May 19, 2025 • 21 mins
Stories have power. None more so than when they teach us how to guide young hearts toward serving others. Josh shares the compelling "two-cart story," where a father ingeniously teaches his children about sacrifice by letting them select premium groceries, then asking which items they'll give to a family in need. What begins as reluctance transforms into joy as the children witness the impact of their generosity firsthand.
Mark recalls his mother's spontaneous compassion – stopping to help a man collecting bottles for money, and another powerful moment when she asked young Mark to give his brand-new tennis shoes to a boy in need. These weren't contrived teaching moments but authentic responses that left lifelong impressions.
Scripture gives us the blueprint for raising servant-hearted children. Psalm 127 compares children to arrows that must be aimed to hit their target. Our role as parents isn't merely telling our children to serve, but showing them through our actions and involving them in meaningful experiences that shape their character.
The practical strategies offered are refreshingly accessible: make service a family habit, teach children to notice needs around them (like encouraging a nine-year-old to talk with elderly church members), explain the "why" behind service, and celebrate generosity when it happens. Children need to understand that their work – from cleaning rooms to helping neighbors – honors God when done with the right heart.
The power lies not in perfect parenting but in consistent modeling. When children see us serving with joy and purpose, they learn to do the same. Your family's next grocery trip could become more than just shopping – it might become the lesson your children remember for a lifetime.
Ready to shape the next generation of servants? Start with this week's challenge: plan a family service project where everyone participates in the choosing, organizing, and serving. Because ultimately, your children aren't just watching what you say about serving others – they're watching what you do.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Welcome to Made for Good, the podcast where we
explore how to live out ourpurpose through good works.
Hey, I'm Josh.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
And I'm Mark.
Today we're talking about thenext generation.
We're talking about somethingthat not only impacts just us,
but how we can teach ourchildren to grow up with a heart
for serving others.
You know, Josh, raisingchildren in the Lord is one of
the greatest responsibilitiesgiven to parents.
Yeah, and they don't do it.
Naturally, it takes guidance,takes guidance from Christian
(00:37):
parents.
Ok, today we're going to dosomething just a little bit
different at the beginning.
We're going to.
We've got a couple of storiesto share and we think that
they're very powerful.
They show the examples thatwe're trying to convey in this
involving children in servingothers.
Josh, why don't you tell yourstory first?
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Sure, I call it the two-cart story Because there
were how many carts?
Two carts, Two carts okay,nailed it, boy that's that's
strong.
Put a lot of thought in that.
Well, this is just aboutparents and just really hands on
teaching.
So the story goes like thisthere was this dad and he had, I
think it was, three kids, if Iremember the story right.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
So this is a real story.
It's a real story.
He was told by somebody whoknew this actual family, so this
is not a made up thing.
It really happened, right.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
I'm not going to say the names of the family, but
yeah for sure.
So there was this dad.
He had three kids and he toldthe kids get in the car, we're
going to go grocery shopping.
And so they went, and on theway there he told the kids today
I'm going to let you dosomething you've never done
before, I'm going to let youpick out the food.
(01:47):
And yeah, they got reallyexcited.
And so when they walked in, hedid something interesting.
He told them to get two carts.
So one kid got one, the otherkids got the other, and they
start going off into all of theaisles of the grocery store.
And what he told them?
When they were inside, he saidguys, I want you to fill up this
(02:09):
cart with your favorite things.
And talking about the goodstuff, mark, not just bologna.
When they were in the meatsection they got to choose
steaks.
So he would look at the meatsection and say what's your
favorite?
And well, dad, I want thesteaks.
And so he let them get them.
He, they put them in the cart,they'd go further into the
aisles and then, uh, they wouldalso.
(02:29):
Uh, by the way, when they werein that section they had this
other buggy and so, even thoughthey got steaks in the other
buggy, he would just throw inlike the long.
So he had to stake someonebelonging the other, so he had.
So they kept going.
They'd go into the sierra dad,we love, we love fruit loops and
and so, okay, we get the box offruit loops.
Well then, he got the off brandof the fruit loops put in the
account.
So they just kept going row byrow by row into these whatever
(02:53):
they chose.
Good, he chose like the genericright, right and so, and they
weren't paying attention to thatbecause they were so excited
they were already seeing thisfood on their plate right when
they got home, right?
So as they went through andthey finished up, they were
checking out and he put onebuggy in front of the other so
the stuff could be separated.
And they got everything bagged.
(03:14):
The kids were excited, rushedinto the car, they paid and he
distinctly put in the back ofthe trunk the bag separated.
So there was the good stuff andthere was generic stuff.
So they all the kids piled upin the vehicle.
They were excited, they buckledup, they were on their way home
and they knew how to get home.
