a way that nothing else will.<br /><br />I used to go get toddlers out of the cry room and take them to the Primary room. We could hear the sermon on the speakers they had in there and we'd do structured play that went along with the sermon. When they were old enough to manage being in the sanctuary, they moved on.<br /><br />I read a comparative religions book and in the article on Seventh-day Adventists it said we have the noisiest church services in all Christendom. Why? He said it was because we bring our children to the sanctuary. It was the thing that most impressed him about us.<br /><br />So to the moms and dads that tether themselves to their children and survive their growing up, I salute you all. You are doing God's work as surely as any evangelist.<br /><br />Tom KingTom Kinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16700342512275624543noreply@blogger.com