No Tiny Adventures Allowed

Superman family discipleship

When I was a kid, my day revolved around one thing. Action figures and lots of them. Han Solo. Batman. G.I. Joe. Didn’t matter which hero. As long as I had a couple of action figures in my hand, I never got bored.

I spent hours living out countless tiny adventures. I fought massive battles, thwarted bank robberies and saved the galaxy every day. These struggles seemed epic in my head, but, of course, in reality, they were played out in a world of four-inch plastic heroes.

When you’re a child, there’s nothing wrong with living little adventures. As our kids grow up, however, it’s our responsibility to teach them to live for so much more.

We all know too many adults (ourselves included) who waste their lives on small quests. Money. Approval. Achievement. Fame. These are the tiny adventures that dominate so many of our lives.

The Bible teaches us that God is on an adventure, and there is nothing small about it. In John 5, Jesus said that his Father is always at work.   He is relentlessly on mission to restore his people to relationship with himself. He has come to reclaim his fallen creation, vanquish evil and bring heaven to earth.

That is one big adventure!

And the best part about it is we are invited to join it. Here are four simple things you can take to get your family involved in God’s big adventure today:

1. Set the example for your kids. Ask yourself, “What are my kids learning from my example about what’s most important in life?”

2. Choose to join God’s big adventure daily. Every morning, ask yourself the question posed by Henry Blackaby in his book Experiencing God, “Where is God at work and how can I join him there?”

3. Get your kids involved in God’s adventure while they’re young. Pray about who you can serve as a family and who God is bringing into your life to love. Look for opportunities to help your kids practice generosity and hospitality.  Take holy risks together.

4. Spend time in the Bible learning about God’s big adventure as a family. In every family devotion time, talk about what the Bible teaches us about what God’s up to in the world today and how you can join him.

If you’d like help unpacking this with your family, check out my new family devotional series, God’s Big Adventure, releasing in July from 3DM Publishing. Over three short devotional books, we’ll walk through the whole story of Scripture through the lens of how we can help our families join God’s adventure every day.

Of course, you don’t need any books to get started.  So, what are you waiting for?  Go ahead and take a step.  Action figures are great and all, but action families? Way better.

Helping Your Kids Understand the Bible

Imagine what it would be like if every time you went to see a movie, the theater would only let you watch five minutes at a time.  Now imagine if they only showed those five minute scenes out of order.

It would be frustrating, right?  Probably hard to figure out the story and where the whole thing was going.  Not only would the scenes feel random and disconnected, but the greater narrative would be lost.

Sometimes, I think this is how we introduce kids to the Bible.  We throw random stories at them and trust that somehow they’ll understand what it’s all about.  Even if we read the Bible with them sequentially, it’s easy to lose the greater story in the midst of so many smaller events.

It’s one thing to read Bible stories to your kids.  It’s a whole other challenge to help them understand what the Bible’s really about.

However, if you step back and view the whole narrative of Scripture together, you’ll see two big ideas emerge that every kid can understand.  Relationship and responsibility.   Every story in the Bible comes back to this.

The Bible is God’s story, but it’s actually two different kinds of stories woven together.  It’s a love story (but not the mushy kind) and an adventure story.

The Love Story: God loves us and wants to be our dad in heaven.  He wants to adopt us into his special family and spend time with us every day.

The Adventure Story: Our dad in heaven has a really important job.  He’s the King of the universe, and he’s on a mission to save the world he made.  As kids of the king, we get to be a part of this adventure.

Talk to your kids about the love story and adventure story.  As you read the Bible together, zero on which themes are popping out of the passage.  Is this a story about friendship with God or going on a mission with God?  Or do you see both?

As you help your kids see God’s big story through these double lenses, they’ll begin to not just learn Bible stories, but find purpose and meaning for their everyday lives.

If you’d like some help teaching your kids about God’s love story and adventure story, check out my upcoming series of family devotionals, called God’s Big Adventure.  Over three short devotional books, we’ll explore the entire story from Genesis to Revelation, showing kids how they can live out friendship and adventure with God every day.

To get updates on the book release and for some cool insider bonuses and giveaways, sign up for the God’s Big Adventure e-mail below.

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