Parking Lot Discipleship

We were running a tad late for church Sunday morning...story of our lives.

Three little guys to feed and dress, keep clean, while haphazardly throwing ourselves into some sort of appropriate church attire, typically results in tardiness. 

But this Sunday wasn't too bad and we were in the parking lot with a few minutes to spare, hurrying handsome little guys through rows of parked cars.

 Then we faced a row of cars who all must have had a secret pact to park as close to the lines as possible creating odd and narrow passageways. So we changed up our hand holding and wove through single file.

 And then Harrison commented, "This is so narrow! Which way is the narrow way again? God's or Satan's?" And so right there in the church parking lot, a discipleship opportunity took root in a perfect visual aid.

 Matt showed the boys how it wasn't very easy to squeeze through the narrow cars without bumping into or tripping, etc. Then he took them through a wide open space without cars parked nearby. They quickly realized they could skip through the wide open space without any help or guidance.

 "Why is God's way harder?" Harrison asked. Matt explained the way to destruction is wide, it's easy to get on, and easy to stay on. God's way leads to eternal life and while the way is narrow, and sometimes hard, He gives us the strength we need to stay on it and grow in Him, gather others to walk with you, and help each other navigate through the narrow passages knowing life, not destruction, is ahead.

God grants rich opportunities to disciple our children everyday. Life sometimes gets busy with schedules, appointments, errands, and deadlines, and we fail to recognize the gifted moments to grow our children. It's worth it to be a little late sometimes, even to church, if a row of parked cars suddenly presents itself to invest in the soul of the gift God gave you to steward.