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That's focusonthefamily.com/slash get help. Jim John, one of the things that were so powerful about leading family devotions is that God kept changing me. And I think over the course of a year, year and a half, I really believed it. I was in a different spot than I would have been if I hadn't. That's Tim Shoemaker and he's our guest today on this best of 2025 episode of Focus on the Family with Jim Daly.
And we're going to take a look today at how you as a parent can find creative ways to share your faith with your children. Thanks for joining us. I'm John Fuller. You know, John, I remember the devotions with the boys, and really, Gene and I, you know, we had a different picture of what it could look like, and she wanted it pretty formal. But I'm thinking, you know, these are two boys who are wiggling all the time, and they're not going to sit and listen to music for five minutes and then lesson and then pray together.
They did sometimes. And I don't mean to belittle that because there's a place for that kind of structure. But what I noticed really fast is that the boys wanted action. They wanted to see the Bible in action. And sometimes that could be really difficult to do family devotions where you're thinking of all of this, right?
But today we're going to talk with an author who has created some great devotions in his book, The Very Best Hands-On, Kind of Dangerous Family Devotions. I got that out. You did. That was a great deal. It's one breath.
But just wonderful insights on how to make devotions engaging. You know, Proverbs 22:6 reminds parents to train up a child in the way he should go. Even when he is old, he will not depart from it. And I love that. And I think that's true.
Now that I have 20-something boys, men, I should say, sorry, guys, those lessons, a lot of them stuck because of the whole combination of action, insight. Engagement. And I'm looking forward to helping more parents today do it that way. Yeah, yeah. And there's no magic formula.
You have to figure out what works for you. But I love what Tim has done here. Tim Shoemaker is a speaker, author, writing coach, and he and his wife, Cheryl, have been married over 40 years. They have three adult sons, three daughters-in-law, and 12 grandchildren. Expert.
Yes, and Tim's written a number of books. You mentioned the one that forms the foundation for our conversation today, Jim. The very best hands-on, kind of dangerous family devotions, volume one. And you can learn more about our guest and this terrific book when you stop by our website. The link is in the show notes.
When you say the title, you got to start rolling downhill fast, right? The very best hands-on kind of dangerous family devotions. That's a good way to put it. I like that. Tim, welcome to focus on the family.
Jim, so happy to be here. Thank you, Jim.
Well, I understand you grew up in a Christian household, which is good. It gives me perspective. I did not. John, did you? I did.
I grew up in a religious home. Let's call it that. But my boys did. My boys grew up in a Christian household, obviously, with Gene and I.
So I'm always mindful of that distinction: you know, how boring are we making this for them? But your dad had that same plight, right? He struggled to make devotions kind of energizing and interesting, like all of us do at times. Yeah, and you know what? He was great.
I. He's my hero. He was the one that did so much. To influence the man I would become and the Christian I would become. But I'll tell you what, yeah, it was tough.
to make those Devotions not be boring.
So we were born oftentimes. And You know what, I loved him for the fact that He was steady with it. Boy, he did a devotional, you know, each night after dinner. But I'll tell you what, it was something that we had to finish those devotions before we went to youth group. For example, on a Wednesday night.
Wow, that was double due.
Well, I'll tell you what, there was no way anybody asked a question when we were done with that devotion. Anyone have a question? No, we get it. Yes, exactly.
So we wanted to go, but that was something that I wrestled with. Then, when I became a dad and I had boys, and I remembered how I was bored and tried to hide it. And the thought that my boys would be bored was killing me. Yeah, that's kind of God's sense of humor, right? You're thinking, I used to be that boy.
Now you're the dad with those boys. That's so funny. Yeah.
Well, I struggled with it. And I tried different variety, had probably half a bookshelf of uh devotional books that I started and stopped. And then I'd try a new one and work with that with the boys. And I thought it would work, but it just didn't seem to. Work well with them, then I'd stop for a while.
So I was this stop and start dad with family devotion. In that regard, I mean, it does take, and I was thinking about this: temperament plays a role in this. I think if you're, you know, a dad that likes that and recognizes the energy needed to keep a particularly young boy, but girls too, engaged in the devotional time, depending upon their age, five, seven, eight. I mean, those are times, okay, this is getting very, you know, disconnected, right?
So, was there a moment, or was it a progressive awareness that you had that, okay, we got to make this more proactive, more physically engaging, et cetera?
