2026.01.18 | Less Babysitting, More Adventure

I’ll be honest: some weeks I walk into church feeling more like a babysitter than a disciple. I spend so much energy trying to manage my family's schedule, worrying about my kids' future, and wondering if I’m doing enough to "fix" the things that feel broken in our home.
This past Sunday, Ryan Wuflestad’s message from Matthew 19 met me right in that place of exhaustion.

The Parenting Myth

Ryan shared a statistic that has stayed with me all day. Research shows that the single greatest factor in whether a child follows Jesus isn’t the school they attend or the groups they join… it is whether their parents have an active, growing faith.

For a second, that felt like more pressure. But then Ryan clarified: our job isn't to start the fire in our children's hearts. We can’t do that. Only the Holy Spirit can. Our job is simply to "lay the kindling" by living out our own faith in front of them. It was a massive relief to realize that the best thing I can do for my kids is to simply pursue Jesus myself.

Trading the Map for a Passenger

The second half of the message shifted from the weight of responsibility to the freedom of trust. Ryan talked about his "Daddy Adventures," where his kids have to get in the car without knowing where they are going. They have to trust him.

I am the kind of person who wants a map. I want to see the "X" on the destination and know exactly how I am going to get there. But the Christian life isn't about following a map; it is about trusting the Person in the car with you. Ryan described following Jesus as sitting in the driver’s seat while Jesus sits in the passenger seat, telling us when to turn and when to slow down.

Who Told You?
We often lose our "childlike faith" because the world tells us we should be ashamed or self-conscious. When Ryan reflected on God’s question in the Garden: "Who told you you were naked?"... it hit home. We carry so much shame into our adulthood, thinking we have to hide our mistakes or navigate our lives perfectly to be accepted.

But Jesus stops everything to welcome the children. He invites us to trade our "maps" and our "shame" for a simple, dependent trust. We don't have to see through the fog of our future. We just have to take the next step He asks us to take. I’m learning that I can stop trying to babysit my life and my family. Instead, I’m just going to get in the car and trust the Passenger who knows the way.

If you missed the service or want to hear the full message again, you can watch it on our YouTube channel here: