Randall Goodgame has never gotten over the fact that Jesus has a special place in his heart for children, no matter what age they are. One of the verses that I kind of go back to all the time when I'm thinking about what I'm doing is the passage, it actually is in three of the four gospels, where Jesus says, if you don't come to me like a child, you can't come to the kingdom of heaven. It reminds me of how much of a child I am in front of the Lord. And that verse is an invitation to remember that we don't have to hide anything from the Lord. We get to be his kids in the same way that our kids, all covered in peanut butter and jelly, want to run up and grab us on their pants, you know?
The Lord wants all that mess from us in the same way. This is Family Life Today. Our hosts are Dave and Ann Wilson.
I'm Bob Lapine. You can find us online at familylifetoday.com. Randall Goodgame joins us today to talk about kids and music and the power of the gospel. Stay with us. And welcome to Family Life Today.
Thanks for joining us. I wish our listeners could have been here five minutes ago, don't you? I don't know. Yes, yes. They would have loved it. It was joyful. And getting warmed up to be here with Randall Goodgame again on Family Life Today. Randall, welcome back to Family Life Today. Thank you, Bob.
So great. Warming up, we decided to revisit some of the hits of the 60s, which you weren't even around in the 60s. How do you even know these songs? Oh, it's like I was telling you, The Monkees was my very first concert ever.
It was their reunion tour. You're hurting my feelings. And your daughter, Libby, even knew some of the lyrics.
That was impressive. Only because of Shrek. Oh, yeah.
Bob knows every single lyric. That's a little scary. Well, let's start with what we're talking about.
First of all, for listeners who don't know, Randall Goodgame is the creative force, the energy behind the slugs and bugs, audio CDs, the books, the new TV series, 13 episodes that are now available on DVD. It's one of the things we wanted our listeners to know about. But the way this ties in is when you were trying to help your kids memorize scripture, we talked about this this week, when all you're doing is teaching them words, it kind of is semi-sticky. When you add a melody to it, how many Bible verses do all of us know today? Because there's a melody that we learned at singing a chorus somewhere or whatever.
You put music to lyric and it sticks at a deeper level, doesn't it? There is something just undeniable about the power of music to help us remember things, things maybe sometimes we don't want to remember. But the Bible is full of things we want to remember. So yeah, early on with my kids, we were homeschooling, I stumbled onto it as a way to help them remember scripture. And it's just been, for me, the most powerful tool for scripture memory personally that I found. Randall and Livy, have you had a time, especially you, Livy, because you grew up memorizing scripture through song? Has there been a time in your life that you can recall that you are in a circumstance and that scripture came to mind through that song that you memorized? Yes, a lot of the time it would be when I was in Sunday school or even at school. We had chapel every week and things like that. When a Bible verse would come up and I would find myself not be able to say it without singing it because I was like, oh, I know this because it's this song. And sometimes I couldn't even help myself.
I would start to say it if I had to read it out loud or something, and I would have to very forcibly just talk it and not sing it. And we need parents to recognize if you've got kids who are at home who are three, four, five, seven, eight, nine, in those pre-elementary and elementary years, these kids are amazing sponges who when you go out, I was thinking about the parable of the sowers. I was thinking the good soil is where you get 30, 60, 100 fold. Well, kids at age four and five and six, that's good soil. I mean, that may be the best soil for planting gospel seeds in the lives of a kid, don't you think?
Sure. One of the verses that I kind of go back to all the time when I'm thinking about what I'm doing is the passage, it actually is in three of the four gospels where Jesus says, if you don't come to me like a child, you can't come to the kingdom of heaven. And people reference that verse a lot because it's let the children come to me, do not hinder them, right?
That happens first. As if to say, let the kids come. But that next part where it says, if you don't come to me like this, then you can't come, it reminds me of how much of a child I am in front of the Lord.
Completely dependent. All the ways that we try to correct our children, all the misbehavior, all the things that we see plainly and are trying to correct, the Lord is saying, no, I need you to be that way fully in front of me. And that verse is an invitation to remember that we don't have to hide anything from the Lord. We get to be his kids in the same way that our kids all covered in peanut butter and jelly want to run up and grab us on their pants, you know?
The Lord wants all that mess from us in the same way. If you always had a heart for, a love for kids, are you somebody who volunteered to teach the four-year-olds at church? No. No, I am not, Bob. And I've actually always been afraid of this question. Because the truth is, I tried to avoid children's ministry work when I was a young parent. I'm changing diapers at home. I did not want to be around other people's kids. It really wasn't until growing my own kids, watching the Lord grow them and becoming soft-hearted towards children that I started to turn. Before I had kids, I just didn't ever want to be around them. I couldn't understand people that would volunteer on purpose to go be around children. So, I get, when I'm around people like that, I get it. I have lots of compassion for that.
