My daughter Addi and her friend Christian beat me in Bloomsday yesterday. Hmm. As the veteran of many Bloomsdays and other running events, including five full marathons, I’m not sure how I feel about that. Well, actually, if I’m being honest, I couldn’t be happier about it. I want my kids to run road races, and especially the race of life, more successfully than I have. I want them to grow up and become mature adults, to achieve goals that exceed my accomplishments, and to make better choices than I made as a young person. In short, I want them to be better than me.
Proverbs 22:6 says, “Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.” Not only do I want my children to remain on the right path and never turn from the way they should go, I want them never to approach that turning point in the first place. I want them to stay far, far away from the wrong way.
I also want my kids to follow my example and yet avoid the mistakes I’ve made and the times that I’ve failed them. Although Philippians 4:9a says, “Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice,” there are some things my kids have seen and heard from me that I do NOT want them to put into practice.
3 “It gave me great joy when some believers came and testified about your faithfulness to the truth, telling how you continue to walk in it. 4