04/23/2026
One Generation Away
So, I'm gonna be straight with you. There's a passage in the Bible that my D-Group read this past week that oughta stop every father and grandfather dead in his tracks. It's Judges 2:10-11, and it reads like this:
"After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Israel. Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord and served the Baals."
Read that again. Slowly.
One generation. That's all it took. The dads who walked with Joshua, who saw the Jordan River pile up like a wall, who watched Jericho's walls come tumblin' down, who conquered armies 10 times larger than them — they died off, and their kids grew up not knowing the Lord. Not knowing what He'd done. And the very next verse? They're already worshipping idols.
That oughta shake us.
And these weren't bad men, the fathers who died. They served the Lord faithfully in their day. But somewhere between the workbench and the supper table, somewhere between putting food on the table and putting their boots up at night, they dropped the ball. They didn't hand off the faith. They figured their kids would pick it up by osmosis or something. And they didn't.
And I get it. We're tired. We bust our backs all week, and when Friday rolls around we just wanna relax and watch the game. Church stuff, Bible stuff, praying with the kids — that feels like one more thing on a pile of things. But man, if we don't tell our kids about Jesus, the world will gladly tell them about everything else. And the world ain't gonna wait for us to get around to it.
Your kids and grandkids don't need a perfect dad. They need a dad who bows his head before the meal. A dad who opens the Bible at the kitchen table, even if he stumbles over the words. A dad who says, "Let me tell you what Jesus did for me." A grandpa who prays over his grandsons and granddaughters out loud so they hear it with their own ears.
Because here's the hard truth — faith ain't hereditary. It don't come through the bloodline. Every generation's gotta meet the Lord for themselves. But it's our job, as fathers, to introduce them to Jesus. To tell the stories. To live it out where they can see it. To make sure they know the Lord and know what He's done.
Don't let your grandkids grow up like that second generation in Judges — forgetful, drifting, chasing after whatever shiny idol the culture's selling this week. Be the dad that breaks the cycle before it starts.
Pray with them tonight. Open the Word tomorrow. Take them to church on Sunday. Tell them about Jesus every chance you get.
One generation is all it takes to lose it.
And one faithful father is all it takes to pass it on.
-Darin