Maybe you have one, and maybe you don't, but we all know what a marking wall is.  A marking wall is a place in some houses where, once a year on their child's birthday, they line them up and "mark" how tall they are at that age.  My wife and I were talking about how fast our girls seem to be growing up when my youngest walked into the room.  "Her back and her legs just seem to be getting longer all of a sudden," my wife said.  So, we took our 5 year old who is about half-way to 6, lined her up on the marking wall, and saw that she had literally grown almost as tall as her older sister at 6 years old.  At this rate, she'll actually be taller than her older sister was by the time her 6th birthday rolls around.

None of this seems possible.  "She has always been so little," I think to myself.  Compared to her older sister, she is still little, but according to the marking wall, she is growing . . . and fast.  The marking wall greets me as soon as I walk in from work.  I actually look for it.  There, over the past four years since we've moved in, is a record of how much our children have grown, and a somewhat painful reminder of how small they once were.  It reminds me to enjoy them right now, because right now is not going to last very long.

Sometimes, just being kids, they can get on your nerves.  It's a part of life.  You get in a routine, you're trying to get things done, you're working on a project or an email or some other important piece of progress that is going nowhere, and then they jump into the middle of it all.  I've gotten frustrated at them, and so has my wife at times.  Our youngest loves to come where you are, if you're sitting, climb up behind you if you're in a chair, climb up on your back and look over your shoulder and then after watching for about 2 seconds say, "What are you doing?"  She does this constantly, and one time I remember getting frustrated as I tried to type an email and my swivel chair kept rocking and moving as my daughter tried to find footing to pull herself up.

In the moment of greatest frustration, I suddenly remembered the marking wall.  It hit me like a lightning bolt, "The day is coming all too soon when she won't be little enough to climb up the chair."  My oldest is already there.  At 9 years old, my oldest is half-way out of the house, and will soon be seeking a life outside of this place she has called home.  Where did the last 9 years go?  So, I look over at my youngest who has her tongue sticking out as she tries to pull her weight up, and I reach out to grab her, and pull her up behind me so she can watch.  She quickly climbs up my back to where she can see what I'm doing, and like clockwork, 2 seconds later she says, "What are you doing, Papa?"

I hope I am doing right by them.  I hope I am keeping a promise I made to God when they were born.  I would hope that I would be known as Abraham was known by God, Genesis 18:19 "For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD,  . . ."

Last week I talked a little bit about 2 questions I went around asking people, and said I would publish the results of those conversations this week, but before I do, I wanted to ask you if you could have named 10 brands of beer, or if you could have named the 10 Commandments.  For those of you who couldn't, or have trouble naming the 10 Commandments, there is a rather easy way of remembering them.  Just Remember that the first 4 of them have to deal with our relationship with God, 1 has to do with our parents, and 5 are straight "thou shalt not" short phrases.  Here they are in the same order as they appear in the Bible in Exodus 20: 1-17:

Commandments regarding our relationship with God.
1.  Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
2.  Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image.
3.  Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.
4.  Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy.

Commandment regarding parents.
5.  Honor thy father and thy mother.

The last 5 "thou shalt not" Commandments

6.  Thou shalt not kill.
7.  Thou shalt not commit adultery.
8.  Thou shalt not steal.
9.  Thou shalt not bear false witness.
10.  Thou shalt not covet.

Now for the results.  Again, this was a very informal survey which prodded random people to come up with two separate lists of ten.  I was dressed casually with nothing in my hands but a notebook and my daughter who is 9 years old at my side.  When approaching these groups of people on the J.S.U. campus and other places, I invited them to either take the two question survey as a group and pool their knowledge, or elect one person to speak for the whole group.  Each group said they would answer together, but when I asked the first question one person would begin the list of beers and become the unofficial spokesperson for the whole group with others in the group chiming in only a few times.

Within the groups and even individuals I polled, everyone was able to name 10 brands of beer regardless of background, sex, or age of the people being asked.  Think about that for a minute.  I'm not saying this would be true with everyone, but out of the groups and individuals I talked to, every single person in the group said they would also have been able to name 10 brands of beer, and every individual I talked to one-on-one was able to name 10 brands of beer.

Within the groups and individuals I polled, there was some variation on their ability to come up with the 10 Commandments.  The people I talked to ranged in their ability to come up with the 10 Commandments from 5 to 7.  Some people were only able to name 5, while the highest percentage of people were able to name 6, and only a couple of people were able to name 7 of them.  However, no one was able to name all 10 Commandments either on their own or as a group despite several of them admitting to having memorized them at some point in their past.

I then asked them what percentage of people would be able to name 10 brands of beer vs. the 10 Commandments, what they thought of the percentages they gave, and what those percentages said about the people who could name 10 brands of beer but could not name all of the 10 Commandments.  I was strictly asking for their own opinion in a conversational way that invited them to make their own judgements.  Here is a sampling of those conversations.

Outside a fraternity on the J.S.U. campus, I talked to a group of three guys.  Brandon, Charles, and Zack agreed to be polled as a group.  Charles came up with the list of 10 beers on his own but expressed some regret as soon as I asked him to name the 10 Commandments.  "OK, now you're starting to make me feel bad," he said as he then started his list eventually coming up with 5 on his own and a 6th came with some help from the other two with him.  During the conversation, Charles mentioned that he had grown up Southern Baptist and said, "This is a Christian based fraternity.  I know I'm standing here talking to you with a beer and a cigarette in my hand, but I still believe in God."  When I asked him how often he shared his faith, he admitted that he did not share it very often.  When I asked him why, he basically responded that he was afraid of not having the answers to someone's questions, or giving the wrong answers and looking foolish.