And as they were on the wayhome, they were just thinking
(03:34):
about what they were going toeat.
And so, uh, on the way home,though, instead of taking a
right, they took a left, andthey realized that this looks a
little different, but they wereso excited they didn't care.
And then another road.
They thought we can cut backhere.
Well, instead of taking a right, he took a left again, and and
the same goes on and on untilreal.
Finally, one of the kids justsaid dad, where are we going?
(03:54):
Well, this isn't the way home.
And so he told them well, we'regoing to go see a family that
needs some help.
So they didn't think very muchabout it.
They just thought, okay, well,we're going to go do what dad
wants us to do.
But when they parked, got tothe home, they realized this was
a family that really that theywere.
They were even friends withthat at church.
This family really needed somehelp, and so he told them it was
(04:18):
obvious even to the children.
Yes, they knew, they knew, theycould even see the environment
they were in, and he told themthat we were going to do
something for them.
And so they got out of the car.
Once they parked, he opened thetrunk and this is the moment
where he asked them the questionwhich groceries are we going to
give to them?
Are we going to give them thegood stuff?
Are we going to give them thegeneric stuff?
(04:39):
Imagine what these kids werethinking.
They were young.
They were like Dad no, not thesteaks.
Yeah, not, not, not the fruitloops.
I mean, come on Right.
But what he wanted them to dois to know what's the best
decision for this family.
How can we help them the most?
Would you believe that,ultimately, these kids chose the
better stuff?
They gave the better stuff.
(05:00):
They gave the better stuff.
And so they grabbed the bagsand they took it.
In their posture wasn't reallyexcited, right, they were a
little bit down with theirshoulders.
But when they saw the otherchildren and they saw the
parents to give them the stuff,uh that things started to shift.
See these other kids thatdidn't have what these kids had.
They got excited and they wereoverly thankful and they
couldn't believe they had fruitloops and they couldn't believe
(05:22):
mom got, we got, stakes.
So these kids were able toexperience something that they
didn't know.
This is almost like a trap forthem, right.
They didn't know that they weregoing to get to go through this
, but what their dad taught themwas generosity, and what he
taught them was sacrifice andthe importance of giving up
something for someone elsebecause it matters.
Now, in this story, this didhappen several times.
(05:45):
After that, these kids startedto know when dad said get two
carts, okay, here we go, here wego.
We know what's going on, butthis made a lasting imprint on
their lives, where they rememberit to this day.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
Wow, that is such a powerful story and I've heard
you tell it before and it'sstill a powerful story, even
here now as I hear it again.
You know I've got a couple ofstories I'd like to share and
you know these were from myyouth.
I distinctly remember once myfamily driving down the road we
(06:14):
were in the white Ford four-doorGalaxy that my parents had we
passed a gentleman who was onthe side of the road picking up
bottles and cans.
Of course, back then one of theways to get money was to pick
those up and take them and turnthem in and you could get money
(06:35):
for turning in a bottle.
And that's obviously what hewas doing.
And my mom asked my dad to turnaround.
We were in a divided highway sohe did go down a little bit,
turn around, come back.
Meanwhile she's digging in herpurse and we didn't have a lot
of money, so she pulls out a $5bill.
She asked him to pull off theside of the road when we got
(06:56):
close to the man and so sherolled her window down.
You know the old crank top, youknow squeaky window rolls down,
the old crank top.
You know squeaky window rollsdown and the gentleman comes up
and she gives him a $5 bill andhe's very grateful, of course,
and you know we're sitting inthe back seat.
(07:18):
I'm sure that my mom was notthinking I'm going to teach my
kids a lesson today.
I don't think that was herfocus.
We were very young.
I mean, I was in elementaryschool and I'm much older today
and she's been gone since 2013.
And I still remember that story.
Her intention was to help theperson.
(07:40):
As we've said before, she hadcompassion on this man who's out
there.
Obviously, that's not what youdo if you're wealthy.
It's not even what you do ifyou have the ability to make
ends meet.
That's a person who can't makeends meet.
He was out there just trying toliterally pick up pennies,
(08:01):
essentially.
And there's another story that Iremember from my youth that was
even younger.
I was not even in elementaryschool, so this had to be four
or five years old, elementaryschool, so this had to be four
or five years old.
Again, it was very clear in mymind I had just my mom had just
bought me a brand new pair oftennis shoes.
(08:22):
They were white, they weresuper cool.
I was really excited about them, and her and one of her friends
had gone to visit.
What I remember in my mind was asingle mom with a little boy,
maybe about my age, and we wentto visit and I'm just there, I'm
(08:42):
just enjoying these shoesreally and my mom does the most
shocking thing to me at thattime that she could have done.
She asked me to take off my newshoes and we were going to
leave them with the little boy,and it was such a powerful
example.
