More Than Passengers: Raising Kids Who Truly Follow Jesus

Recently, my husband and I were flying from Colorado to South Bend, Indiana with a 40-minute layover in Chicago—which quickly turned into a five-minute sprint across the airport.

Maintenance delays on our first flight left us with almost no time. We deboarded quickly and realized we had to make it from the H gates all the way to L28.

So… we ran.

We passed gates I, J, and K. By the time we hit L1, we heard the announcement:

“Final boarding call to South Bend. Doors will be closing in five minutes.”

Our jog turned into a full sprint—which, for me, was no small feat in heels. I was already exhausted, staring down 28 more gates to go. My husband ran ahead to try to hold the door, while I huffed and puffed my way through a sea of travelers.

Finally, I made it to L28, completely out of breath.

We rushed down the boarding ramp… and out the door to find—

A bus.

“This is the flight to South Bend?” I asked the attendant.

“This is the flight,” she replied.

Sure enough, the bus had “American Airlines, L28” displayed on the side. We climbed aboard, joining a group of equally confused passengers.

“Did you think this was a flight?” someone asked.

Everyone nodded.

And then we drove.

Through Chicago rush hour traffic.

On a bus.

To our “flight” destination.

Three hours later, we arrived at the South Bend airport. Not at the curb—but at a terminal. We got off the bus, walked through the airport, and picked up our luggage as if we had just stepped off a plane.

It looked like a flight. It had a gate. It was surrounded by airplanes. It had a boarding process. It even had a flight number.

But it wasn’t a plane.

It was a bus.

And no matter how much it looked the part…no matter how much we expected it to fly…

When the rubber met the road, it couldn’t.

As I sat there on that bus, it hit me…

This isn’t just a funny travel story.

If I’m honest, this is something I think about often as a mom.

Because it’s surprisingly easy to raise kids who look a lot like that bus.

We give them the label of Christian. We raise them at Church. They are surrounded by Christians. Everyone else may think they look and act the part. But when the rubber meets the road, we don't want our kids to grow up to be actors. We want them to genuinely be lovers of Jesus.

Far too many kids grow up in Christian homes, only to stop going to church, stop believing in God once they are adults.

As we approach Easter, I have been reflecting on how we can make the story of Christ's death on the cross real for our children. How can we help them take it from head to heart? How can we bridge the gap from being surrounded by Christians to actually being one?

Here are a few thoughts:

1. Pray. Only God can open the eyes of our children’s hearts. We can’t force faith—but we can faithfully bring them before the One who saves. Prayer isn’t a last resort; it’s our greatest weapon. James 5:16 reminds us, “The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective.”

2. Live it out.Our kids are watching more than they’re listening. When they see a genuine love for Jesus in us—not perfection, but real relationship—they begin to recognize the difference between looking the part and actually living it.

3. Speak truth in every way you can. Through conversations, music, books, media, friendships—keep putting truth in front of them. Sometimes it’s one small moment, one song lyric, one conversation that finally connects.

   
   

But even with all of this, we have to remember something:

We can’t manufacture genuine faith in our children.

We can create the environment.We can point them to truth.We can model what it looks like to follow Jesus.

But real faith isn’t inherited—it’s personal.

It’s the moment when Jesus stops being our Savior in their minds…and becomes their Savior in their hearts.

And that’s what we’re praying for.

Not kids who know all the right answers. Not kids who look the part. Not kids who can blend in on the “bus.”

But kids who have truly been transformed.

Kids who don’t just sit in a Christian environment—but who are filled with the Spirit of God. Kids who know that their identity is secured in the love of Jesus. Kids who want to please God because they love him back.

Because when the rubber meets the road, when life gets hard, when faith is tested…

We don’t want them pretending to fly.

We want them to actually soar.

So this Easter, let’s not just go through the motions.

Let’s pray boldly.Let’s live authentically.Let’s keep pointing them to Jesus again and again and again.

And then we trust the One who loves them even more than we do to do what only He can do—

Turn belief into surrender. Turn knowledge into relationship. Turn a label into a life changed forever.