I was on my knees this morning praying for my kids.
Not for their grades.
Not for their careers.
I was praying they wouldn’t have to suffer the way I did.
And if they wander... because kids wander...
that they wouldn’t wander so far they forget God.
So far they lose their way back.
Then a line dropped into my spirit.
Clear as anything I’ve ever heard.
Teach them how to come home.
I sat there with it for a long time.
Because here’s the truth no father wants to admit...
I can’t guarantee my kids will never leave.
I can’t wall them off from every bad decision.
I can’t follow them into every room they’ll walk into at 19, 25, 40.
But I can teach them the way back.
We usually tell the prodigal son story as a story about leaving.
The inheritance.
The wild living.
The pigs.
But look at the turn.
Rock bottom.
Starving.
And the very first thing his mind went to was home.
He knew where it was.
He knew who was there.
He knew what kind of man his father was.
He didn’t go back because he had a plan.
He went back because he had a father worth returning to.
The father was watching the road and the father RAN.
That’s how God sees us.
Not as a problem to manage.
As sons and daughters He’s been waiting on.
Now here’s the question that’s been sitting on my chest all day...
What does “home” mean to your kids?
A lot of us never had a father like that.
Home was where the yelling was.
Where dad was gone.
Or there... but not really there if you know what I mean…
So how do we teach something we never received?
And then there are the kids who don’t have a home to remember at all.
Children pulled out of trafficking.
For them, the word “home” might not bring up warm memories.
It might bring up the worst ones.
So maybe this isn’t a parenting tip.
Maybe it’s a mission.
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.”
Training isn’t control.
It’s a map home.
The challenge:
Be the home worth coming back to.
Put the phone in the kitchen drawer tonight and sit on the edge of their bed.
Ask them about their day... and actually wait for the answer.
Show them the road back.
The next time you blow it, apologize to your kids out loud.
A child who has watched his father humble himself knows the way back is open.
Leave the porch light on.
Consequences, yes.
Exile, never.
Whether it’s your son, your daughter, or a child rescued from the darkest place you can imagine...
someone has to teach them how to come home.
So tonight, look at your kids and ask yourself one question.
If they wander... will they know the way back?
And will they want to come?
-Angelo