Emphasis matters. We know this to be true in common rhetoric and speech. Emphasising the right syllables in a given word makes all the difference in being able to say it correctly. When we think about our children and the church traditions that we practise involving children we want to ensure that we have placed the emphasis in the right location.

Every kid knows that Christmas Eve feeling of anticipation. The one where you’re laying in bed but it’s not really laying down – it’s more like bouncing around and tossing and turning as you imagine all the gifts under the tree. Every year our family would travel to Prince Edward Island (from Philadelphia) for Christmas. We would arrive at my grandparents late in the evening on Christmas Eve and my parents would quickly usher my siblings and I off to bed… where we lay awake in anticipation for the better part of the night.

What does it look like for the gospel to deeply inform and transform your parenting? Christian counsellor Paul Tripp provides 14 gospel principles that can radically change your family. Tripp keeps the biblical big picture of parenting front and centre - a picture that focuses on the heart of your child and not simply behaviour modification. This book gives parents a lot of hope…not a list of more things to “do better”.

In this book, Tim Keller provides one of the most comprehensive but accessible resources on biblical marriage. He underscores the various components of a biblical marriage including its purpose and its mission. Most importantly he brings to bear the deep truths of the gospel on the everyday outworkings of a marriage relationship.

Here are a few numbers that will probably stagger you. These are hours spent doing these things across the average persons life-time: eating = 32,098, driving = 37,935 (age 17-80), at work = 90,360.