Family is under attack. As Christians we are accustomed to hearing about divorce and pornography and gay marriage and so many other moral issues. Have you ever considered how many of these moral issues relate directly to family? If you look, you will see that the very notion of family—family as the Bible describes it—is under sustained and heavy attack. This means that your family is under attack.

If a new study comparing Generation X and millennial attitudes is any indication, the upcoming generation of potential parents may choose “none of the above” when it comes to choosing between work and having a family. The study found that the rate of students graduating from college who plan to have children has gone down by roughly half in just two decades.

As we grow older, we think that we become more independent. We get married, have children of our own, buy our first house, and make significant life decisions. Sure, a 40-year married adult can feed and dress himself much better than a 4-month old infant, but I'm afraid that we don't fully accept our limitations. I want to reinforce the point that you're not a superhero. "Sure, Paul, I obviously can't fly or make myself invisible," you might say. But I want you to consider eight limits of your humanity:

A failed pregnancy is surely a shared hurt, but with one key distinction: men are more spectators than participants. That dissonance results in confusion about what to do, say, or feel, which for some, I'm sure, comes off as callousness or distance. I can only speak from observation, but women who have been through the terrible loss of miscarriage experience at least some physical pain. In contrast, a man's suffering is mostly theoretical—I had no tangible reference for what had happened.

In his book, No Little People, Francis Schaeffer warns against the fight toward perfection when he states, if we insist on perfection or nothing, we get nothing every time. There is a piece of me that would love to claim the title of Perfect Mom, and I am sure that you would too. It would be such an honor, such a crown. But since Perfect is well beyond grasp, why not strive for Good Mom? I am.

It’s a tough economy. Jobs are scarce. Many of today’s college grads are entering the “real world” with considerable student loan debt. For many parents, what this means is that their adult children will “boomerang” or move back home with them after college.

When God said that children were a blessing, he wasn’t kidding (Psalm 127:3). I’ve got blessings doing cartwheels in my living room and blessings smeared on my kitchen nook windows. The signs of this shocking blessedness is all over the place. My wife and I spend our evenings mopping up the remnants of this blessing, regrouping, catching our breath, getting ready for another day of drinking this blessing from the fire hose of five insanely cute, creative, and (let’s admit it) slightly crazy people under the age of ten.

Our first discussion about the new Colorado law that legalizes marijuana began with my daughter asking, "What's that smell?" It forced a conversation we needed to have anyway about marijuana, its effects on behavior, and the new laws that might make that smell more common. "You mean it might smell like this all the time?" The only response I could offer was, "I don't know."

To put it bluntly, a lot of pastors' children hate the ministry. My team interviewed 20 pastors' kids who are adults now. They provided some insights that were both inspiring and disturbing. Children with a pastor-parent can grow to hate the ministry for many reasons, but there are five guaranteed ways you can make sure they hate being a pastor's kid (PK).

This article offers five practical steps for parents in moving towards freedom and hope in the area of their child’s schedule. None of these practical steps carry any power unless a family lives in response to the Gospel and under the leadership of God.