Would you like a half or a whole “Senbei”?

I always tell folks, “You better question the question!”  Or you may just get tricked.
I love my wife!  When God said that “it is not good for man to be alone” (Genesis 2:18), I think He might have been thinking of me (OK, so maybe He was thinking of you too!).  He made a helper for Adam and the helper He gave me is truly a wonderful blessing.  My wife, Masami, sees things differently than I do, often bringing things into focus that I don’t see as clearly.
During a speaking engagement a while back, Masami was with me when I spoke to a group of students.  I used a simple illustration to help them begin to understand what truth is.   When I challenged them with some applications of this, they began to waver and struggled with taking a stand on absolute truth.
I gave them more illustrations and further defined truth so they could come to a more solid understanding.  Well, by the end of the class, and with some additional information, they began to  come to an understanding of the need to stand firm on absolute truth…and I left encouraged by their enthusiasm.  It was as if the “lights had been turned on” and they were now now longer “in the dark.”
Afterward Masami and I discussed my talk and I asked if she thought I had pushed the young folks too hard.  Her response was, “They will remember this time for sure!”  So it is our hope that they’ll draw from this information the next time they need to stand for absolute truth.
Masami then shared a memory from a math class during her childhood. Her teacher asked the class if they would like a half of an “Senbei”  or a whole Senbei (an Senbei is a Japanese rice cracker.)  As you may know, my wife Masami is from Japan.
All the students responded asking for the whole Senbei.  The teacher gave each student a very small, but whole, Senbei.  He then pulled out a huge Senbei, broke it in half, and ate it himself!  If they had only asked for the half Senbei they would have received much more!  His lesson to the class was that in the future they should seek to have all of the information before they give an answer.
This so clearly illustrated what we had just observed with the young people I spoke to (thank you, Masami).  They so quickly wavered when challenged, because they didn’t have all the information they needed to stand firm. As I gave them more information “the lights came on” and they were better equipped and empowered to answer my challenges.
So, why is it that we see so many youth leaving the church?  We believe it’s because they haven’t received the information needed to build a strong foundation upon which they can firmly stand.
As Christian parents and friends we need to disciple those who are young in their faith (regardless of their chronological age).  That means we need to teach them.  In fact, Christ has commanded us to “teach all nations” (Matthew 28:19)
At rforh we take this seriously and we have been working hard to create some study courses to further teach and equip the young and young-at-heart in the Word of God.
Stay Bold!