At one of the apartments where there is an outdoor pool, I approached two other groups.  One of these groups was able to come up with 7 of the 10 Commandments, but when asked about what percentage of the J.S.U. campus would be able to name 10 brands of beer vs. the 10 Commandments, one of the groups, Jennifer, John and Ashley, said that probably 100% of the campus could name 10 brands of beer, but felt only 20% - 30% might be able to name all of the 10 Commandments.  When I asked her why she thought this to be true, she said "Because students think more about beer than God."  I thanked her for her honesty and candid response.  In her opinion, it is the reality she sees, and she just gave her opinion on her own environment as she saw it which I found very interesting.

In one of the last groups I talked with Noel and Megan.  Noel said she was a Christian, but when I asked her about how often she shared her faith and why she might not share her faith more often, her response was that people see the way she lives and when they understand about where she came from and what she had been through, then they would understand her and her faith in God.  I did not probe any deeper, but it sounded like she had a very compelling testimony and a great story to tell.

Now my question for you is, could you have done it?  I'm not talking about naming 10 brands of beer or naming the 10 Commandments, I'm talking about having a conversation with a total stranger about salvation.  I had no Bible or New Testament, and no literature of any kind.  I had my daughter with me and a blank spiral notebook which I used to take notes as I talked with people strictly so I could recall those conversations later.  In each of these conversations, I used the two questions as a launch point to talk to people I had never met before, outside in the open air, when they were already standing or sitting around talking with other people.  Once the conversation was started, I used more questions about the 10 Commandments to talk to them about their own standing before God, whether they would be able to get into heaven with the guilt of sin on their life, and talked only very briefly about salvation.

You see, I'm still learning.  "The Way of the Master" course is not over yet, but already I've had interesting conversations with total strangers who thanked me for coming up to them to talk with them.  That's right.  Not one single person was combative, or argumentative.  It was the easiest conversation I'd ever had bringing up the topic of God and salvation with a total stranger, and each group or individual thanked me for taking the time to talk with them.  Even better, my daughter was able to watch and listen and see how easy and even interesting it can be for someone to share their faith with others.

What about you, could you have done it?  Before you say no, remember this: we are all tasked with the opportunity of going into the world to teach people about the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  If you can have a conversation with anyone, you have all the ability you need to talk about the Gospel.  Maybe you just need a little training or a point in the right direction.  While I'd recommend "The Way of the Master" the truth is there may be other suitable programs out there that can teach you how to share your faith unafraid.

Whatever you do, do not allow yourself to be sidelined by fear.  There are people out there who need to hear from you, people you will meet that will be truly grateful you took the time to talk with them, but you will never meet them unless you go.

As is my habit before going to bed each night, I walk through the house making sure everything is secure and lights are off.  By this time, the girls have been in bed a couple of hours, and my wife has retired to our bedroom to read or have a go at another Sudoku puzzle.  As I go through my routine, the house gets darker and darker until I can barely see my way down the hall to our daughters' bedroom.  I flip on the hall light, open their door, and make sure they are OK.  They are always OK.  Sometimes covers have fallen off and need to be replaced, or one of them has moved precariously close to the edge of the bed and needs to be moved, but for the most part, they are perfectly sound asleep without fear or care.

In the quiet moment just before I turn around and head to my room, I thank God for them.

It is a silent prayer of thanks that God would give me such beautiful wonderful little girls, and an acknowledgement that these gifts from God also come with a responsibility.  When our daughters were born, my wife and I made a decision to "give them back to God" so to speak.  It was our way of deciding to dedicate our lives to doing our best to teach them, discipline them, and raise them to honor God with their lives.  Understanding we are not perfect, we pray for God's intervention where we would fail, and we try to remember that taking the time to train them to do what is right is worth any price, because they belong to God.

My wife and I were talking recently about one of them and a particularly bad habit that seems to be developing.  Without going into details, we agreed that the next time this particular behavior showed itself, we would deal with it immediately and together to make sure the message "This is not OK" would be perfectly understood.  We talked about different ways it might show up, and it was mentioned that it may even present itself in the store when I'm not around.  I told my wife, "If it happens in the store, or even when you are walking toward the checkout line in the store, stop and come right back home.  If you have to leave a basket full of groceries in the aisle, or give up the perfect parking space, bring her home right then and we will deal with it."  We agreed that it would certainly make an impression, but also we agreed that our child is worth it.

"She is worth an hour of time and $10 in gas," I said as my wife and I wrapped up the conversation.  Problem is, I can only hope other parents feel the same way as my daughters are going to one day marry, and I hope they find mates that had parents willing to take the time for them.  My children belong to God.  One of them has already accepted Christ as her Savior, the other has yet to make that choice, but she is still very young yet.  As we continue to teach her, we also pray that she will one day make the choice to accept Christ as well.  However, once they have made that choice, our job as parents is far from over.  If we are to raise them in the way God would want us to, we have to be willing to make sacrifices and make the time for them, even when it is most inconvenient.

Years from now, if I choose not to take the time and my children do not turn out right, my thoughts will come back to moments like these.  Moments where I chose not to take the time or waste the gas to correct them, times where I was too busy to do something else, and I will have to live with the knowledge that I could have done more.  I'd rather not.  So instead, I will choose to put the world on hold, to take the time to correct them, and to let them know the whole reason I do so is because I truly care for them and love them, and that they are worth much more to me than an hour and $10 in gas.