Well, I think I hit a point of desperation because I was not finding anything that was really working. And as the kids are getting older, it gets progressively harder. One time I did this little coin trick thing that I knew, but I tied in a little spiritual application to it. And the kids were engaged. They thought that was pretty good.
That nugget of truth that you give at the end kind of got. Melded in with the coin trick you did, so they were engaged in that. And the next week I tried another one. And they were engaged again, I began to think, oh my goodness, it's this doing something with them rather than just talking to them that was making a difference in time. One of the boys Said to me at one point, Hey Dad, when are we going to have family devotions?
And it was that question I'd never asked my dad. And I realized.
Okay, we're on to something. It's active, object-lesson-oriented, or you do an activity.
Sometimes we take a little outing. And then eventually I started writing them down. I didn't want my boys to struggle someday like I had. Oh, that's good.
So you kind of did that for your own children. Yeah.
In the future, when you have children. Yes, exactly.
That's so cool.
Now, one of the things you did, it's something to do with electrocuting a pickle. Yeah.
Okay, so what's the spiritual lesson? You know what? Here's what happens: you take just a regular. light duty extension cord that you might have for a lamp. You cut off the socket at the end, right, so that you've got the wires exposed.
Then you just wrap a nail on each end And put a little electrical tape. And so now, you're showing us this for the radio listening. Yeah, yeah, yeah, right. Check out the YouTube to see this array of things that Tim has here. Real time here.
And so now you take a nice big deal pickle and you can put, without this being plugged in, you put one nail in one side, one nail in the other side. And when you plug it in, first you'll hear some sizzling, and then all of a sudden it lights up. The pickle. The pickle lights up. It looks like there's a battle going on inside there, like fireworks.
So, of course, the guys love that. And if you dim the lights, You know, the kids love it all the more. It's like, and again, the spiritual application here is. Yes. I'm thinking through what story in the Bible connects to this pickle.
So, what we did is say, hey. Kids, this pickle is like us as a Christian. And we've got two major influences. Just like we've got a positive and a negative lead here, we've got a positive called the Holy Spirit for a Christian, right? We've got a negative, and that's our old nature.
And inside, there's going to be wars all the time of things that we know we shouldn't be doing. But we're doing them. There'll be a battle, or things that we want to do, we know we shouldn't. There's a battle. And how do we beat this battle?
Well, you could. Take out one lead or the other, and the battle's over. And it's the same thing with the Christian life. We're supposed to use the power of the Holy Spirit and a little self-control. To push back that old nature.
And that battle will come back. We keep fighting it until we win that one. And then there'll be something else.
Now, too many times, what we do is we push back the Holy Spirit. Battle is over. We don't feel convicted about it, but we've been quenching the spirit. That's not what we want to do.
So, yeah, we share some scripture and can do a little activity like that to remind them of this battle that goes on inside. You know, it's interesting, uh, the Lord. tends to Teach us in that way. Of course, with the scripture, we have a record of him teaching the disciples in that way. Give me a mustard seed, give me a coin.
I mean, he used object lessons with. Items all the time. That's right. And I think one of the greatest illustrations of that is. The one lesson that Jesus had to make sure that his followers got.
This was the one. If there was ever a time to huddle him up and say, let's talk. This was going to be the time. And he chose an object lesson. And that was the cross.
You know, when you think about it, and I try to stay up on some of the neuroscience, not all of it, but they now, you know, researchers will say. When that kind of lesson is taught, our minds retain it. Far better. I mean, there's a mechanism in our minds when we're seeing something and having that explained to us, but we're seeing the object, etc. the way our brains are wired by God, it just fires a memory.
I I can remember things from my childhood that are fresh as I the color of it, the moment, what was happening, because of the intensity of the memory. And that's what you're doing in many ways. You're creating a more intense, not negative, but a more intense experience for that child to remember the lesson. Yep, you do some sort of activity, some sort of object lesson, some sort of visual, and On the tail end of that you're sharing Scripture and a nugget of truth. And they just etched together in their mind, and they can remember these things.
For years. Your six-year-old niece wasn't. Oh, yeah, she was six or eight, something like that. We went to a used car lot because I wanted to talk to the older kids that we had with us about. Um dating and the kind of person that they want to fall in love with or um Go out with at some point, and it was reminding him about that.
And so she was just a tag-along. And we did this little thing where we went to the used cars and have them pick a car that they wanted. What's their dream car or truck? Price is no object, we're not buying anything. And so each one picked.
