This article is written by a man, and for men, so that they may become spiritual leaders of their homes. It needs to be understood that the writer knows there are individuals who will read this that have no man in their lives. If you are a woman, you can apply these principals in your home as well and use them to help prepare your children for life.

In 1995, Paul McCartney was interviewed by a Newsweek writer. They were discussing McCartney’s relationship with John Lennon. Paul told a story about a time when he was on the floor at John Lennon’s home playing “Cowboys and Indians” with John’s son, Julian. After all the “bang-bang, you’re dead” stuff, Lennon pulled McCartney over and asked, “How do you do that?” John was uncomfortable with his own son and didn’t know how to play with him. “I couldn’t tell him,” Paul confesses. “You either know how to do that stuff or you don’t.”

McCarthy is right. Most fathers learn to interact (or not interact) with their children from their parents. So it is reasonable to say, the quality of your parenting skills often depends on how you were parented. Lennon admitted that his parents were mostly non-existent and he had no mentors to teach him how to deal with his son. No wonder he needed to ask McCarthy, “How do you do that?”

Preparing children for life will quite possibly be the biggest and most challenging job given any parent. In today’s world it seems almost impossible to compete with the forces that are pulling our children away from the truths that God has for us in His Word. Throw in the fact that more and more adults weren’t taught about the important issues of life as children themselves, and couple that with the fact that parents are having to work more to make ends meet so they are out of the home longer (or there is only one parent in the home). No wonder there are more and more parents asking, “How do you do that?”

Over the next seven months, Iwant to cover seven core  issues that every parent can and should work on with their children to prepare them for life. The main idea of this series comes from Michael O’Donnell’s book, How A Man Prepares His Sons For Life and will be supported by God’s Word, The Holy Bible. Adding to these two excellent sources, I will be including personal stories from people at Edge who have succeeded at preparing their children for life.

Hopefully, we can learn together how to pass on to the next generation things that will mold them into the people that God wants for His Kingdom work.

I’ve chosen seven core issues that every parent can work on with their children and I’ll be taking the next seven EdgeLife issues to develop them for us all. They are preparing our kids to be:

1) devout disciples of Jesus

2) good citizens

3) responsible workers

4) choosers of good friends

5) able to enjoy life

6) sexually pure

7) lovers of their spouse and supporters of their marriage

We will start with the first subject, “Preparing our kids to be devout disciples of Jesus Christ” next month. I’ve chosen to start with this core issue because everything else will be easier once this subject is established in the home. As with all these core issues, to be most effective they must first be embraced by the parent, then modeled and taught to the child. Warning: Mom and Dad, this may be harder on you than on your kid!

Eighteen years is the amount of time most of us will have to prepare our children for life. Sometimes it seems like eternity, but in actuality, it is just a fleeting moment. Some parents may feel they have already done everything that they can do to prepare their kids for life—but there is always more that can be done. Some may feel that they have blown it and their poor relationships cannot be repaired. I want to encourage you all to take a serious look at your own life and ask God, “Can I personally improve in these seven core areas in my life and how can I teach them to my kids?” We may all find that we need to ask God and our children to forgive us for some area of neglect. (This is a great way to start the learning/teaching process.)

In Deuteronomy 11, God tells the Israelites to love Him and keep His requirements. He goes on to remind them that they witnessed (not their children) all the things God did for them when He freed them from the bondage of the Egyptians and how He provided for them when He took them through the wilderness toward the Promised Land. And the very next section of the Word says to teach these words to their children so “your days and the days of your children may be many in the land that the Lord swore to give your forefathers, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth.” We must diligently teach our children so they are prepared for life and “their days may be many.” It is our job, it is our privilege.

It’s OK to have to ask people, “How do you do that?” but let’s learn together how to prepare our children for life. It’s a BEEF thing; it’s a community thing.

This is gonna be good!