Throwback Parenting

There are times when I look around at what I am up against - what we are up against - in attempting to raise children who can maintain faith in a world that discourages it at every turn, and I feel a little bit like Aragorn's army in Tolkien's classic novel, Return of the King. There are times when I feel a sense of fear, even panic when I wonder how this seemingly impossible task can be accomplished. Our children are on the front lines of the battle every day. They spend hours outside of our watchful care, making daily decisions that will eventually determine where their loyalties lie. There are influences all around them that can destroy the faith that we, as their parents, strive to help them develop. Given the uphill battle, some may wonder if this is a pointless fight - if surrender, though not what we want to do, is staring us in the face, waiting for us to accept it as a regrettable option. And, to those, I echo Aragorn's passionate plea, "This day we fight!" In this episode, we talk about why family i