But they wanted and they told us why and and the guys were often like, Well, I think I you know, This car looks so fast. Or, you know, what would the guys say if they saw me? Pull up with this, you know. It was all about the looks. Girls in the group, they were more like, Well, I just I like the color, or this looks so cute, or whatever it was about the car.
It was like, These are used cars. If you want a car to go to the distance, what really matters is what's under the hood, right? The engine, and you need a mechanic for that. It's the same thing when you're looking at The opposite sex. you know, is we can get so wrapped up with the outer things But we Really need to.
Be looking at the heart, and who knows the heart? Only God.
So we need to stay close to God and have Him. That's good. Yeah, the mechanic of the heart. Yeah.
The creator of the heart. Exactly. And ask Him to help us fall in love with that heart.
Well, years later. Years later, we're talking, I don't know. uh fifteen twenty years Some conversation came up. And here, my niece, that was this little one tagging along, remembered that lesson. Perfectly in the lesson behind it.
And it just was just underscored how well we remembered, just like what you were saying, Jenny. Yeah, it makes that point.
So I am prone to be more serious and teacher. I know this surprises you, Jen. But firstborn, last born. Our devotions, I try to do what you were expressing, where you sit down and, okay, you're four, so you should be able to listen to this 20-minute exposition of scripture.
So help me understand just a little bit more, because it sounds like you're kind of light on the Bible teaching here.
So what's a challenge? Here we go. You know what? Sometimes. The little nuggets of truth are the deepest things.
Think about how Jesus taught so often. He just. Hit with this zinger all of a sudden. He'd hit with this nugget of truth that you could chew on for a long time. There was real depth there.
But It was something that was so succinct, that was so easy to remember. And so, with this, There are times you'll go deep. The discussion will go deep. You're going to hit deep truth. But you're going to get into it.
In a very easy way. And so these types of devotions, I'm suggesting these are once a week. You know, John, we probably have parents out there that are doing something every night, and I'll say, do that, wonderful, keep it going. But once a week, swap it out because I know kids are pretty good and pretending they're listening. Woohoo!
And they're not always listening. They can check out, but they can't check out when you do this.
So once a week, you do something like this. And you would be surprised as these nugs of truth get in their hearts and their mind, they can make a difference. Yeah, where in the world would I find 52 great ideas? Hmm. No, it's true.
I love it. That's what makes this so easy. You spoke in the book about, I love this. I don't know what your devotional budget is, but you took the kids to a stock car race. Jean, did you hear that?
What a budget for devotions. It's a devotional time. But how great? You took them to a stock car race. I guess what was the object lesson and how did it go over?
Well, I wanted to talk to them about manhood because, again, these work. all the way through when your kids go into high school, want to talk about Doubt? Kind of a manhood issue. What kind of a man do they want to be? And so we went to the Stockholm race.
There was no teaching. We just went there and did what you do. You watch them go around the oval. Each race, you're picking who you want to win, and you're hoping for a little action on the turns and things like that. And it was over on the drive home.
I just asked the boys, I said, Hey guys, tell me what you saw. What did you observe tonight? And I was going to use that as a springboard to get into what I wanted to talk about, but they just opened the door. They gave me this loud pitch. One of the boys said, We saw a bunch of men driving around in a circle trying to get ahead of each other.
And another one said, And they ended up right Where they started. Pretty much the same spot. Yes, right. And I'm kind of gripping the wheel, just sort of shaking. You know, it's at night, and I'm thinking, oh my goodness, this was perfect.
He didn't even say a word. You know, it was so good. And to say, guys, this is the way it is with most men their entire life, they're going in circles. Uh they're not really going anywhere. with the world's way and they end up Pretty much where they started with nothing.
And if you want to go the world's way, You better like the oval track because that's what you're going to have. But if. You go God's way. He'll take you on a journey. It's not going to be in a bunch of circles.
And you are going to you're going to bump some people, but not to get ahead. Just to impact them for the Lord. And I'm telling you what, your dad chose. The Journey. And I've loved it.
And I hope you choose the same. Yeah, that's so good. Hey, one of the things, Tim, is it's so crucial for parents to pass down their faith. I mean, we all think about it as Christians, as faithful Christians. How are we going to do this in a way that sticks and makes a difference?
Deuteronomy gives us the classic verse about the importance of teaching your children God's word. But you found Psalm 78 to be really helpful. What did you catch in Psalm 78? You know, there were four things. In the Deuteronomy examples, it gives a clear command.
