Catching the Faith Habit

by Pastor Wade

My daughter, Kelsey, learned to drink coffee during the summer. (Actually it is mostly milk and flavoring with a little coffee added.) I guess it was bound to happen sooner or later. My example has surely led her down this path, and working at Earl’s Espresso at First Lutheran has also had its influence. In fact, as we begin the college pursuit as a part of her senior year, I see her quite drawn to Student Centers that feature cozy little coffee shops. Go figure!
I guess its true…imitation still happens in our homes. Parents still have some influence. Values do get passed on. Habits get caught. That doesn’t mean we are raising little clones. We do have our differences – Kelsey would be sure to tell you. We don’t always agree on clothes or music or curfews or colleges (etc., ect.) But there are other things which just kind of show up…like coffee drinking. Not a big deal, really.
A bigger deal has been seeing her involved here at First Lutheran, seeing her in Earl’s Espresso, serving those looking for a little refreshment after worship, or taking a group of pre-school kids out for games during Bible School, or being a lesson reader or communion server for worship. Or, best of all, watching her leave with a group of her “best friends” to go to Montana for a servant project on the Lame Deer Reservation. And knowing that she doesn’t’ do these things because she is a “pastor’s kid,” who has to do them because her Dad is the pastor, but that she does them because she sees us doing them and you doing them (her brothers and sisters in Christ) and because she has been encouraged by her friends and her youth directors and her mentors and her “pastor-who-is-not-her-Dad” and others who live out their faith in tangible, “seeable” ways. And for that I thank you – those of you who day in and day out live the faith with our young people. They do catch it and they do begin to live it.
To other parents who are doing their best to raise their kids in the faith, I encourage you to keep bringing them along—to worship, to serving events at the church, and to the volunteer things you do in the community because you are a follower of Jesus. Our kids do learn from us, even with the ups and downs and hits and misses of our parenting. They do learn about worship and learning and serving and loving in the name of Jesus – way more important stuff than how to drink coffee! Thanks be to God!
And thanks be to you. As we move toward Rally Day and re-starting of learning and fellowship ministries, thank you for all you do to encourage our children and youth. I especially thank those of you who gave so generously to support our youth Bible Camp and Servant trips this summer. And thanks to Marny Dreyer and the Dreyer family for the makings of Earl’s Espresso. The fruit of that ministry is far greater than the coffee served. The funds raised (and the service practiced) are changing the lives of youth and all whom they touch, even as Earl did when he was with us!

Blessings in your serving,

Pastor Wade

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