Again, my mom was not focusedon teaching me a lesson.
(09:04):
She was focused on meeting theneed of that little boy who
maybe didn't even have a pair ofshoes.
I don't know, but I wound upgiving him my pair of shoes.
I don't have a memory of this,but I'm sure that I got another
pair of shoes, maybe even on theway home, maybe even a little
bit better, I don't know.
My mom, my parents, always tookcare of us, so she saw a need
(09:29):
and in this case she involved methe same way the father in your
story involved the kids inmaking the decisions.
You know, I don't rememberpitching a fit.
I do remember being sad that mynew shoes were not mine anymore
.
You know, these are storiesthat impact us, you know,
(09:51):
throughout our life and we couldshare with others.
It's not something that was, Ithink, intentionally designed as
a teaching moment.
It was just meeting a need.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
Yeah, you know this episode well.
We some of our episode titleswe know are silly.
There's that saying do as I say, not as I do.
Yeah, this episode is entitledDo as I Do, and one of the
things that the reasons whywe've told the stories we did is
it shows just that we can dosome special things to our
(10:24):
children at a very young age,make an imprint on their hearts
so they'll know how to servewhen they get older, and so I
appreciate you sharing thestories that you did.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
What we're saying really here is that children
learn by watching and, maybe,even more powerfully, by doing,
by participating in it.
You know, let's take a look ata verse in Psalm 127, the 127th
Psalm, verse four and five.
This compares children toarrows.
Like arrows in the hand of awarrior are the children of
(10:54):
one's youth.
Blessed is the man who fillshis quiver with them.
Now, we always focus on thelatter part of that.
You know, it's great to have alot of children.
Okay, blessed is the man whofills his quiver with all these
arrows, with all these children.
But don't miss the first partof it.
Like arrows in the hand of awarrior, arrows don't hit the
target on of it.
Like arrows in the hand of awarrior, Arrows don't hit the
(11:16):
target on their own.
They must be aimed.
In the same way, we have tointentionally guide our children
toward a life of faith and alsoof service.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
Love that the Bible is full of wisdom about raising
our children to serve.
Matter of fact, one of our mostfavorite verses and, I guess,
well-known verses in Proverbs 22, 6, where it says Training our
children means more than justtelling them what to do.
(11:47):
It means showing them throughour actions.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
Yeah, and Deuteronomy 6, verse 7 kind of gives us a
strategy.
You know this is something thatcan be done.
You know, throughout the day itsays Faith is not just
something that we teach ourchildren when we're at church.
(12:15):
It really should be woven intoour everyday life.
Our homes really should be thefirst place that kids see
serving others in action.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
Let's get into our mission profile.
Obviously, there's just a lotto think about when it comes to
teaching our children about goodworks and really just how to
get them plugged in and involved.
Here's some things or somethings for you to consider, some
great ways to do just that.
Make service a family habit.
What I'm talking about issomething like volunteering
(12:46):
together, maybe at a local foodbank, or even going to assisted
living to go visit someone thatyou may know from church or your
family, and include your child.
And then I just think aboutsome other little projects that
you might could do that areservice related.
Our natural thing within insideof us as a parent, or maybe
just I can say as me, and maybethis says a lot about me
(13:09):
Sometimes you just think, well,I can do it real quickly and
let's get the kid out of the way.
No, no, wyatt, I know you wantto help, but dad can do this,
and then you can fill in theblank.
Take a step back, parents.
This is not about you.
This is about involving yourchildren and helping out.
Another thing to do is teachthem to notice needs.
This is where I'm at with myoldest.
I have a nine-year-old and asix-year-old, and one of the
(13:32):
things that Haley and I havedone with our nine-year-old is
we encourage him to look out tohelp others.
We want him to haveconversations with people.
You might've heard of thisthing called the three-minute
rule, where as soon as serviceis over, for the first three
minutes don't go talk to thepeople that you know or your
little circle.
Get out and talk to visitors orpeople that you don't know as
(13:52):
well.
Do it for three minutes.
That's a good thing for us todo as adults in general.
We have done this thing withour children over time.
I'm not saying we've beenreally consistent with it, but
we've told our children to do itGo talk to someone you don't
know.
Specifically, we wanted ouroldest to go talk to someone who
(14:13):
was older and we didn't wantthem just to say, you know, hey,
I'm Wyatt and run away.
What we asked Wyatt to dospecifically was ask how their
day was, how they were feeling,and that was a really cool thing
to see and watch, and obviouslyhe knows I'm watching him like
a hawk, so he's got to go dothis thing.
But the cool thing afterwardswas hearing some of the elderly
people come to Haley and I andjust say like was hearing some
(14:35):
of the elderly people come toHaley and I and just say, like
you're not gonna believe this.
