My dad and I were very different people. My dad was very conservative, I thought of myself as a young Old Testament prophet. He was a saver, I was a spender. My dad could fix anything; I had a mechanical bypass and never
learned how to fix things. My dad could be stubborn and opinionated; I was easy to get along with. In their mid-30s, my mom and dad became Christians because of the influence of a new church in Salisbury, North Carolina, where we lived. And it changed their lives.
Thinking back over my life, I am amazed to realize, at so many strategic moments, how many things my dad did for me, at just the right time, to move me toward faith in God. I hardly noticed them at the time. But as I look back now, I realize he always seemed to know where I was, and what the next step needed to be. At so many moments in my life, God used my father and mother in such pivotal, meaningful ways.
I don’t know that my dad really had anyone who turned the spiritual dial for him when he was young. But in his 30s, with four children and lots of 
responsibilities, he had the chance to rethink his life. For the first time, he got serious about faith, and he got serious about God. And he had the wisdom and the courage to turn his life over to his heavenly Father and redirect his life.
Here’s my point: it could be, that before we can talk about turning the spiritual dial in the hearts and minds of our children (to influence them in their relationship with God), the greatest thing that could happen is for us as moms and dads to say, “You know, in my life I need some things in my own relationship with God to be made right, because I can’t start something with my kids that I haven’t started myself.”
Don’t ever fall into the trap of thinking it’s too late, it won’t work for me. Just start where you need to start now, and if you have not settled the issue of where you are in your own relationship with God, then that’s where you need to start.
