Lead Me

The family-life/service-life/work-life balance is a difficult one to maintain.

I remember having a conversation with one of my fellow Kairos volunteers about this topic. He had asked me if I was interested in leading one of the upcoming prison ministry weekends, which meant serving as a member of the leadership team for 3 sessions in a row.  This would have been a very heavy time commitment, spanning many months.  After thanking him for considering me, I told him that I was concerned about the time I would spend away from family over multiple weekends.  He wisely responded, “I understand.  Your family is your first ministry.”

The Sanctus Real song “Lead Me” is a beautiful depiction of the struggle we face in balancing the priorities in our lives, while maintaining the important role of leading our family, especially in the area of our relationship with God.  (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLr6G8Xy5uc&feature=kp)

“I look around and see my wonderful life,
Almost perfect from the outside.
In picture frames I see my beautiful wife,
Always smiling,
But on the inside, I can hear her saying... 

‘Lead me with strong hands
Stand up when I can't
Don't leave me hungry for love
Chasing dreams, what about us?’ "

I know I tread on controversial territory when I say that the father of the household has the most important role in leading his family in the area of faith.  But, the numbers don’t lie.  When the father of a family attends church regularly, 66% of the children in these families attend church regularly later in life, with more than 75% attending on an irregular basis.  Conversely, when the father does not attend church, only 1 child in 50 (2%) attend worship regularly as adults.

Joshua gives us a great example of a man standing up and leading his family:

“But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.” (Joshua 24:15)

But I struggle every day with the balance.  No matter what I do, I seem to fall short.  Work is busy and the days become long; my service life takes time away from just being a presence with them.  I wonder if I am able to keep it all together, even giving it my best effort.

“So Father, give me the strength
To be everything I'm called to be.
Oh, Father, show me the way
To lead them
Won't You lead me? 

To lead them with strong hands
To stand up when they can't
Don't want to leave them hungry for love,
Chasing things that I could give up 

I'll show them I'm willing to fight
And give them the best of my life
So we can call this our home
Lead me, 'cause I can't do this alone 

Father, lead me, 'cause I can't do this alone”

So, even as we face the daily responsibility of leading others, especially our families, to a deeper knowing and loving of Jesus, remember that we can call on God each day to have Him lead us.  We don’t have to do it alone.