Your son asked me how I'm doingand that exercise that we've
done over time.
What I can say is Wyatt nowdoes that from time to time.
I've seen him at familygatherings doing that and I know
it sounds like I'm ragging onmy son, but it's an example of
you need to teach your childrento notice things around them.
We've talked about awarenessthis can happen at a very young
(14:56):
age and then talk about why weserve.
This is a little embarrassing.
I have a six-year-old Right now.
This is where we're at with mysix-year-old On the journey.
Yes, I will say this even onthis episode that he has said
that he don't want to go tochurch.
I've heard him say that episodethat he has said that he don't
(15:16):
want to go to church.
I've heard him say that.
And so Haley and I, I feel likeoften, are at the point where
we're saying why we serve and Ithink back to something my mom
used to say.
She would say, josh, we don'thave to go, like I was telling
her we get to go.
And that's where I'm at with myyoungest.
We're explaining why we serveGod and why we want to be more
like him, and then justcelebrate generosity.
(15:38):
One of the things that we cando to stir up our children is to
praise them when they showkindness and praise them when
they show selflessness.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
You know, in the last episode we talk about husbands
and wives serving together andone of the examples would be to,
you know, to have have somepeople in our home for a meal,
and if you've got children, youknow, it's a great way to
involve them as well.
Maybe you let your daughter orson set the table and someone
comes in and said, oh wow, youknow your table looks so nice.
(16:09):
And then you go well, you knowBilly set the table for us.
Or you know Kimberly set thetable for us, and if they're
standing right there, like you,just praise them in front of
everyone and that's so good.
They.
They contributed to theblessings of the evening, if you
can use that, the whole vibefor the night.
They were a part of it.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
I love that and especially as with kids they're
it's more interesting thanadults.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
You can see their body language instantly change
when you give them that creditthat big smile Absolutely Well,
let's not forget kids watch whatwe do, not just what we say.
So if they see us serving withjoy and purpose, then they'll
(16:53):
eventually learn to do the samething Right.
And so what we're really doingis teaching them to serve the
Lord, and we really need toteach them that their work
honors God, amen.
Colossians 3, 23 through 24says Whatever you do, work
heartily as for the Lord and notfor men, knowing that from the
(17:14):
Lord you will receive theinheritance of your reward.
You are serving the Lord Christ.
Such a powerful verse, yeah, andthere's another one in
Philippians 2, verse 3, you know, do nothing from selfish
ambition or conceit, but humblycount others more significant
than yourselves.
We'll use that verse before aswell, showing and teaching
(17:35):
children that their work is notjust for themselves.
If they're cleaning their room,it's not just for the family.
When they set the table, theyneed to get the mindset that all
that they're doing and again,colossians 3, 23, whatever you
do, work hardly as if you'redoing it for God.
(17:57):
And teaching that lesson early,man.
It's going to pay dividends tothem in their schoolwork.
It's going to pay dividends tothem as they get their first job
.
They're going to be full ofintegrity when they work,
knowing that if nobody else isseeing this, even if no one else
is seeing this, god sees it,and I'm going to work as if my
(18:18):
service is an offering to God.
It really can kind of changetheir attitude towards work.
It's not something that theywant to avoid.
They can look at it as serviceto God.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
Yeah, before I get into the mission challenge of
this week, I just want to say Iam not a perfect dad at all.
My kids are like rabbit dogsmost of this week.
I just want to say I am not aperfect dad at all.
My kids are like rabid dogsmost of the time, and so we're
learning as we go.
But there's your kids are great.
There's been some helpfulthings today that we've looked
at scripture.
They're really powerful andhave been helpful for a lot of
us as parents.
(18:49):
We hope it's helpful for you.
But as far as our missionchallenge for you this week,
well, parents, here we go.
It's about making time as afamily to serve, and here it is.
Here's the weekly challengeMake service a family event.
The first thing we want you todo is we want you to plan a
family service project.
(19:10):
Pick something that everyonecan do, by the way, don't just
pick something that you and yourwife are good at.
Think about your childrenspecifically so everyone can
participate, and this can happenin so many ways.
You can make a care packagetogether as a family around your
kitchen table.
You can look out for awarenessif you're trying to teach them
that Help out a neighbor.
I mean there's just tons ofstuff, right.
But specifically, make this ahands-on activity, as I've kind
(19:37):
of hinted at.
Keep your children involved inthe decision-making.
Let them be a part of thechoosing and organizing and even
carrying it out.
That way they can get theability to serve in a number of
different facets and then talkabout the why.
When this thing is all done, Iwant you to have a conversation
around that kitchen table againwith your children and discuss
how it made them feel andexplain to them how they just
(19:57):
honored God.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
Obviously an optional challenge here is you could try
the two carts idea.
