Sermon Illustration

Children today average 17 hours a week with Mom and Dad, 40 percent less time than children spent with their parents in 1965. And they spend more than 25 hours a week watching television. Los Angeles Times, quoted in Signs of the Times, May, 1992

Charles Francis Adams, 19th century political figure and diplomat, kept a diary. One day he entered: "Went fishing with my son today--a day wasted." His son, Brook Adams, also kept a diary, which is still in existence. On that same day, Brook Adams made this entry: "Went fishing with my father--the most wonderful day of my life!" The father thought he was wasting his time while fishing with his son, but his son saw it as an investment of time. The only way to tell the difference between wasting and investing is to know one's ultimate purpose in life and to judge accordingly.