“Train children in the right way, and when old, they will not stray.”  – Proverbs 22:6

It Takes Time

My son, who is nine years old, has reached the age of actively inquiring about sports. He enjoys playing them, but he has shown a keen interest in statistics. Most of the questions he asks are not about rules of the game, but instead about what the numbers mean and why the numbers are important in sports. He may be the only person who does not watch NASCAR for the wrecks, but instead for the lap differentials and pit times.

My son asked me for the first time this year if he could play fantasy football. Be still my heart! I was in a secondary league with some friends, and I told him that he could run that team for me. As we were preparing for the draft I took time and explained to him what the numbers mean, how many roster spots he had to fill, and how a snake draft worked. As my son sat on my lap, there were many times that he expressed how nervous he was for the draft.

In the first round, he experienced someone “sniping” his pick, which caused him to scramble. After, a couple of rounds he recognized that he had a weakness at the running back position, and he stated, “nobody’s picking quarterbacks, can I pick four good ones and trade them later?” I reassured him this was his team to run.  Inwardly I was impressed at that veteran move. He did a wonderful job drafting his team, and a highlight for me was his method in the later rounds. I asked him why he drafted a certain player, and his response was “well someone in my school has that name.”

Proverbs 22:6 reminds us of the importance of training or raising up a child in the right way. This is not always easy, it takes time, and it requires one to be intentional. Time is a valuable resource that cannot be renewed and needs to be spent wisely. This is similar to our relationship with God. It requires us to be intentional in how we spend our time with Him, and how we build our relationship with Him. The more time we intentionally spend with God will help us not to stray whether we are young or old!

As I was tucking my son into bed that night, he said, “Thanks for spending time with me on that Dad, it was a lot of fun!” When was the last time that you thanked God for spending time with you?

– Shane Haffey, Sports Spectrum Reader

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