We're to teach our kids. We're to teach that next generation. And grandparents are on the hook for that too, Deuteronomy 4.9 points out. But it doesn't give us the why. And maybe the why should be obvious, but...
He was a guy. I always react better when I understand the why behind it. But one time, as I'm reading Psalm 78, I'm seeing the whys behind it. And it gives four quick payoffs there. If I jump in, maybe the middle of verse four here, it says.
We'll tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power, and the wonders he has done. He decreed statutes for Jacob and established the law in Israel, which he commanded our forefathers to teach their children. There's the reference to Deuteronomy.
So the next generation would know them. Even the children yet to be born, even, and they in turn would tell their children. And they would put their trust in God and would not forget his deeds, but would keep his commands. They would not be like their forefathers. A stubborn and rebellious generation whose hearts were not loyal to God, whose spirits were not faithful.
So these four things.
So the next generation would know in the course of one generation, and we've all seen it. We've seen extended family where In one generation, they didn't teach their kids And the truth was lost. And we don't want that. And so they would put their trust in God. Yes, for salvation.
But also trusting that His way is right. We live in a world that is saying What we as Christians think is Wrong, the world says, no, that's right, embrace it. It's so accurate. And that's Psalm 78. What a great reference for us as parents to do that and be faithful about it.
God has to own the outcome. But what He wants us to do is make sure we're exposing our kids to the Word of God, living the Word, even with our mistakes. I mean, I think that's one of the great lessons your kids can see is when you need to apologize for not behaving. Biblically. And that's okay.
That gets into the whole brokenness of who we are. We're all sinners saved by grace. It's so important for your kids to see that. When we mess up, we fess up. And that's something that is so important.
One of the things I found with leading family devotions. It was a surprise to me. was That the Holy Spirit kept tapping you on the forehead and reminding you where you need to shape those things up yourself. And so then sometimes when I say, oh, guys, did you hear how I talked to mom? That's exactly what we were talking about.
That's, you know, I need to say I'm sorry to you. I need to say I'm sorry to mom. And I need to have a talk with the Lord about that, don't I? And you know what? Jim, John, one of the things that were so powerful about leading family devotions is that God kept changing me.
And I think over the course of a year, year and a half, I really believed. I was in a different spot than I would have been if I hadn't. Been doing family devotions.
Now, I was trying to benefit the kids, right? Here's a huge benefit to me because. I didn't lose my kids' respect by confessing By admitting that we do it wrong, we don't lose the respect. We're making those adjustments and I was able to speak into their life all through their teenage years. It's really hard to rebel against somebody you respect, right?
Yeah, totally. Tim, let me ask this question because it pops up here. You know, the responsibility of devotions, family devotions. I mean, mom and dad were looking at each other like, okay, who's going to take the lead on this? Dad.
You know, it's like dad's responsibility. It's one of the things you have to do when you get home from work. But I don't know, speak through that whole negotiation with the parents. How do we want to manage this? We're new parents.
You know, the kids are five. We got to start maybe thinking about this or doing it already. Just walk through what that might look like. And like I mentioned a while ago, does temperament play into that? If mom's got the kind of outside-the-box thinking, is it good for her to take the lead and dad support?
But what do you think in terms of the structure, the discussion within the parents? How do we want to manage this? How much thought should we give that?
Well, I think we want to, the main priorities we want to make sure that we're teaching our kids. And so, if that means mom does it or dad does it or mom and dad together, one way or the other we have to do it. And often with mom and dad, they can divide up their responsibilities based on where their comfort zone is.
So, it might be that mom has got the book and she says, Hey, you know what, honey, this week, I think we ought to do this one here. It's going to involve this, this, and this. Would you be able to pick these things up? Yeah, I'll pick these up. And could you run this activity?
Yeah, I got that. And so maybe dad runs the activity. Maybe mom ties in the nugget of truth. What do the kids see? Mom and dad working together to teach spiritual truth.
It still works. There is a certain power to dad engagement. I mean, mom is there and mom's consistent. We all know a mother's love, right? Yeah.
Dad tends to be the wild card, you know. And when dads are engaged, I think the evidence, the social science, would say that when dad's engaged in the family, really good outcomes occur. And when he's not, bad outcomes can often occur.
So that's important. And for moms to work with dads to get that done, even if mom needs to organize that a little bit for dad, because he's not thinking that through, that wouldn't be any of us, right? No. I always appreciated that when Gene would say to me, hey, I think this would be a great devotion tonight. On that note, we often rely, even as Christians, we rely on our church to deliver these youth groups and kind of the main teaching for our children.
