Outside the clique

It's amazing how easy it is to fall into your own clique. Growing up all my friends were friends from school which meant the majority of my adult friends went to Christian schools and were Christians. I never really thought about it. I had friends who had similar thoughts and beliefs like me.

But recently I've discovered how comfortable we get, how our cliques alter our outlook. I took my little cousin to AWANA with TTT and when I went to pick the kids up, the teacher told me that she was glad Jory had brought his cousin. She told me one of the things she loved about leading an AWANA class is reaching the kids who haven't heard the Word or don't know much about the Bible. Wait, what?!? What was she talking about? Of course, our little cousin knew the Bible. My aunt was on the usher board, she was in church every Sunday. She raised my cousin in the church, but - - When I thought about, I couldn't think of the last time I saw my cousin and her daughter in church. When my little cousin went to church it was usually with her grandma, my aunt. How could this be? Then I thought about my own childhood.

I went to Baptist schools so I had Bible classes, learning Bible verses, reading about my Bible history, was a part of everyday life. But when I tried to remember my mom reading the Bible with me, or teaching me Christian songs, or discussing the Word with me, my mind drew a semi-blank. I remember us praying together, remember reading Psalms 121 every morning as my mom drove me to Redeemer, and if I had any questions about my Bible homework or with my lesson for Sunday School, but that's it. What I learned about the Bible, the everyday practices came from my teachers, from the youth pastors at my schools' churches, the majority of the Biblical principles that helped shape me I learned outside the home.

I guess it was completely possible and plausible that my little cousin knew little about the Bible. Would my kids know what they know, if I hadn't deepen my relationship with some awesome women who homeschooled, if I hadn't started attending a church bi-monthly where a lot of the members homeschooled, if I hadn't been encouraged by these women to go hear Dr. Voddie Baucham speak, if I hadn't been convicted of the fact that like many others that my children would learn about God via osmosis?

I'm very blessed that I have the friends I have, the loved ones I have, that my eyes and mind have been opened so my children won't be kids who learn about their Savior through osmosis. I need to open my eyes and look outside my safe and secure clique and reach out to those outside it.