Just, you know, all the stickiness and all the loudness, it wasn't for me. But, of course, the Lord has totally turned my heart. And now I see myself in kids. They're a constant reminder of how the Lord sees me.
So, I'm just always grateful. I mean, you're standing on stages now. Right. And you've got a whole bunch of kids singing your songs. Right. And that's the experience, seeing little kids literally singing your songs, which are scripture, but your songs. Yeah, Dave, it's just, I can't hardly keep it together. Really?
Yeah. There's this one song from Isaiah 40, the Do You Not Know Have You Not Heard The Lord Is The Everlasting God? You might. You might have to sing it. I'll sing a little bit of it, just acapella here.
All right. Do you not know have you not heard the Lord is the everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary. His understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary. And as I'm singing that and watching the kids and their parents all singing that back to me, I have to just remember, okay, you're doing your job.
You can't lose it on here on stage. Watching them sing this sweet reminder of the truth of who God is for them and for me, it sometimes is all too much. You know, as a recording artist, they're up there watching people sing their lyric, but you're watching people sing God's lyric.
Yeah. How powerful. Personally, it's incredible for me because I grew up as a musician in Nashville really as a lyricist. That's how I wound up making a living for a bunch of years as a songwriter for other people. I got a lot of glory out of that and a lot of joy out of it, too. I mean, it's a gift that God gave me.
It was Christian songs. I was using it for his glory, but I was for sure always a bit double-minded at looking back. I know that I had pride in it. And there were aspects of songwriting that weren't pure for me. I was always striving to do my best and be the best. But there was a pride attached to it that the Lord has freed me from with calling me into writing scripture songs. That is just a sweet gift to me on a personal level.
Even just from the opportunity to play for children and how different it feels for children to be fans than for adults to be fans. It's just like the Lord knew that, yeah, this is something that you aren't going to be great at, so I'm just going to put you in front of kids so you don't have to worry about that anymore. Livia, one of the things I remember hearing about Mr. Rogers, we talked a little bit about Mr. Rogers earlier. People said he was the same when the camera was on as he was when the camera was off. And when the camera was off and there was a group of kids, he wanted to go talk to the kids. He was drawn to them. He gravitated to them.
Is your dad like that? Does he go where the kids are and want to sit down and talk to them? Well, it's more that the kids are drawn to him. He can't escape them. It's the bow tie.
It's the bow tie. But he never dismisses them. He's always happy to talk to kids and never talking down to them, always talking to them like they're a whole person just like him. And talking to them in the way that they relate, which I think is really cool.
What's this been like for you, Livia? Because you've stood on the stage with your dad, which is something that a lot of kids don't get to experience. Sharing God's Word, hearing these kids sing, what is that like? Has it helped you grow up singing God's Word? Well, I never thought about it that way, at least when I was younger. But as I'm older now and don't have as much of a childish mindset, it's made me not be so apprehensive of God's Word.
I think it's more approachable. Transitioning from songwriting to creating a 13-episode TV series, you're telling stories in each episode of the TV series. What's the starting place for these stories?
How do you begin to sit down and imagine the stories you're going to tell? For me, this show is about discipleship, even though that's kind of a big word for kids. The show is built to help model what it looks like for people to walk around actually trusting Jesus with their lives.
And what's wonderful for us is most people walk around their lives not at church. So, since we're not at church, we have this opportunity to, we're in a workshop on the show. And so, I'm the host and I present as the guide in the, you know, the sage, I suppose, which isn't so hard when you've just got puppets around.
I'm the smartest guy in the room. But with the two raccoons and the slug and the bug, they get into conflicts and we go on adventures and things happen between them and with the guests where the job is to always figure out how we navigate this loving one another, thinking of each other more than we think of ourselves, dealing with injustice or someone's heartbreak. I think about the episode we did on adoption, where the storyline we created was the two raccoons are adopted into this other raccoon home. And they get to talk about some of the difficulties that there are with being adopted.
The raccoon girl wonders out loud about her biological parents, like, were they fast like me? Is it okay that sometimes I'm sad when I think about them? Is that mean to my new parents?
And because we know the gospel, we get to frame everything that all of our answers, all the ways that we help kids navigate through this or help the puppets navigate through it, we get to frame it with an understanding of Jesus at the center of it. So, of course, it's not mean to think of your biological parents because we're free in Christ. Your parents love you.
It's not conditional. The only reason you have to be afraid would be if you were going to hurt their feelings. And their feelings are secure because Jesus loves them. So, every relational issue we come across in the Slugs and Bugs show finds its roots, its solid foundation in Jesus's love for us. I think most Christian parents know that they need to bring their children up.
Oh, here you go, Ephesians 6, 4. Fathers, don't exasperate your children, but bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord. So, I think a lot of Christian parents maybe even sit in church and they hear that. That's my job. I'm supposed to do that. It isn't just the school or church.
