“The school near you will never replace you” This quote from page 30 of Chapter 1 (Calling) perfectly encapsulates what we talk about incessantly here at St. Stephen’s Academy. Here Dr. Tripp reminds us that God has placed us as parents in a completely unique position: to effect the gospel of Christ in the lives of our children.

Our calling as parents is to ensure that our children come face to face with God. Tripp calls it creating God-consciousness and God-submission in our children. How do we do this? First we must, as parents, realize that we are irreplaceable. As important as the Church is to us, or should be, God has equipped us, as parents, for the task of raising children. The Christian school is not designed to be a surrogate for today’s family. The state (government) would admittedly like to step into every vacuum we leave available, but it is not an adequate replacement either.

Tripp tells us that we must count the costs and first identify what is more important in this life than parenting our children. Hint…there isn’t anything. Let’s find the obstacles and idols, and put them aside. Let’s be honest, and repent if there are things that we value more than pouring all that we have into our children in order to point them to Christ. This is our calling as parents, and you hopefully remember we talked about this very topic in your family interview. We all fail in one way or another, and yet the answer is humility and grace, which will be next week’s topic as Joe Haferbecker discusses chapter 2.