Andy Becker

The start of the new school year can bring opportunities for new routines, patterns, and habits. But too often, our best intentions become unrealized goals when, three weeks after school has started, the healthy meal choices you were going to include in lunches or the exercise routine that you were going to do every morning or the thankful attitude you were going to embody this year gets lost in our normal patterns and rhythms. New habits are difficult to establish and can be harder to maintain. The same is true with faith practices.

When my wife and I were expecting our first child, we knew that we wanted a daily routine with our family that included a time of prayer. We understood our responsibility God was entrusting with us. This child who was to be born was the Lord’s; as parents we were stewards of him. Therefore, we knew that we needed to raise him to know Jesus and to model faith to him as he developed faith practices that would undergird and support the faith God gives in Baptism.

Growing up I loved celebrating Easter. The special early morning service, the brass ensemble (which I later was able to be part of once I learned how to play trumpet), the Easter breakfast that the youth at our church hosted every year, the hymns, and that glorious refrain that begins with  “Christ is Risen!”