Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
This proverb brings back memories of a Pastor I once knew. He had gone to the hospital to be with his mother in her last hours. As he sat beside her, knowing that this would be the last time he would be able to tell her that he loved her, his heart was breaking. Later that day, as she left this world to be with her heavenly father, he made a vow to himself, that he would never visit another person in a hospital.
He kept that vow he had made to himself. even he was called several times to be with family, that was going through what he had experienced. His heart would break for those families, but the pain was still too new.
That year as he and his family sat down to Thanksgiving dinner, a call came from a young couple that had become members of his Church. They had one child, a daughter who had been admitted to the hospital, and were told that she had a serious illness. The doctors did not expect the child to make it through the night, and would he please come. He was torn between telling them that he was unable to come, and fighting his fears, by going to the bedside of the little girl.
As he entered the room where the child lay, she called out to him and said: Would you please hold my hand? As he held her hand and prayed for both her and the family, she suddenly said to him ” You do not have to hold my hand any longer, because Jesus is here, and wants to hold my hand. He let go of her hand, and she raised her little hand, closed it, and went home with Jesus.
This is a true story, but it has a powerful lesson behind it. Bring up your child, to know our Lord and Savior, because we never know when Jesus will call them home.