What to do with the daily, weekly time spent in a vehicle full of kids? That was the question turning over in my mind for a long time. I had lots of kids in my truck, and I also had lots of carpool friends with us. How could I use the minutes and hours in carpool to accomplish something that could last far beyond carpool? Of course, we prayed; of course, we talked. However one year, I decided to do something more. I made a list of my favorite Scriptures and started memorizing these with the kids. Ultimately, such became the beginnings of the Family Disciple Me ministry.
Making Great Use of Time
Thing about this was that, as we drove from home to one school campus then the next then the next, I was able to have the most meaningful, intentional conversations with my kids. From the littlest to the biggest, this poured value into their lives and character, and it impacted my own heart, too. What’s more, by the end of the year, we’d memorized about thirty passages of Scripture. Amazing.
Revisiting Important Conversations
At the time, our youngest, Journey Grace, was just barely in school. I blinked a couple times, and now, she’s our only child left at home. She drives herself most places these days, so our conversation time is different these days. Still, as she goes through all the moments and meanderings of her high school senior year, I decided to circle back to have these carpool character conversations one more time with her.
Join Us in the Journey
As my Journey Grace and I do this, we invite you into the journey with us. To get us started, I’ve chosen six character traits, not because these are the top six, the only six, or the best six. I’ve chosen these to share with you because these are the ones I’m discussing right now with my Journey Grace.
Each of the following six podcast episodes focuses on one of these six character traits. I encourage you to share this blog page to yourself so that you have the hyperlinks and easy access to each of the podcast conversations. (You can also access these on your favorite podcast platform. In the future, all this content will be all the more easily-available through The FDM App, but this format will do for now because, remember: “discipleship starts with a conversation.)
The episodes are:
- TEACHABLE: The Enduring Value of a Teachable Spirit – from Proverbs 3:1-2
- HARD WORKING: Wholeheartedly Doing Our Best – from Colossians 3:23-24
- COURAGEOUS: Doing What God has Called Us to Do (no matter what!) – from Joshua 1:9
- CONFIDENT: Being Sure About Who You Are Because of what God is Doing in You! – from Philippians 1:6
- TRUSTWORTHY: Known for Being Honest, Truthful and Reliable – from Luke 16:10
- RESPONSIBLE: Kid > Employee > Manager > Boss > Owner – from Matthew 25:29
Listen to one podcast episode at a time, like when you’re getting ready for the day or taking a quick walk. Seek the Lord and listen to His voice about what He wants to say to YOU about a certain Scripture and character trait. Once you “Seek Him,” then “Speak Him,” by engaging your kids, grandkids, or whomever is entrusted to you in a character conversation. Start with what the Lord has shown you, then use the podcast episode show notes to lead you through the “what, why and how” discussion questions.
In my vehicle back in the day, we took one character trait and Scripture a week. We memorized the verse and talked about it from different angles every day along the way.
The format of when my family has character conversations today is different those carpool days for my family. However, we still just do one specific character trait per week. I encourage you – – – listen to the podcast and ask God how He would have you discuss the character conversations with your people!
Really, it seems fitting to have carpool character conversations because, after all, isn’t character what drives us?
I pray that YOUR journey will be filled with grace as YOU meet with God then making Him known.
Be encouraged! ❤️
Tosha