I mean, this is a veryachievable thing.
Next time you go shopping, gettwo carts and let the kids pick
out groceries for another familyin need and then go and deliver
them.
As you described that story,the impact of that was the kids
bringing the groceries into thehouse and seeing the reaction of
(20:22):
the children in the house andmaybe even the parents.
So I bet you the parents wereprobably tearing up, and for
them to see that impact is justsuper powerful and it will make
a lasting impression on them.
Okay, so that's it for today'sepisode of Made for Good.
If this conversation encouragedor challenged you in any way,
be sure that you subscribe tothe podcast so you don't miss
(20:45):
the next one.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
And we hope that you found this helpful and if you
did consider sharing it with afriend.
Until next time, train up thenext generation.
Lead by example and rememberyou were made for this.
Thank you.
Welcome to Made for Good, the podcast where we
explore how to live out ourpurpose through good works.
Hey, I'm Josh.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
And I'm Mark.
Today we're talking about thenext generation.
We're talking about somethingthat not only impacts just us,
but how we can teach ourchildren to grow up with a heart
for serving others.
You know, Josh, raisingchildren in the Lord is one of
the greatest responsibilitiesgiven to parents.
Yeah, and they don't do it.
Naturally, it takes guidance,takes guidance from Christian
(00:37):
parents.
Ok, today we're going to dosomething just a little bit
different at the beginning.
We're going to.
We've got a couple of storiesto share and we think that
they're very powerful.
They show the examples thatwe're trying to convey in this
involving children in servingothers.
Josh, why don't you tell yourstory first?
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Sure, I call it the two-cart story Because there
were how many carts?
Two carts, Two carts okay,nailed it, boy that's that's
strong.
Put a lot of thought in that.
Well, this is just aboutparents and just really hands on
teaching.
So the story goes like thisthere was this dad and he had, I
think it was, three kids, if Iremember the story right.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
So this is a real story.
It's a real story.
He was told by somebody whoknew this actual family, so this
is not a made up thing.
It really happened, right.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
I'm not going to say the names of the family, but
yeah for sure.
So there was this dad.
He had three kids and he toldthe kids get in the car, we're
going to go grocery shopping.
And so they went, and on theway there he told the kids today
I'm going to let you dosomething you've never done
before, I'm going to let youpick out the food.
(01:47):
And yeah, they got reallyexcited.
And so when they walked in, hedid something interesting.
He told them to get two carts.
So one kid got one, the otherkids got the other, and they
start going off into all of theaisles of the grocery store.
And what he told them?
When they were inside, he saidguys, I want you to fill up this
(02:09):
cart with your favorite things.
And talking about the goodstuff, mark, not just bologna.
When they were in the meatsection they got to choose
steaks.
So he would look at the meatsection and say what's your
favorite?
And well, dad, I want thesteaks.
And so he let them get them.
He, they put them in the cart,they'd go further into the
aisles and then, uh, they wouldalso.
(02:29):
Uh, by the way, when they werein that section they had this
other buggy and so, even thoughthey got steaks in the other
buggy, he would just throw inlike the long.
So he had to stake someonebelonging the other, so he had.
So they kept going.
They'd go into the sierra dad,we love, we love fruit loops and
and so, okay, we get the box offruit loops.
Well then, he got the off brandof the fruit loops put in the
account.
So they just kept going row byrow by row into these whatever
(02:53):
they chose.
Good, he chose like the genericright, right and so, and they
weren't paying attention to thatbecause they were so excited
they were already seeing thisfood on their plate right when
they got home, right?
So as they went through andthey finished up, they were
checking out and he put onebuggy in front of the other so
the stuff could be separated.
And they got everything bagged.
(03:14):
The kids were excited, rushedinto the car, they paid and he
distinctly put in the back ofthe trunk the bag separated.
So there was the good stuff andthere was generic stuff.
So they all the kids piled upin the vehicle.
They were excited, they buckledup, they were on their way home
and they knew how to get home.
And as they were on the wayhome, they were just thinking
(03:34):
about what they were going toeat.
And so, uh, on the way home,though, instead of taking a
right, they took a left, andthey realized that this looks a
little different, but they wereso excited they didn't care.
And then another road.
They thought we can cut backhere.
Well, instead of taking a right, he took a left again, and and
the same goes on and on untilreal.
Finally, one of the kids justsaid dad, where are we going?
(03:54):
Well, this isn't the way home.
And so he told them well, we'regoing to go see a family that
needs some help.
So they didn't think very muchabout it.
They just thought, okay, well,we're going to go do what dad
wants us to do.
But when they parked, got tothe home, they realized this was
a family that really that theywere.
They were even friends withthat at church.
This family really needed somehelp, and so he told them it was
(04:18):
obvious even to the children.
