Austin posing with me his coach at an Upward game.
“What is it like to be the preacher’s kid?”
This is the question, Austin, my 9 year old, was asked in Bible class.
I love his answer; which was, “I don’t know, it is just like being a normal kid.”
He had never even considered the question. He didn’t feel different or special because he is the preacher’s kid. Austin has been at Seven Oaks his entire life. He has never known another congregation.
When we asked the other kids the same question later at the lunch table, the others thought the question was also odd. Why would it be any different to be the preacher’s kid? They had never even considered that they may be different from the other kids at church.
Being the preacher’s kid to my children just means having special access to the building and being treated as special by lots of people!
Austin’s answer was a victory for us as parents. We want our kids to be normal kids and be involved in the church and love the Lord because we are Christians and we love God rather than because their dad’s work is with the church. I know it will be more challenging as they hit the teen years and they may feel more awkward as their social conscious becomes more mature, but right now we are winning the battle.
Austin’s answer was also a high compliment to Seven Oaks Church of Christ. There are many things I love about Seven Oaks, but one of the highest ones is their love of my wife and kids. They have always treated us like family. They do not view our kids differently. They are warm and accepting of them and their personalities. They do not expect them to be perfect and understand they are kids. They respect and accept our decision to homeschool and treat our kids the same as the public school children.
So as of right now we are glad that the question, “What is it like to be the preacher’s kid?” is the oddest of questions because they are just normal kids in a Christian family.
