My son put up quite a fuss about going to church yesterday. He is fourteen and he tried to convince me that if I allowed him to stay home he would complete his homework. I am about 99% confident that if I allowed him to stay home he would have spent the entire time either sleeping or playing video games. I am old but not senile. So we went to church. When I got him in the car I started talking to him why he needs to go to church. This is about as close to preaching as I want to get. He switched the subject to evolution and Genesis. He probably thought that would throw me off but I didn’t mind. If that is a subject that bugs him, we can talk about it. I told him I did not know all the answers but here is how I have navigated the murky waters between science and theology. He had several questions but he seemed to be pretty happy with my answers. In a subtle way I was challenging him to come up with his own view on the subject.

Our church does a really nice job making the messages entertaining and educational. Best of all since he views this church as fun, he listens. So it was not too hard to talk to him about applying what you heard in your own life. I believe that all teenagers have a moral compass. Unfortunately if they do not pull the compass out and check it occasionally they do not know where to find it when they need it.