Yes, they knew, they knew, theycould even see the environment
they were in, and he told themthat we were going to do
something for them.
And so they got out of the car.
Once they parked, he opened thetrunk and this is the moment
where he asked them the questionwhich groceries are we going to
give to them?
Are we going to give them thegood stuff?
Are we going to give them thegeneric stuff?
(04:39):
Imagine what these kids werethinking.
They were young.
They were like Dad no, not thesteaks.
Yeah, not, not, not the fruitloops.
I mean, come on Right.
But what he wanted them to dois to know what's the best
decision for this family.
How can we help them the most?
Would you believe that,ultimately, these kids chose the
better stuff?
They gave the better stuff.
(05:00):
They gave the better stuff.
And so they grabbed the bagsand they took it.
In their posture wasn't reallyexcited, right, they were a
little bit down with theirshoulders.
But when they saw the otherchildren and they saw the
parents to give them the stuff,uh that things started to shift.
See these other kids thatdidn't have what these kids had.
They got excited and they wereoverly thankful and they
couldn't believe they had fruitloops and they couldn't believe
(05:22):
mom got, we got, stakes.
So these kids were able toexperience something that they
didn't know.
This is almost like a trap forthem, right.
They didn't know that they weregoing to get to go through this
, but what their dad taught themwas generosity, and what he
taught them was sacrifice andthe importance of giving up
something for someone elsebecause it matters.
Now, in this story, this didhappen several times.
(05:45):
After that, these kids startedto know when dad said get two
carts, okay, here we go, here wego.
We know what's going on, butthis made a lasting imprint on
their lives, where they rememberit to this day.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
Wow, that is such a powerful story and I've heard
you tell it before and it'sstill a powerful story, even
here now as I hear it again.
You know I've got a couple ofstories I'd like to share and
you know these were from myyouth.
I distinctly remember once myfamily driving down the road we
(06:14):
were in the white Ford four-doorGalaxy that my parents had we
passed a gentleman who was onthe side of the road picking up
bottles and cans.
Of course, back then one of theways to get money was to pick
those up and take them and turnthem in and you could get money
(06:35):
for turning in a bottle.
And that's obviously what hewas doing.
And my mom asked my dad to turnaround.
We were in a divided highway sohe did go down a little bit,
turn around, come back.
Meanwhile she's digging in herpurse and we didn't have a lot
of money, so she pulls out a $5bill.
She asked him to pull off theside of the road when we got
(06:56):
close to the man and so sherolled her window down.
You know the old crank top, youknow squeaky window rolls down,
the old crank top.
You know squeaky window rollsdown and the gentleman comes up
and she gives him a $5 bill andhe's very grateful, of course,
and you know we're sitting inthe back seat.
(07:18):
I'm sure that my mom was notthinking I'm going to teach my
kids a lesson today.
I don't think that was herfocus.
We were very young.
I mean, I was in elementaryschool and I'm much older today
and she's been gone since 2013.
And I still remember that story.
Her intention was to help theperson.
(07:40):
As we've said before, she hadcompassion on this man who's out
there.
Obviously, that's not what youdo if you're wealthy.
It's not even what you do ifyou have the ability to make
ends meet.
That's a person who can't makeends meet.
He was out there just trying toliterally pick up pennies,
(08:01):
essentially.
And there's another story that Iremember from my youth that was
even younger.
I was not even in elementaryschool, so this had to be four
or five years old, elementaryschool, so this had to be four
or five years old.
Again, it was very clear in mymind I had just my mom had just
bought me a brand new pair oftennis shoes.
(08:22):
They were white, they weresuper cool.
I was really excited about them, and her and one of her friends
had gone to visit.
What I remember in my mind was asingle mom with a little boy,
maybe about my age, and we wentto visit and I'm just there, I'm
(08:42):
just enjoying these shoesreally and my mom does the most
shocking thing to me at thattime that she could have done.
She asked me to take off my newshoes and we were going to
leave them with the little boy,and it was such a powerful
example.
Again, my mom was not focusedon teaching me a lesson.
(09:04):
She was focused on meeting theneed of that little boy who
maybe didn't even have a pair ofshoes.
I don't know, but I wound upgiving him my pair of shoes.
I don't have a memory of this,but I'm sure that I got another
pair of shoes, maybe even on theway home, maybe even a little
bit better, I don't know.
My mom, my parents, always tookcare of us, so she saw a need
(09:29):
and in this case she involved methe same way the father in your
story involved the kids inmaking the decisions.
You know, I don't rememberpitching a fit.
I do remember being sad that mynew shoes were not mine anymore
.
You know, these are storiesthat impact us, you know,
(09:51):
throughout our life and we couldshare with others.
It's not something that was, Ithink, intentionally designed as
a teaching moment.