I, as a mom and dad, that is my call. And yet that's where we get stuck. It's like, okay, how?
How do I do that? And there's a fear sometimes. Even a paralysis is I don't know how to do it.
I'm not good at it. So, I'll send them to school. I'll send them to Christian school. I'll send them to church. They'll take care of that. And yet as a parent, I know that's my job.
So, I'm looking, how can I do this and what can help me? You've offered a tool. You have a tool because you want something that can help you as a parent, but also you want it fun? The worst thing you can do as a parent is make God and religion and Jesus born. I guess that's the worst thing. I don't want to do that again.
Yours is joyful, fun, memorable, right? What a gift you are to the Christian parent. Seriously, you really are. Yeah, we may not be able to write a song or scripture song, but you've already done it.
Well, thank you. It makes me think that I just relate so much to what you just said, that paralysis of being a parent and going, how do I raise my kids? I mean, I still ask that question all the time. And what the Lord always brings me back to is there's three things that I think about with my kids. One, I always want to be the chief apologizer.
I want to model repentance, you know, that I got to never be afraid. And sometimes I mean, I've been doing this, what, 19 years? I still am. Sometimes I still don't want to apologize.
I think what they did was worse. I always had my wife apologize. Yeah, right. But so much about what we think about God begins with what our relationship was like with my parents. So, I want to be as good of a doorway into what God is like or what it's like to trust God to my kids as I possibly can. So, I want to be the chief apologizer. Hand in glove with that is I want to claim and own the authority that the Lord has given me. So, even though I get to apologize whenever I've done wrong, to model that and show this is what it means. I'm sorry with no strings attached. I'm a sinner. I need Jesus. But also, you are grounded. Because this is also my authority given to me by the Lord to be your dad right now.
So, those two things go together. Where I run afoul of that is where either I don't apologize because it's just my pride doesn't let me, or I don't maybe sometimes discipline in ways that I should because I don't want to rock the boat or don't want to get a mess of another argument. So, nobody does it perfectly. The Lord knows I don't. But for me, what's so powerful about getting to make these materials that all reflect how we trust God is how we trust God in the midst of relationships is the central question of my experience, my life. And I always every day, okay, how am I going to trust God in this thing? And I fail all the time.
But I need as many resources around me as I possibly can. And it's, you know, just a joy and privilege to get to try to make some too. Well, I do love to, I think as parents, it is easy to think, oh, these Sunday school teachers know a lot more than I do. The teachers know a lot more than I do. And so, they'll kind of pawn their kids off hoping that will happen. But that's our responsibility as parents. God's given us that role. And I think as parents, if we don't know what to do, or we feel like we don't have enough training or Bible knowledge, they can sit down and listen or watch these things and learn with their kids. And to say to your kids, to be honest, like, I don't know all of this, but let's learn together. That's a first step of being honest and open.
Yeah, that's so great, Anne. That's what we want. I want to feel free enough in who God has called me to be and who He hasn't called me to be.
He hasn't called me to be perfect. But I want to feel free enough to be able to just invite my children into the journey with me and say, y'all are at the beginning. I got a little bit of a head start. So, there's some things that I know that you don't.
But everything, all of it, I need reminding all the time. Well, you've got a guitar and you've got a background vocalist with you. So, we've got to hear a little music. All right. Okay.
Help our parents understand what they can be doing with their kids. I'm excited. I'm excited to hear you guys together.
Awesome. So, what's the song you're going to sing? So, this is called I Am the Way. It's a couple of verses from John. I recognize that, yeah. John 14, right? Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
Okay. One, two, one, two, three. Hey, hey, I wanna, hey, hey, I wanna, hey, hey, I wanna, hey, hey, I wanna, hey, hey, I wanna know the way. Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know? How can we know the way? Thomas said to him, Lord, we do not know where you are going.
How can we know? How can we know the way? Jesus said to him, I am the way. I am the way. I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. I am the way. I am the way. I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Hey, hey, yeah. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you, not as the world, not as the world gives. John 14, 20 says, peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you, not as the world, not as the world gives.
Let not your heart be troubled. I am the way. I am the way. I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Yeah, I am the way. I am the way. I am the way and the truth and the life.
No one comes to the Father except through me. Hey, hey, I wanna. Hey, hey, I wanna. Hey, hey, I wanna. Hey, hey, I wanna. Hey, hey, I wanna.
Hey, hey, I wanna know the way. Hey. That was great. That was so good. If you heard a little djembe in the background, that was Dave Wilson on our tabletop here.
We need a djembe in here. Nice, man. Good keeping the heaven.
