Winter 2017

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M any of you who know my wife
Naomi and I, and have met us
at home education conventions,
are aware that we have four sons. Two
are now college graduates; the third is
currently studying at a Christian uni-
versity; the fourth is in his final year of
homeschooling. We are truly at a joy-
ful time of beholding God’s blessing
in our lives, seeing our sons becom-
ing what we always longed for them
to become: men of character, men of
zeal for righteousness and serving the
Lord, men equipped with so much
more than I ever had at their age!
What we feel, as we see our sons ad-
vancing in righteousness, could not
be better said than the Apostle John
puts it: “I have no greater joy than this,
to hear of my children walking in the
truth” (3 John 4).
I believe it was Norm Wakefield (an-
other frequent home education con-
vention speaker) whom I first heard
say that, when my children are mar-
ried, I really doubt that one of their
spouses will ever approach me, great-
ly moved in heart with deep gratitude
to us, for so diligently teaching our
dear sons how to diagram a sentence.
Do you think so? It doesn’t strike me
as likely. Nor am I holding my breath
waiting for a young wife to one day
tell us, with tears in her eyes, how it’s
made all the difference in their home
that we made our boys press on
through their studies in trigonometry.
But I do think this likely: it’s not at
all improbable that a day will come
when a grateful wife will thank us
profusely for having focused on char-
acter-building! Now we didn’t do it
so we could revel in that “one shining
moment”; we don’t live for that, but
for the smile of God on our life and
labor, not the smile or praise of men.
But does not this truth bring vividly to
our attention, where a parent’s high-
est joy truly lies? I hope to inspire you
to passionately seek that which will
bring you one of the best blessings
you can enjoy on earth: children in
hot pursuit of righteousness.
“The father of the righteous will
greatly rejoice, and he who begets a
wise son will be glad in him. Let your
father and mother be glad, and let her
rejoice who gave birth to you. Give
me your heart, my son, and let your
heart delight in my ways!”
Proverbs 23:24-26
By “a wise son”, this Proverb does not
mean a good boy or an intelligent son,
or one who merely makes out well in
the world or who becomes a person
of skill. For surely we know that a na-
tion full of highly skilled, competent,
and successful people who are not
good and faithful can be a monstros-
ity. Rather, the exalted joy of the par-
ents of the righteous is rooted in chil-
dren who pursue the ways of godly
wisdom and who share the parents’
delight in serving Christ first.
A Parent’s Greatest Joy
By Dennis Gundersen