I grew up in church. I grew up in Sunday School and children’s church. In our small church we didn’t have children’s pastors. The parents would rotate Sundays as volunteers. My parents were my children’s pastors once month.

We had this game my dad would have us play where someone would get up in front, he would pin a name of a Bible character on their back, show it to everyone else in the class, and then the class had to give clues the person up front. The person up front then had to guess the character.

My dad knew I knew a lot of the Bible stories, so he would never give me “David” or “Joseph.” The problem was that no one else knew the other characters he would randomly pin on my back! One time he pinned a name on my back and when I turned around to look at the other kids, they all had blank stares. They had no idea who the character was. My dad was always giving me that kind of challenge. One time he pinned “Mephibosheth” on my back! Who could even pronounce that name, let alone know who in the world that guy was? (Of course, after that day I knew Mephibosheth. Dad wasn’t going to do that to me TWICE!)

Growing up in Sunday School gave me a tremendous advantage of knowing the stories. I knew the Old Testament overview from Sunday School, not Bible college.

The disadvantage, to a point, was you don’t always get the depth of the story in children’s church. It’s why at some point in time you have to grow up. You have to get the stars out of your eyes. Gideon was a wimp. Sampson was a hormone-driven womanizer. Reality hits home and you then have to balance these things in your life. This is why Christians need to mature. Too many people hit the reality of these stories and then chuck Christianity.

I feel like falling into that Jack Nicholson character in A Few Good Men where he barks at Tom Cruise, “You can’t handle the truth!”

Christianity is a tough walk. You have to commit. When you get to some ugly things about those Old Testament characters you thought you “loved,” you have to walk through those feelings and get to a better understanding of what is going on.

I am deeply thankful for my church as we walk through the Old Testament this summer. We’re getting the stars out of our eyes, and we’re still walking with Jesus!

Keep walking!