I am reading an excellent book right now that I feel is worth passing along. It's entitled Cure for the Common Life by Max Lucado. The chapter I just finished that I really want to pass along to you is called Decode Your Kid's Code. It has some wonderful thoughts on raising kids that I wish I had known years ago. Max is saying so eloquently that every child is "uncommon" and, as parents, you are given the task by God to unlock the door to your child's uncommonness. He states, "As parents, we accelerate or stifle, release or repress our children's giftedness. They will spend much of life benefiting or recovering from our influence." His take on the scripture in Proverbs 22:6 ("Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.") is unlike any other I've ever read. He gives the root words for "train up" as "to develop a thirst". He says we, as parents, are required to "awaken thirst" in our children. He suggests that when babies are born, they come with preprogrammed hard drives. Where the scripture says, "...in the way he should go", Max's take is that "way" refers to a unique capacity or characteristic. He says that "way" can also mean "bent". He says that God has already "bent" your child in a certain0. direction. He hands you a preset bow that you secure until the day of release. Raise your child in the way "he should go". So we are required to read our child's God-designed itinerary. "Don't see your child as a blank slate awating your pen, but as a written book awaiting your study." Isn't that awesome?!! It changes the way we look at our newborns, doesn't it? I always thought that I had to "make something" of my little ones. But, according to this newfound information, I should have directed them in the way that God had already preset them to be. Like I said at the start, I wish I had known this years ago. I'm sorry, Michael, Donnie, Angie and Liz. I did the best I knew at the time and, thank God, He took over where I failed.

Now, you guys can take my advice and do better than I did at this parenting thing. Isn't that what we want for our kids - to do better than we did? I think so.

Please get the book and study it from cover to cover. It's full of wisdom and so well written.