It was just meeting a need.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
Yeah, you know this episode well.
We some of our episode titleswe know are silly.
There's that saying do as I say, not as I do.
Yeah, this episode is entitledDo as I Do, and one of the
things that the reasons whywe've told the stories we did is
it shows just that we can dosome special things to our
(10:24):
children at a very young age,make an imprint on their hearts
so they'll know how to servewhen they get older, and so I
appreciate you sharing thestories that you did.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
What we're saying really here is that children
learn by watching and, maybe,even more powerfully, by doing,
by participating in it.
You know, let's take a look ata verse in Psalm 127, the 127th
Psalm, verse four and five.
This compares children toarrows.
Like arrows in the hand of awarrior are the children of
(10:54):
one's youth.
Blessed is the man who fillshis quiver with them.
Now, we always focus on thelatter part of that.
You know, it's great to have alot of children.
Okay, blessed is the man whofills his quiver with all these
arrows, with all these children.
But don't miss the first partof it.
Like arrows in the hand of awarrior, arrows don't hit the
target on of it.
Like arrows in the hand of awarrior, Arrows don't hit the
(11:16):
target on their own.
They must be aimed.
In the same way, we have tointentionally guide our children
toward a life of faith and alsoof service.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
Love that the Bible is full of wisdom about raising
our children to serve.
Matter of fact, one of our mostfavorite verses and, I guess,
well-known verses in Proverbs 22, 6, where it says Training our
children means more than justtelling them what to do.
(11:47):
It means showing them throughour actions.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
Yeah, and Deuteronomy 6, verse 7 kind of gives us a
strategy.
You know this is something thatcan be done.
You know, throughout the day itsays Faith is not just
something that we teach ourchildren when we're at church.
(12:15):
It really should be woven intoour everyday life.
Our homes really should be thefirst place that kids see
serving others in action.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
Let's get into our mission profile.
Obviously, there's just a lotto think about when it comes to
teaching our children about goodworks and really just how to
get them plugged in and involved.
Here's some things or somethings for you to consider, some
great ways to do just that.
Make service a family habit.
What I'm talking about issomething like volunteering
(12:46):
together, maybe at a local foodbank, or even going to assisted
living to go visit someone thatyou may know from church or your
family, and include your child.
And then I just think aboutsome other little projects that
you might could do that areservice related.
Our natural thing within insideof us as a parent, or maybe
just I can say as me, and maybethis says a lot about me
(13:09):
Sometimes you just think, well,I can do it real quickly and
let's get the kid out of the way.
No, no, wyatt, I know you wantto help, but dad can do this,
and then you can fill in theblank.
Take a step back, parents.
This is not about you.
This is about involving yourchildren and helping out.
Another thing to do is teachthem to notice needs.
This is where I'm at with myoldest.
I have a nine-year-old and asix-year-old, and one of the
(13:32):
things that Haley and I havedone with our nine-year-old is
we encourage him to look out tohelp others.
We want him to haveconversations with people.
You might've heard of thisthing called the three-minute
rule, where as soon as serviceis over, for the first three
minutes don't go talk to thepeople that you know or your
little circle.
Get out and talk to visitors orpeople that you don't know as
(13:52):
well.
Do it for three minutes.
That's a good thing for us todo as adults in general.
We have done this thing withour children over time.
I'm not saying we've beenreally consistent with it, but
we've told our children to do itGo talk to someone you don't
know.
Specifically, we wanted ouroldest to go talk to someone who
(14:13):
was older and we didn't wantthem just to say, you know, hey,
I'm Wyatt and run away.
What we asked Wyatt to dospecifically was ask how their
day was, how they were feeling,and that was a really cool thing
to see and watch, and obviouslyhe knows I'm watching him like
a hawk, so he's got to go dothis thing.
But the cool thing afterwardswas hearing some of the elderly
people come to Haley and I andjust say like was hearing some
(14:35):
of the elderly people come toHaley and I and just say, like
you're not gonna believe this.
Your son asked me how I'm doingand that exercise that we've
done over time.
What I can say is Wyatt nowdoes that from time to time.
I've seen him at familygatherings doing that and I know
it sounds like I'm ragging onmy son, but it's an example of
you need to teach your childrento notice things around them.
We've talked about awarenessthis can happen at a very young
(14:56):
age and then talk about why weserve.
This is a little embarrassing.
I have a six-year-old Right now.
This is where we're at with mysix-year-old On the journey.
Yes, I will say this even onthis episode that he has said
that he don't want to go tochurch.
I've heard him say that episodethat he has said that he don't
(15:16):
want to go to church.
I've heard him say that.
And so Haley and I, I feel likeoften, are at the point where
we're saying why we serve and Ithink back to something my mom
used to say.
