Family Unity, God's Plan

I recently received an unexpected comment on my public blog where I talked about our Awana experiences. The comment was from an Awana headquarters staff member who wanted additional information about the things I had shared. She found my blog because they use google alerts to find references on the internet about Awana. In talking to her later on the telephone, she was interested in the involvement of our family during the past 28 years of Awana. She is preparing material for the 60th anniversary of Awana and might do an article on our family and our Awana program. In doing some research I found that 16 Kauffmans/Grimms have served a total of 256 years in our Awana program. Eleven of our family members have been clubbers in the program. These facts reminded me again how good the Lord has been to our family and how much each one means to us. We are especially blessed that our three sons married wives who love and serve the Lord. We are blessed because they have made it a priority to raise our grandchildren in the things of the Lord. We are especially blessed because they live close by and worship with us. We are blessed because their love for the Lord unites us and we really enjoy being together. This reality has also hit home since during the last few months we have been surprised and saddened to learn of at least six families that we know that not only don't know such unity but also have deep family divisions. We have heard of friends where parents and children haven't talked in years. We have learned of grandparents who dare not visit their grandchildren. We have a widowed friend who lives a few blocks from us and she hasn't been allowed, for several years, to have any contact with her grandchildren who live just a few miles from here. The widow longs to just see her grandchildren or talk to her son and daughter-in-law. Life is so short and it is a sin to allow these divisions to continue, even for a day. The Bible is very clear in teaching that children are to honor their parents – even if the parents wrong them. It is not an option but a Biblical command, as is forgiveness. It is bad enough for such divisions to exist, but when spiritual commandments are ignored, there will be penalties to pay in both this life and in our future lives. I feel so sad about the price that family members will pay for not following God's commands. He is the one who instituted the family unit and His heart must break to see these deep divisions. But we should pray for these families and situations. We know of a pastor whose in-laws disowned he and his wife when they became Christians. For several decades they had no contact and the in-laws didn't even know their grandchildren. But people prayed for years. Later, when the pastor's wife was diagnosed with terminal cancer, the barriers were finally broken and reconciliation took place. But all those years were gone. Later when the wife died and the father-in-law died, the mother-in-law moved in with her son-in-law and today they take care of each other. That type of happy ending is rare but exciting. If you and your family live in unity, don't forget to thank the Lord for that. I do this every day because God has blessed us. If there are differences that divide, please don't let another day go by without forgiving and reconciling. Life is too short to live otherwise.