The Umbrella

This week has been VBS Unplugged week at our church. The "Unplugged" is something our church started a couple of y ears ago-taking VBS and the message of God's love to the neighborhoods and communities around our church, instead of waiting for them to come to us.

My "site", the community that I was assigned to be leader over, is actually a neighborhood in a nearby town. I was actually working with a mission church of our own church, and so I was partnering with that church's pastor.

Tuesday afternoon, storm clouds began rolling in and phones began ringing with the question, "Will VBS go on?" VBS, as we do it, takes place outside, and many of our sites have no "inside" option. My site was one of those with no rain plan. We went right up to the last minute hoping for the best. But as we pulled into town, it was obvious that the weather was not going to cooperate. All my phone calls and text messages and prayers aside, it was going to storm.

I can't tell you what a relief it was, as we pulled into the parking lot of our site, to see the church pastor (my co-leader) standing with all of our workers, obviously informing them that we were going to have to cancel for the night. I really did not want to have to make that decision. What freedom for me to be out from under that responsibility. It was, after all, his community. This is the area his church is ministering to. It was his call to make.

What does my story have to do with parenting? This is how God has designed the family. There is a chain of authority he has established-an umbrella of protection he has placed over us. That umbrella is so freeing when it is exercised with Godly leadership. We can operate freely under that umbrella. Our children can live safely under that umbrella. It isn't a burden, but a blessing. When families live under God's authority, when wives function under their husband's authority and when children live under their parent's authority, the family functions as it was intended. The storms of life will come. But God's umbrella of authority protects us from decisions and choices that aren't ours to make. Submission and obedience aren't meant to weigh us down, they are meant to make our lives easier. And they provide a Godly example for our children to follow. From parents submitting to God to children obeying parents, and everywhere in between, we are to live out God's plan for our lives and for our family. And as we do, we flourish.