That's not the best way to think of this, right? We should be that provision of God's truth. In their life and God's word, and then the church, with all of their programs, is the auxiliary component. They augment what we're already doing. You think about it in the middle of the night, especially as we have teenagers when they're wrestling with something, when they need to talk to somebody in the middle of the night.
The youth group isn't there. It's It's mom and dad. And if we've been having these open conversations, it's much easier for us to be there. But yeah, we want to be the main one. Influencing and teaching our kids.
And like I mentioned earlier, my dad was my hero. And You know, that made a big difference. I wanted to be a dad like him. I wanted to be a man like him. And we see these things as he even taught the word, even when sometimes that was boring.
I saw his dedication to it that he lived it out.
So it wasn't for naught. Right. For those that have done it, kind of that structured way.
Well, Tim, this has been so good. And many good reminders on how we should approach family devotions and 52 ways to do that. I mean, this is a great resource. And then I'm sure you can think of your own, but the very best hands-on, kind of dangerous family devotions rolling downhill once again. But I do love this book.
And I think, as a dad, as a dad who wants to make devotions fun, sometimes to my wife's chagrin, I think you should do it. And I'm teasing with that. Gene was always in with the fun stuff. And I think it's good when you can do that together. But think about making it memorable, not boring.
If you're aiming for boring, I think you're aiming for the wrong thing. And think of. Too, Jim, think of grandparents. Often, you know, we've got the kids with us, and we're like, what are we going to do? Wow, to be able to teach a nugget of truth.
Deuteronomy 4:9 puts that on us. As grandparents, We've got to teach that generation. And one last punch, Tim, when it comes to structured versus a little less structured and what kids remember. You did this for years with your boys. Where are they today, and what's the outcome?
By God's grace. We've got our oldest one, he's recording. uh engineer and uh he's uh active in his church and leading his family uh with the Lord, so that's great. Uh our middle son, he's a pastor, uh so that worked out really good. And we've got a uh our youngest son is a Paramedic, and so all four way word guy.
Yeah, right. Paramedic who's not serving the Lord, right? He's like serving Him every day, saving lives, right? Yeah, He saves lives, one saves souls, and such. But yeah, it's this thing where all three are leading their families in the faith, and that is just a gift from God.
Yeah.
I love that encouragement from Tim Shoemaker and his inspiring ideas on today's episode of Focus on the Family with Jim Daly. I hope you've picked up a few ideas on how you can add some creativity to your devotional time with your own children. I was so captivated with Tim's suggestions and demonstrations. Incorporating science and object lessons can not only grab a child's interest, but really solidify the message and help them remember what you're trying to teach them. And let me remind you: Focus on the Family is here for you.
As you're raising the next generation, we want to help. We can answer your questions, offer trusted guidance, and encourage you through your parenting journey. We have so many resources available for you. A good place to start is Tim's fun book, The Very Best Hands-On, Kind of Dangerous Family Devotions, Volume 1. It's a terrific guide to walk you through these thought-provoking devotions step by step.
The theology is solid and it will help your child establish a firm foundation of faith in the Lord. We'd like to send that to you for a donation of any amount today, and no amount, of course, is too small. Your gift to focus on the family directly strengthens families, equips parents, and brings hope to homes that are struggling. Every day, this ministry offers biblical guidance, practical help, and Christ-centered encouragement to people who desperately need it. And when you give today, you help change the direction of a family's story.
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On behalf of the team, thanks for listening to Focus on the Family with Jim Dilly. I'm John Fuller inviting you back as we once again help you and your family thrive in Christ. Chat GPT and AI can offer you ideas and attempt to give you answers, but it can't listen with compassion, pray with you, or guide you with wisdom shaped by faith. When life feels overwhelming, real human connection matters. At Focus on the Family, we believe in the power of professional help and biblical wisdom.
That's why we offer a free, confidential consultation with a caring Christian counselor to walk with you through life's struggles. Whether you're navigating challenges in marriage, parenting, anxiety, grief, or something else, our counselors are here to help. If you're hurting, don't wait. Hope is real and healing begins with a conversation. Request your free confidential consultation today.
Call 1-800-A Family. That's 1-800-232-6459. Or visit focusonthefamily.com slash get help. That's focusonthefamily.com slash get help.
