parking lot
By Megan Clark
DISCIPLESHIP
W
E WERE RUNNING A TAD LATE for church
Sunday morning ... story of our lives.
Three little guys to feed and dress, keep clean, while
haphazardly throwing ourselves into some sort of appropri-
ate church attire, typically results in tardiness.
But this Sunday wasn’t too bad and we were in the parking
lot with a few minutes to spare, hurrying handsome little
guys through rows of parked cars.
Then we faced a row of cars who all must have had a secret
pact to park as close to the lines as possible creating odd and
narrow passageways. So we changed up our hand holding
and wove through single file.
And then Harrison commented, “This is so narrow!
Which way is the narrow way again? God’s or Satan’s?”
And so right there in the church parking lot, a discipleship
opportunity took root in a perfect visual aid.
Matt showed the boys how it wasn’t very easy to squeeze
through the narrow cars without bumping into or tripping,
etc. Then he took them through a wide open space without
cars parked nearby. They quickly realized they could skip
through the wide open space without any help or guidance.
“Why is God’s way harder?” Harrison asked.
Matt explained that though the way to destruction is wide,
easy to get on and easy to stay on, God’s way leads to eternal
life. While His way is narrow and sometimes hard, God
gives us the strength we need to stay on it and grow in Him.
He also tells us to gather others to walk with us and navigate
through the narrow passages together, knowing that life, not
destruction, is ahead.
God gives rich opportunities to disciple our children
everyday. Life sometimes gets busy with schedules, appoint-
ments, errands, and deadlines, and we fail to recognize the
gifted moments to grow our children. It’s worth it to be a
little late sometimes, even to church, if a row of parked cars
suddenly presents itself to invest in the soul of the gift God
gave you to steward.
Megan Clark is a homeschooling mom to three boys, who
keep her pediatric nursing skills sharp. She is married to Mat-
thew Clark, an attorney with the American Center for Law and
Justice. Living in Washington D.C. has given their family daily
opportunities to explore and learn. Between hiking, running,
baking, making messes, photography, and blogging, Megan
and Matthew keep Christ the head of their household as they
grow alongside their boys in becoming more like Him.
13