"You don't have to take my word for it..."

Though I watched many episodes of Reading Rainbow during the summers of my childhood, I’ve never really been a strong reader. In fact, reading and writing have always been subjects I’ve had to give extra time and effort to, just to get by academically. Wanting better for our kids, my wife and I made reading a point of emphasis with our three children this summer. We read to them some and required them to spend a little extra time in a book or two over the break. We even got a little crazy and tried to intentionally pick a reading we could do together as a family that might possibly stimulate some “spiritual ”discussions. And what do you know; we actually picked out a winner.

Mainly because of our own interest in the insanely smart mathematician and scientist, Brittany and I landed on reading a chapter a night to our children from Blaise Pascal’s biography entitled, A Piece of the Mountain. Since the publisher claimed that it was “written on a 5^th-6^th grade reading level" but that "younger children will enjoy having it read out loud to them”, we figured it was worth a shot. By the close of the first chapter, our family was engrossed in this man’s story. We eagerly anticipated what we might discover at our next bedtime reading.

If you’re not familiar with Blaise Pascal, let me give you a quick scouting report. As a teenager he began to gain notoriety for some of his accomplishments in mathematics and science. He was one of the top European intellectuals of his time with major contributions to the theory of probability, projective geometry, and the concepts of barometric pressure and vacuum. He designed the world’s first mechanical calculating machine and the first public transportation service in Paris. While all of that is more than impressive, some of Pascal’s greatest works came from his efforts as a Christian philosopher. He became somewhat of an apologist of his day and a stout defender of the faith. He challenged false teaching and enthusiastically proclaimed the wonder of God’s saving grace.

As we worked through his biography we were intrigued by the life experiences that shaped the genius. Perhaps the best part of the biography is that nearly each chapter set our family up for a faith-based talk. We simply read a chapter and asked our kiddos what they thought about the events they just heard. Whether it was the chapter about the God-Shaped Vacuum, or the one concerning Weighty Issues, or the Wager Between Friends, it seemed each chapter title gave us something tangible to discuss.

Pascal’s intellect was special but it didn’t satisfy the longing of his soul. He wrestled with the scriptures for a considerable time before finally coming to genuinely believe in Jesus as his Savior and Lord. As a new convert, he passionately shared his beliefs with others and eventually led his father and sister to faith in Christ. But Joyce McPherson’s book does a great job of honestly addressing Pascal’s humanity. As a gifted and talented thinker, Blaise struggled with pride and it was something he had to often repent of. A Piece of the Mountain tracks his spiritual growth from a life of selfish materialism to one that humbly lived out his final years persevering in the good fight of faith.

There are many other details from his life that I’d love to share with you, however, Blaise’s experiences aren’t exactly the point of today’s blog. The encouragement I hope to offer is that opportunities to discuss topics of faith can be as simple as debriefing after a bedtime story. Reading of Pascal’s ups and downs created many great talking points with our kiddos. Granted, our first grader didn’t seem to consistently get as much out of it as her two older brothers, but as a family we were able to routinely share fruitful dialogue.

We were fortunate enough to stumble into a great tool that worked for our family. Sure we’ve attempted other things to purposefully interact with our children that were not quite as successful. But then, maybe that’s the point. Perhaps the goal is that we keep on searching - continuing to find new ways to share our faith with our youth. It seems to be quite a task – one that will require a lifetime commitment. Yet there is a joy found in such a challenge, but to borrow a line from LeVar Burton, “you don’t have to take my word for it.”

May the Lord fill us with energy to consistently pursue experiences and conversations that point our children toward the hope of the gospel…