Tiffany and I have entered into a new phase of parenting. There are several milestones that you think will never come and then all of a sudden, they appear. This milestone is having a teenage driver. It’s only a learner’s permit, but by the end of the summer our oldest will legally be able to drive on her own. In some ways that makes us a little nervous, but in most ways it just makes us feel old.
We’ve decided to take the parent-taught route. So she has completed all of her online coursework and now we have so many hours of drive time that we have to log with her. We both feel capable and emotionally stable enough to teach her, so we take turn letting her drive home from workouts, take us to Thriftway, or other small errands around town. We’ll slowly build up to longer trips as we feel like she’s ready. Honestly, she is catching on very quickly and it shouldn’t take long for her to drive into Amarillo.
But teaching her to drive has taught me several things, especially the first time letting her get behind the wheel. Growing up, my grandparents had a farm so all of my summers were spent helping on the farm. That meant that I started driving back and forth to the fields on three-wheelers, four-wheelers, and farm trucks before I was a teenager, and then tractors and grain trucks not long after that. Because I’ve been driving for so long, I have a lot of knowledge and experience that I take for granted. So that first time I let our daughter drive, I realized that I had failed to prepare her in some ways because I assumed she knew things that she couldn’t have known. She had never driven before. Now I’m not trying to over-dramatize anything. Overall, her first time driving went really well. It just brought to my attention the need to go all the way back to the basics and to communicate those things to her.
This is also what we’re called to do in our homes and in the church. We have a wide range of people in different stages of their spiritual walks. Young, brand-new believers. Older, brand-new believers. Young, experienced believers. Older, more experienced believers. How are we using are stage in life? Experienced believers, are you seeking out newer believers and using your knowledge and life experience to help them grow? Newer believers, are you seeking out those mature, experience believers to help you grow? In the same way a teenager wants to do everything they can to learn how to drive, new believers should want to grow in their faith. But someone has to teach them. Sure, they could teach themselves, but having someone to guide them along the way helps them avoid unnecessary trials, mistakes, and heartache. And the growth happens quicker than it would on their own.
We must humble ourselves to want to teach and to want to be taught. That is the very essence of discipleship. It’s the way that God designed it. He left us with the charge to make disciples, and that is our primary purpose in life (Matt. 28:18-20). And it was Paul’s charge to Titus and to us. Older men are to train the younger men. Older women are to train the younger women. And both are to be an example to everyone. For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ (Titus 2).
Lord, help us to train others, and to allow others to train us.
- Kendall Harris
We’ve decided to take the parent-taught route. So she has completed all of her online coursework and now we have so many hours of drive time that we have to log with her. We both feel capable and emotionally stable enough to teach her, so we take turn letting her drive home from workouts, take us to Thriftway, or other small errands around town. We’ll slowly build up to longer trips as we feel like she’s ready. Honestly, she is catching on very quickly and it shouldn’t take long for her to drive into Amarillo.
But teaching her to drive has taught me several things, especially the first time letting her get behind the wheel. Growing up, my grandparents had a farm so all of my summers were spent helping on the farm. That meant that I started driving back and forth to the fields on three-wheelers, four-wheelers, and farm trucks before I was a teenager, and then tractors and grain trucks not long after that. Because I’ve been driving for so long, I have a lot of knowledge and experience that I take for granted. So that first time I let our daughter drive, I realized that I had failed to prepare her in some ways because I assumed she knew things that she couldn’t have known. She had never driven before. Now I’m not trying to over-dramatize anything. Overall, her first time driving went really well. It just brought to my attention the need to go all the way back to the basics and to communicate those things to her.
This is also what we’re called to do in our homes and in the church. We have a wide range of people in different stages of their spiritual walks. Young, brand-new believers. Older, brand-new believers. Young, experienced believers. Older, more experienced believers. How are we using are stage in life? Experienced believers, are you seeking out newer believers and using your knowledge and life experience to help them grow? Newer believers, are you seeking out those mature, experience believers to help you grow? In the same way a teenager wants to do everything they can to learn how to drive, new believers should want to grow in their faith. But someone has to teach them. Sure, they could teach themselves, but having someone to guide them along the way helps them avoid unnecessary trials, mistakes, and heartache. And the growth happens quicker than it would on their own.
We must humble ourselves to want to teach and to want to be taught. That is the very essence of discipleship. It’s the way that God designed it. He left us with the charge to make disciples, and that is our primary purpose in life (Matt. 28:18-20). And it was Paul’s charge to Titus and to us. Older men are to train the younger men. Older women are to train the younger women. And both are to be an example to everyone. For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ (Titus 2).
Lord, help us to train others, and to allow others to train us.
- Kendall Harris
Recent
Archive
2026
Categories
no categories
Tags
no tags