Heavenly Homemakers

I love absolutely everything about being a parent. Almost.

It is a fact that potty training used to be my least favorite part of parenting. Nice as it was to get those kids out of diapers, it seemed that during the long days of cleaning poop off the floor and asking, “Do you need to potty?” every three minutes, it would surely be much simpler to just change diapers for the rest of my life.

But then my boys all got potty trained and grew to be taller than me and I was introduced to a new least favorite part of parenting: Teaching teenagers how to drive.

Now, I’m not a crazy freaked out mom when my kids are behind a wheel (yes I am). I certainly do not cringe and forcefully push my imaginary brake on the passenger side (yes I do). My angst over teaching teens to drive could be summed up by sharing the simple fact that we are in a moving vehicle made of metal that could smash at any time into a tree or a ditch or a Mack truck, and I am powerless to do anything about it.

Kind of makes poop on the floor seem like a welcome guest.

This summer we began the delightful journey of teaching Boy #3 to drive a car so that he can get his driver’s license when he turns 16. In Nebraska, there are two options for this. 1) Drive for 50 hours with a parent or 2) Pay $300 and spend a week at Driver’s Ed.

For Boys #1 and #2, we chose the frugal route, because we are the parents and we could teach our kids to drive for free. But of course.

However, when Boy #3 turned 15 and got his permit, I cried weary tears and asked Matt, “Can we please just pay the $300 this time and let someone else teach him how to drive?” It was the best check I’ve ever written.

So last summer, Elias spent 20 hours in a classroom learning how to drive from a book and a teacher. He didn’t love it, but someone had to make the sacrifice and I’d already done my part. After passing the 20 hours of classwork and the test of his book knowledge, he went out in a car with a great instructor who sat in the passenger seat and said nice things and didn’t slam on imaginary brakes. For six hours, Mr. Much Appreciated instructed Elias on all things driving.

In the meantime, Calgon took me away and I sipped Iced Coffee in my easy chair.

Elias returned from his 6 hours on the road with the good news that he had passed Driver’s Ed, and just like that, he would be able to walk in and get his official driver’s license on his 16th birthday.

I’m almost 101% sure that we will choose this very same option with Boy #4 when the time comes because of the iced coffee and the Calgon. But is it just me, or does anyone notice a bit of a discrepancy on the required number of hours behind a wheel which will qualify someone to be considered fit for driving independently? We’re talking 50 hours verses 6 hours. Those two numbers are not the same and also, one is much less than the other. Even if we counted the 20 hours of classroom time, which truly was beneficial, that’s still not the same as 50 hours of driving practice on the road behind a wheel.

I am forever grateful to the instructor for saving me from those hours of stress in the passenger seat. But as some other parents and I were discussing recently, “Even after taking Driver’s Ed, a kid still needs time and instruction from parents in learning how to drive so they’ll be ready to be an independent driver.”

And this, my friends, is the actual point about Jesus and Drivers Ed that I want to share with you today.

We can send our kids to Driver’s Ed and let someone else teach them many of the wonderful points they need to know about driving a car. But we parents still have a lot of work to do to prepare our kids for successful and safe driving.

This is very much like teaching our kids about Jesus.

We can take our kids to church and Bible class on Sundays and get them involved with youth group, and maybe even send them on a mission trip or two. But if we expect these very few hours each week to be all and do all in helping them learn about who Jesus is, to fill their hearts with Truth, and to learn the transforming power of prayer and surrender to God – we are sorely mistaken.

Never should we expect a classroom and a preacher to fill the role that God has placed on us as parents. Never should we consider the 3 hours per week in a church building to be “enough” when there are 106 additional awake hours each week that we should be seeking Jesus and His truth.

If we expect that going to church is enough for our lives and our kids’ lives, we should stop going to church because we’ve missed the point and forgotten who Jesus actually is and who He calls us to be.

It’s too easy to feel good about crossing to-do’s off our check list. Took the kids to church? Check. Made them go to Bible class? Check. Did a service project that one time? Check. Yep, we are a good Christian family.

Christianity isn’t a check-list. Christianity is life. Jesus is life.

Driver’s Ed? It saved my sanity. But I’ve been out in my car’s passenger seat anyway, giving my kid more driving practice so that when he turns 16 in a few days, he will actually be ready to drive on his own.

Bible class and worship services on Sundays? Can’t do with out it. But Matt and I are out in the trenches anyway, sharing Truth around our table, praying around our living room, talking constantly about who God is and what it means to live a Spirit filled life.

So this is how Drivers Ed is like Jesus. It all makes sense, and in three days, Elias turns 16, gets his license, and we will be adding a THIRD SON to our car insurance policy.

Kind of makes poop on the floor seem like a welcome guest.