She would say, josh, we don'thave to go, like I was telling
her we get to go.
And that's where I'm at with myyoungest.
We're explaining why we serveGod and why we want to be more
like him, and then justcelebrate generosity.
(15:38):
One of the things that we cando to stir up our children is to
praise them when they showkindness and praise them when
they show selflessness.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
You know, in the last episode we talk about husbands
and wives serving together andone of the examples would be to,
you know, to have have somepeople in our home for a meal,
and if you've got children, youknow, it's a great way to
involve them as well.
Maybe you let your daughter orson set the table and someone
comes in and said, oh wow, youknow your table looks so nice.
(16:09):
And then you go well, you knowBilly set the table for us.
Or you know Kimberly set thetable for us, and if they're
standing right there, like you,just praise them in front of
everyone and that's so good.
They.
They contributed to theblessings of the evening, if you
can use that, the whole vibefor the night.
They were a part of it.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
I love that and especially as with kids they're
it's more interesting thanadults.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
You can see their body language instantly change
when you give them that creditthat big smile Absolutely Well,
let's not forget kids watch whatwe do, not just what we say.
So if they see us serving withjoy and purpose, then they'll
(16:53):
eventually learn to do the samething Right.
And so what we're really doingis teaching them to serve the
Lord, and we really need toteach them that their work
honors God, amen.
Colossians 3, 23 through 24says Whatever you do, work
heartily as for the Lord and notfor men, knowing that from the
(17:14):
Lord you will receive theinheritance of your reward.
You are serving the Lord Christ.
Such a powerful verse, yeah, andthere's another one in
Philippians 2, verse 3, you know, do nothing from selfish
ambition or conceit, but humblycount others more significant
than yourselves.
We'll use that verse before aswell, showing and teaching
(17:35):
children that their work is notjust for themselves.
If they're cleaning their room,it's not just for the family.
When they set the table, theyneed to get the mindset that all
that they're doing and again,colossians 3, 23, whatever you
do, work hardly as if you'redoing it for God.
(17:57):
And teaching that lesson early,man.
It's going to pay dividends tothem in their schoolwork.
It's going to pay dividends tothem as they get their first job
.
They're going to be full ofintegrity when they work,
knowing that if nobody else isseeing this, even if no one else
is seeing this, god sees it,and I'm going to work as if my
(18:18):
service is an offering to God.
It really can kind of changetheir attitude towards work.
It's not something that theywant to avoid.
They can look at it as serviceto God.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
Yeah, before I get into the mission challenge of
this week, I just want to say Iam not a perfect dad at all.
My kids are like rabbit dogsmost of this week.
I just want to say I am not aperfect dad at all.
My kids are like rabid dogsmost of the time, and so we're
learning as we go.
But there's your kids are great.
There's been some helpfulthings today that we've looked
at scripture.
They're really powerful andhave been helpful for a lot of
us as parents.
(18:49):
We hope it's helpful for you.
But as far as our missionchallenge for you this week,
well, parents, here we go.
It's about making time as afamily to serve, and here it is.
Here's the weekly challengeMake service a family event.
The first thing we want you todo is we want you to plan a
family service project.
(19:10):
Pick something that everyonecan do, by the way, don't just
pick something that you and yourwife are good at.
Think about your childrenspecifically so everyone can
participate, and this can happenin so many ways.
You can make a care packagetogether as a family around your
kitchen table.
You can look out for awarenessif you're trying to teach them
that Help out a neighbor.
I mean there's just tons ofstuff, right.
But specifically, make this ahands-on activity, as I've kind
(19:37):
of hinted at.
Keep your children involved inthe decision-making.
Let them be a part of thechoosing and organizing and even
carrying it out.
That way they can get theability to serve in a number of
different facets and then talkabout the why.
When this thing is all done, Iwant you to have a conversation
around that kitchen table againwith your children and discuss
how it made them feel andexplain to them how they just
(19:57):
honored God.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
Obviously an optional challenge here is you could try
the two carts idea.
I mean, this is a veryachievable thing.
Next time you go shopping, gettwo carts and let the kids pick
out groceries for another familyin need and then go and deliver
them.
As you described that story,the impact of that was the kids
bringing the groceries into thehouse and seeing the reaction of
(20:22):
the children in the house andmaybe even the parents.
So I bet you the parents wereprobably tearing up, and for
them to see that impact is justsuper powerful and it will make
a lasting impression on them.
Okay, so that's it for today'sepisode of Made for Good.
If this conversation encouragedor challenged you in any way,
be sure that you subscribe tothe podcast so you don't miss
(20:45):
the next one.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
And we hope that you found this helpful and if you
did consider sharing it with afriend.
Until next time, train up thenext generation.
Lead by example and rememberyou were made for this.
Thank you.
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