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Good Guys vs. Bad Guys

We are totally into the superhero stage right now with the boys.  They want to dress up like the Avengers or Superman or Batman or whoever!  They pretend to have superpowers, and they love to vanquish the bad guys.

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I've tried to kindle in their hearts a spirit of courage and not of fear.  And yet, as they get older, I see that many times their courage is unfounded, and they think that they are unstoppable.  N, especially, seems to have no fear.  He runs around like he is a superhero, and unfortunately, this happens in public too.  I don't want to scare him into staying with me with constant worry, but I've realized that he needs to have a healthy respect for the dangers that do exist in our world.

Recently, I decided that we needed to have a good talk about safety.  There have been a couple of attempted kidnappings in our area in the last year, and I need to be able to trust my kids to stay within sight at a park or not to take off at the grocery store.  Have some basic street smarts really.  I explained to the boys about how there are some bad people in the world, and it is my job to keep them safe.  It is their job to listen to me so that I can do my job to keep them safe.

Nodding to my little lecture, N then suggested that we make nametags to sell.  We could make some that say "Good Guy" and others that say "Bad Guy".  I tried to explain that "Bad Guys" don't want people to know they are bad guys.  This seemed to shock him.  Why wouldn't you want it to be clear?  But I understand why he's come to this conclusion.  The superheroes always fight supervillians who are obviously super-evil.  He hasn't seen enough of the world to understand the trickery and subtler evils of humanity.

I want my boys to have a heart for the world that isn't caught up in anxiety for their safety.  I want them to be willing to take risks for God if that is what He is calling them to do.  I'm amazed at just how many times in the Bible it is said "Do not be afraid!"  I want to model this behavior to my boys especially as we seek to take some risks ourselves.

But wouldn't it be nice if we all had nametags?  Wouldn't it be great if life could be that simple?  But maybe it's not that simple because God wants us to rely on trusting Him instead of on externals.

I love this verse made into a song by Seeds Family Worship:

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