Speaker: Dr. Harold J. Sala | Series: Guidelines For Living | For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just, so that the Lord will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him. Genesis 18:19

Henry Blackaby is the author of the best-selling book, Experiencing God, which has been an encouragement and help to many thousands of people. Yet what most impresses me about this man is not his public ministry, regardless of how remarkable and effective it has been. Along with his wife Marilyn, Dr. Blackaby will someday leave behind a legacy far greater than the fact he has been a best-selling author. You see, Henry and his wife Marilynn raised five children as pioneer missionaries in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada—four sons and a daughter. All five of the children are now making their marks as Christian leaders.

The four boys have all earned Ph.D.s. One is a seminary president, one a pastor in Norway, and two others are serving churches in North America. Their daughter Carrie is a career missionary serving in Germany.

As I view his accomplishments, Henry Blackaby’s greatest achievement is that of a hands-on dad who never confused the importance of his children with the prominence of his ministry. I attended the graduation of a young man Guidelines has helped put through seminary, where Dr. Blackaby’s son, Richard, serves as President. As Dr. Blackaby and I were chatting, I asked him the same question I have asked many successful parents: “How do you account for the fact that your children have followed in your footsteps and have served the Lord?”

This gray-haired grandfather thought pensively for a moment and replied: “Two things— we stayed focused, and stayed close to them!” That was his formula which worked! It is needless to tell you that vast numbers of people, many of whom are believers themselves, look back and ask the sobering question, “Why? Where did we go wrong raising our kids?”

Yes, I understand that every child comes into the world with a will of his own, and that ultimately every youngster decides whether he will embrace the faith of his mom or dad or turn his back to God and go the other way. But I have also learned that the Blackaby formula works when you model the message in your life and keep your focus at the same time you stay close to your children.

Parenting is one of the last hold-outs of the amateur! To drive a car, to practice medicine, to serve as an architect requires a certain level of proficiency that is demonstrated by licensing; but raising a child, one of life’s most important responsibilities, is often a haphazard, “let-‘em-grow-up-on-their-own” sort of affair.

Staying focused means you have a parenting plan, your objective is to raise a youngster to know God, to follow His Son, Jesus Christ, to embrace Christian values, to have integrity and character; and staying close to your kids means you take time to be part of his life. It’s not simply a control issue but a life-style issue which also means loving a child enough to say, “This is right!” and “This is wrong!”

The time to get serious about parenting is not when you have a teenager and all of a sudden you realize that you are on a collision course of a battle of wills. Parenting begins long before your child ever comes into the world, when you as a couple decide, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

The Blackaby parenting formula works: stay focused; and stay close to your kids. And someday you, too, will look back and say, “Thank God! I’m humbly grateful.” Long ago God said of Abraham, “For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just….” (Genesis 18:19).

He has chosen you for the same reason. May parenting be your greatest achievement, not your greatest headache!

Resource reading: 1 Samuel 3.