Impress them on your children

I have entered into a new phase. In my family, it is a right of passage to ride to school in daddy’s truck. I after 4 years, I know take three kids to school in the morning. I truly love it. One of the great things about this time is the singing. It would be truly appalling to anyone listening but I know to my ears and I hope to God’s ears it is a sweet melody.

My favorite music is contemporary Christian music. I have loved to listen to this genre since I broke away from Sting and the Doors in medical school. The Doors and I did some things that were not so “right” in those days and I have sworn off such things and unfortunately, also the Doors. This likely makes many of you cringe.

I have had a number of people mock me for the music I listen to and some were very close to me. I sat in a room with two people whom I truly respect and listened to them bash the music and those who listen to it. I know they were not aware of my thoughts and feelings about Christian music but it hurt really badly. I sat there and listened but did not respond. I asked myself, why do I listen to Christian music and why do I fill my house and my work with this melody. Then one day, when Samuel and I were riding in my truck he just blurted out, “Daddy, can we sing Oh no you never let go”. I thought, what, how does he know that”. If you don’t know the song it is by Matt Redman and the words are like this:

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death
Your perfect love is casting out fear
And even when I’m caught in the middle of the storms of this life
I won’t turn back
I know You are near

And I will fear no evil
For my God is with me
And if my God is with me
Whom then shall I fear?
Whom then shall I fear?

Chorus:
Oh no, You never let go
Through the calm and through the storm
Oh no, You never let go
In every high and every low
Oh no, You never let go
Lord, You never let go of me

I decided then just why I listen to this music. It truly fills my heart and my family with the spirit of God. I realize that the theology of each song may not be accurate and some people may not “need” this music or may be “beyond” it but if you know anything about education or the process of learning, you know that music is a powerful mechanism for laying down memory and at this age, it can actually be associated with laying down personality.

Samuel is now riding to school with us in the truck and has taken up the job of saying each morning, “can we listen to the radio” or “can we sing”.

Well this week, on Sunday night while waiting in the van, my sweet Aaron blurted out of the blue, “Daddy, can we do dat never wet go”. My heart broke. Aaron was receiving just words on the radio but he also sees the excitement it brings between my other children and myself and the connection we have when we sing together at the top of our voices and he will soon realize that we don’t sing the songs just for entertainment but we believe the words we sing and we believe in their promises.

Deuteronomy 6:4-7 states Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. ⁵ Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. ⁶ These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. ⁷ 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.

Now I know verse 7 relates specifically to the words in verse 4-5 but the words in 4-5, to me, mean make the Lord your God. Love him, serve him, and write this commitment on the hearts of your children so they will know who you are and who you stand for. I will commit the remainder of my life writing this on the hearts of my children and all those I encounter. I will never apologize for this and I will rejoice in the mocking I receive because of it.

God bless Aaron.