The 5th Covenant Ring

Many years ago, starting with Katie, I began a very serious tradition with my children, Covenant rings.

On their 13th birthday, I have a date with my child at a fancy restaurant. We talk about purity and what it really means in detail. I then ask them if they will make a covenant with me. That they will accept a ring from me and wear it until the night before their wedding symbolizing that they have been sexually pure. Then that night they give the ring back to me. If they mess up sexually they are to give the ring back to me because they have broken the covenant.

These rings have become very important to my girls especially. I will never forget when Margaret lost hers in the locker room before a basketball game. It was lost for about a week. HEr good friend Cate Dahl knew how much it meant to Margaret and look and relooked in the locker room until she fount it. It was a real day of rejoicing!

The rings look like wedding bands so many people ask the kids about them. It is an opportunity to tell what a covenant ring means. I hope every boy asks my girls what they mean!

What does the "Covenant" consist? I promise to pray, provide and protect as much as I can. To allow them to use me as their excuse to say no to any guy. They promise to be sexually pure - not just technically - but really pure until they are married. Why? I want their marriages to be the best possible and as a pastor I have seen first hand how pre-marital sex has so adversely affected so many marriages. Th

e author of the Proverbs says it is like putting hot coals in you lap - it burns and leaves a lasting reminder of sin that affects the future.

Last week, I have my last "Covenant Ring" discussion and date with  my last 13 year old, Rebekah. She has been asking if I had the ring, if I had forgotten ... so I let her see the box and then said she could not open it till out date 2 days later - mean huh. Notice the lip!

Finally, last Monday was our date and we got dressed up and went on the town. Long conversations, great questions and answers, great food, it was a wonderful date! Even though it looks like it in the picture - the dogs did not go with us!