A few posts ago (“Why I’m Doing This”) and on the Why page in reason numbers nine and ten, I mentioned that my childhood was characterized by having famous theologians (Merrill Unger, Andy Telford, Richard Seume) and preachers (Haddon Robinson) and Christian leaders (James Dobson, Jay Adams, the latter of whom was the inventor or nouthetic counseling yet downright hilarious at the dinner table, especially when it came time for dessert) and a hundred different missionaries stay at my family’s home from time to time, for up to a week at a time (you really  get to know someone when they spend seven straight nights in your home).

Another thing that characterized it was this:  before dinner, which we’d all eat together, my dad would lead us in singing a short song or the chorus of a hymn – here are the ones we would sing 99% of the time, basically on a rotating basis but Dad would usually let each of us pick the song and I’d usually pick this first one even if it had just been sung the evening before (certain things never get boring or “old” or “tiring” to me no matter how much I hear or sing or eat them, a trait which has been with me my whole life) (as always, when I post external songs or videos or links, those aren’t an endorsement of the artist or uploader as it’s not worth the time to research all of that – even if such were doable; that said, I do have a strong hunch that most or all of them are fine people who share our Christian values, as otherwise they probably wouldn’t post a song honoring Christ):

(… those first four are the ones I sing most frequently, still, to this very day… Proverbs 22:6 in action!)

(… while in my family’s case it was around the dinner table, that one hits closest to home of these eight videos)

I rarely give advice to parents (I’m pretty sure 99.9% of whom have far more wisdom about how to raise children than I do) but I’m happy to make this twofer exception:  as much as possible, (a) eat dinner together, as a family, as a unit, and (b) before “digging in” sing a short Christian chorus and say a prayer… this will pay dividends for the rest of your life.  And theirs.

I’m living proof.

[Side note:  Speaking of Haddon Robinson, not only did he spend an entire week at my home when I was barely out of my teens but I also got to drive him – an hour each way – to the location of the weeklong preaching seminar he was holding (you also get to know a person really well when spending ten hours in a car  with them).  What a gift.  What a treasure.  (I’ve never told anyone about 90% of all we talked about… sounds like great grist for some future posts!)  He was known for teaching preachers  how to preach.  (Similar to Charles Spurgeon a century before, he was known as “the Prince of Preaching”.)  Here’s a small example for those of you who have the interest and time and if you lack the latter at least listen to the first 30 seconds, it’s classic Haddon Robinson, Haddon in a nutshell:  he never took himself too seriously, but always  took the Word of God very  seriously… here’s to you, old friend:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=

He went home to be with the Lord in 2017, at which time I’m sure he heard the words, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”  None of the scandals or “secret sin lives” which some high-profile Christian leaders have had revealed in recent years.  Here’s a video of his memorial service… I’ll see you again some day, old friend, and you can let me know how I did with the many boulders  (not nuggets) of wisdom and preaching and the Bible you shared with me in those five round-trip car rides in particular.]

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