That works. That is so good. And again, just the amazing thing of music is now you've got God's word right there accessible in the crevices of your heart, and God brings his word back in those moments when we need it and just applies it in our lives. And I'm just gonna remind parents, when you're in the car, you have a captive audience. And so when you're driving, I remember when our kids turned 16, I was so disappointed because I never had that captive audience anymore because they wanna listen to great things, and especially when they're young, these are great songs, lyrics. It's God's word to remember.
And then the Holy Spirit can bring that up and remind those kids in certain situations of the power and application of God's word. And here's what I just thought. I mean, we're singing. It's hard to sing that song without a smile. It's just full of joy. The way you wrote it is joyful.
That's why the drums had to come in. But think about this. If you're singing that with your kids, you're taking one of the most powerful statements ever made in the history of the universe by the Son of God. I am the way, the truth. You talk about the gospel. Your children are learning the gospel with a smile on their face. And that truth that Jesus is the way is the most important truth they'll ever have to remember their whole life.
And you've stuck it in their brain in a way that's probably never gonna go away. When they're in a dark valley and they're struggling at 30 or 35 or 18, God could bring that to them and say, I am your way out. I am the truth. And the Holy Spirit says, I am it. Wouldn't it be great to have a conversation of what that scripture means? What does it mean when Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life?
And what do you think does the world agree with that? What would the world say? There are great conversations to be had as we looked at scripture together with our kids. Yeah, so that's some of the fun feedback I get from families all the time. Like I said, people listening in the car, they send us videos all the time of their kids singing songs, often getting them wrong, you know, singing some cute little kid version.
But I also get notes, emails from families about amazing conversations that they've had in the car about what does that mean? Where they've been singing these words from the Bible for weeks and weeks and never really knew what they meant. And then suddenly the kid asks. Parents are having to engage with what they believe with their kid in front of them. Sometimes I've had parents joke and they say, hey, thanks a lot. I had to have this really hard conversation. But really grateful for what came out of it. In that song, one of the reasons why I paired that John 14, 27 verse with it is because, you know, just that few verses later, he says, I give to you not as the world gives.
This is a whole different message, like you were saying. You guys are kind to come here and let us spend a little bit of time with you and sing a song for us. And we're grateful for you being here with us today. Thanks for being on Family Life Today. Thank you, Bob. What a great opportunity. We appreciate it.
Yeah, thank you. It's been so fun. Our listeners are also going to get an opportunity to save a little money because the folks at Slugs and Bugs are making a special offer to Family Life Today listeners today. Go to our website, familylifetoday.com, click on the link to their website, and there are books there, there's the video series, there are audio CDs available, music that can be downloaded.
Anything you want to get, you just fill up your shopping cart and at the end write Family Life 25, the number 25, and that will give you 25% off anything you buy from them today. So again, go to familylifetoday.com for the links to the Slugs and Bugs website and go on a little shopping spree and save some money with the folks from Slugs and Bugs. We also want to send out to Family Life Today listeners three episodes from season one of the Slugs and Bugs video series. We're making this available to those of you who are regular Family Life Today listeners who are ready to join the Legacy Partner team. Legacy Partners are those folks who contribute to the Ministry of Family Life every month.
Your monthly financial support, whatever the amount, helps provide the financial stability we need to be able to reach hundreds of thousands of people every day through Family Life Today. You make that possible and if you're ready to join that team and become a Legacy Partner, we will send you as a thank you gift three episodes from the Slugs and Bugs season one video series. We'll send you a copy of my new book, Love Like You Mean It, which is about what 1 Corinthians 13 teaches us about real love and what that should look like in a marriage relationship. And then we'll send you a certificate so that you and your spouse or another couple you know can attend an upcoming weekend to remember marriage getaway. As soon as we get the all-clear to start hosting those again, you will be our guests at an upcoming getaway.
And here's the best part. When you sign up this week to become a new Legacy Partner, every donation you make for the next 12 months is going to be matched dollar for dollar up to a total of $25,000 thanks to some friends of the ministry who are hoping that this week we'll have a lot of new families join us as Legacy Partners. So you get the thank you gifts. Your donations are doubled for the next 12 months. All you have to do is go online to familylifetoday.com and click the link for Legacy Partners or call 1-800-FL-TODAY and say I'm ready to join the team. Sign me up as a Family Life Today Legacy Partner and thanks in advance for your support of the ministry of Family Life Today. Now tomorrow we're going to introduce you to a wife and a mother with a young daughter, Rachel Gilson, who experienced same-sex attraction when she was in high school and in college until she stole a book that changed her life. She shares her story with us tomorrow. I hope you can tune in for that. I want to thank our engineer today, Keith Lynch, along with our entire broadcast production team. On behalf of our hosts, Dave and Ann Wilson, I'm Bob Lapine. We'll see you back next time for another edition of Family Life Today. Family Life Today is a production of Family Life of Little Rock, Arkansas, a crew ministry. Help for today, hope for tomorrow.
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