800-222-1222. It’s a number you probably don’t recognize, unless you’ve had to call it before. Even then, you might not recall the exact number, but you cannot forget why you called it. It’s Poison Control. I had to call it for the first time as a mother last Sunday night. While I was on a 10 minute Zoom call, my 21 month old son, Marshall, got into my medicine cabinet and opened 4 childproof medicine bottles. I found him standing in my bathroom surrounded by pills and opened bottles with a trace of white on his lips and the tip of his tongue. My heart sank and my thoughts raced immediately to all the “what ifs”. I called my husband first. He was at church, where I had just zoomed in to give my spill about the small group I was going to be leading. He confirmed that I needed to call Poison Control, and he assured me that he was headed home immediately. When I did, the lady who answered was calm and listened to what I had to say. She asked clarifying questions and responded to my information. She took specific names of the pills and helped me think through the worst possible scenarios given what I told her. She told me the plan of how to make sure Marshall was safe, and I listened. I asked clarifying questions and I repeated what she told me to make sure I was hearing her correctly. It was too important to tune her out. It was a matter of life or death.
After my heart calmed down, I cried several tears, I gave and got several hugs, and then it hit me. This all happened during a quick zoom call to church.
You know what small group I was convincing people to come to? My parenting class. Go ahead. Laugh. It’s ok. It’s funny now. I began to think of the irony, but then God hit me with the reality. The class is based on the book “Mama Bear Apologetics: Empowering your kids to challenge cultural lies.” This book tells the bitter truth about the droves and droves of children and teens who are walking away from their faith because of the attacks of the enemy using cultural lies. The danger for Marshall in those medicine bottles stopped my heart because I knew so many devastating “what ifs” that could come of it. I sprang into action and did everything I could to make sure he was ok. That is what a Mama does. How much more so should I spring into action to fight against the (eternal) life threatening dangers my children do and will encounter?!
This book does an amazing job of putting the reader face-to-face with some real dangers threatening the lives of our children, and gives us excellent tools to help combat those dangers with real solutions. How foolish would it be for us to ignore the poisons our children are exposed to and just hope they don’t swallow too much? In the forward of the book, Nancy Pearcy says, “In a previous era, it was not unusual for parents to slide that responsibility [their children’s spiritual education] off to their church, youth group, or Christian school. But that is no longer possible.” The hard truth of the matter is that studies show that 46% of youth have spiritually “checked out” by the end of middle school and just attend church to please their parents having a Christian faith by name only. Given that the majority of morals are set by age 9 and most salvation experiences happen by age 13, it is vital for us to be intentional about fighting the cultural lies our children are exposed to.
I needed Poison Control because I am not a medical professional with knowledge and understanding about medications and the dangers thereof, particularly with little toddler bodies. Thank God for them! I also need help navigating these cultural lies from a Biblical worldview. I’m not an apologetics expert. I’m not a cultural expert. I don’t know the real dangers hiding behind curriculums, movies, songs, bumper stickers and even conversations at the lunch table. That’s why I’m so grateful for the team of ladies who wrote this book. I have learned so much from them, and our family has already benefited greatly from the Truth they have shared with me. Listen, I'm not Mom of the Year over here, and that trophy is plastic anyway! Who wants it? I want to help my children have a chance against the schemes of a very real Enemy! (And we know he's got schemes). I want to be a mom who thinks about eternity, not just a year. I want to fight the fights that matter.
Mamas, I encourage you to pick up a copy of "Mama Bear Apologetics" and dive in. Use the questions and activities at the end of each chapter to deepen your understanding of the topics. And, if you’re in the Mobile area, you can jump in on my small group on Sunday nights for the next few months as we discuss it together! Just leave your trophies at home.
Here's a quick link to the book for you!
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