On a beautiful Saturday morning in October, I decided to take my son to a local trampoline park for some fun, rigorous exercise.  The leaves were at peak color at this time — the mixture of reds, oranges, and yellows made the landscape in Wisconsin a breathtaking display of natural wonder, ripe with exuberance.

As always during our drives, I have a Christian radio station playing in the background.  My son is a little over four years old, so he’s beginning to understand some of the lyrics and repeat some of the more catchy ones we here frequently.

“I want you to know the God I know … Oh, you’ve got to know — the God I know.”

One of our favorite songs was playing before we arrived at the park and as my son was drumming the beat on a basketball I have in my backseat, he repeated the lyrics, singing:

“I want you to know the God I know … Oh, you’ve got to know — the God I know.”

My eyes welled up with happiness. It made me feel proud — proud that I am raising my child to live a life filled with a passion for faith, and a dedication to being a messenger for God and all the joy that He brings.

In the past, faith hasn’t always played the largest role in my own life. This is probably similar for many parents, but after the birth of my child I reconnected with God on a level which I believe can only be experienced when you become a parent — when you love someone more than you love yourself.

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I made a serious, concerted effort to instill the values of Christianity in my son’s life — reading him his children’s Bible every night, and reinforcing those values in our daily routines with uplifting, faith-based music. Like every parent, I want him to have self-respect and a sense of purpose as he navigates this constantly changing world.

Even though I do not consider myself to be a specific religious denomination, my son and I identify as Christians and attend the nondenominational Life Church frequently — learning to follow in the steps of Jesus Christ.

As parents, it is our job to lift our children up and provide them a platform from which they can launch into adulthood — emotionally, physically, and spiritually ready for the world and all the trials it will bring. There can be no better way to do this than by teaching our children the value of faith in God.

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Each day, when the sun is shining and God’s presence is all around us — and even when the land is barren and all the leaves on the trees have fallen — I will continue to make faith a constant part of my family’s life. I know I am a good father for doing so.

The author, a father of one, is based in Wisconsin.