Growing Together By Ewald & Beatrix van RensburgSample

The grace of failure 

Best and worst

Give everyone a chance to talk about the best and worst moments of their day.

Where did you encounter Jesus today?

Talk to each other about how each family member encountered Jesus, and about something or someone that reminded them of Him.

• What have you learned about Jesus from today’s passage?

• What have you learned about yourself?

• What does this Scripture ask you to do?

Thought for the day 

In verse 11, Jesus made it clear to His twelve disciples that going out in His Name would not insure them against failure. Truth be told, Jesus knew that failure was a definite possibility. He showed them how to persevere in the face of failure. Events can be failures, but people can’t!

Failure can lead to better things. Why? Because God’s grace is present! He doesn’t write us off, He picks us up! The story of Mark is proof of that. In 47 AD, Paul and Barnabas went on a mission with Mark. Acts 13:13 describes Mark leaving them and returning to Jerusalem by boat. Why? He got scared and went home. A failure! In 2 Timothy 4:11, we read that Paul asked Mark to visit him on the grounds that he would be helpful. This “failure” later wrote the gospel of Mark.

Shake the dust off your feet and keep walking, because God sees the rubble of failure as the building blocks of a new life for you and me.

Activity

Try to watch the movie October Sky together. It tells the true story of NASA engineer Homer Hickam. It’s an excellent movie about someone who believed he had to shake the dust off his feet and keep walking.

Prayer

Good Shepherd, Jesus, preserve and strengthen me now and forever. For this, I praise You. Amen.

Random act of kindness

Encourage someone who is experiencing failure or disappointment by surprising them with something beautiful.

For parents only

Always be gentle in the way you view your children’s failures, and help them to get back up and carry on.