Preparing Our Kids to Renegotiate Faith

“Enjoy it now, the time will fly by.”

If I’ve heard that phrase once, I’ve heard it a hundred times.

I know people were trying to tell me that the years of raising kids were great years, unique years, special years…filled with purpose and joy. Years I would never get back and never experience again.

But in moments, like when my son crawled into bed with us at 3 am for the 35th night in a row (pretty sure I’m not exaggerating), or when my son screamed life was so unfair because we wouldn’t let him play video games all day and night, or those seasons when the countdown to waking the boys for school seemed like a countdown to the launch of a nuclear warhead, I will be honest, in those moments, when I heard someone say, “Enjoy it, the time will fly by,” all I could think was, “Not fast enough.”

And then suddenly, just like that, I moved from dropping my son off at middle school for the first day of class to dropping him off at college for the first day of the rest of his life.

It felt like I’d taken a nap in the parking lot during one of his practices (true story...over and over again) and woken up 10 minutes later wondering where exactly I was and how much time had actually passed. They were right. The time did fly by.

Sid Koop

Sid Koop is an alumnus of Briercrest Seminary who has been involved in youth ministry for over 19 years. He is the founder and executive director of Truth Matters, a ministry devoted to helping the next generation see and experience the truth of Jesus Christ. He is a key member of the Renegotiating Faith research partnership. Currently, Truth Matters runs 8 youth worker training conferences across Canada each year under the title Canadian Youth Workers Conference.

Renegotiating Faith Discipleship