We all have priority lists. They may not all be written down somewhere; but, they are there somewhere in the back of your mind. These are the things that we have decided are important enough to commit some of our limited time and energy to on a daily or weekly basis. For most there are high priority commitments to family and to jobs – those come first. Then there are the other things that we commit time to – maybe school or learning, maybe having fun or playing games. There’s always some time committed to 
rest and sleep, as well as eating. For more and more families, a good deal of time maybe be committed to sports, either as a participant or to facilitate our children n sports. For parents with school-aged children those sports activities may become all-consuming. Between overlapping sports seasons and travel teams there is always a game or practice for every waking moment. Over the last few years, those activities more often than not involved starting early Sunday morning and consuming most of the day.
So, where does God fit into your busy schedule? Has time for God and worship been pushed off your calendar by Lacrosse or Hockey or Soccer or some other activity that you are committed to take your children to, even on Sunday mornings? When did you get to busy for God? When did having your child practice or play a sport become more
important that learning about God and Jesus? When did kicking a ball around a field become more important that forming a good moral base for life? Where does God and the church fit into your family schedule? No time for that now. What a pity. How often, “I’ll get to that later” becomes, “I wish I had done that than.”
It is really up to parents to help their children make the right decisions about the priorities in their lives. IF the children see parents who are willing to push God aside for other things, it will establish a defacto priority in their minds that God is not really that important. When parents go along with Sunday morning practices and games, thinking that they are doing it for their kids wellbeing, they are, in fact, showing the children that God takes a back seat to fun and games, sports and other activities. I am at a loss to understand where those same parents think that their children will learn the 
life lessons and moral codes that being in Sunday School and Church would teach them. Learning good sportsmanship is one thing; but learning what God wants them to understand about life is an entirely different thing.
So, parents, ask yourself – where is God in my priority list? Is God up there as a priority with, and maybe even above family (where He should be); or, is God somewhere down the list, near the bottom, after sports and activities and games and school and all of the other things that are competing for the time and attention of you and your children? How does realizing what your priorities have become make you feel? You can change that. Put time for God where it belongs on your list of priorities and the rest will take care of itself.
Just say no to Sunday practices or games. Someday, when age or injuries have limited their
ability to shoot or kick or hit the ball anymore, your children will thank you for setting their priorities right and helping them establish a relationship with God that will serve them well for their entire lives. In the end, how much was the fact that you were a decent young hockey player or soccer player going to mean, as opposed to having established a lifelong relationship with God as a child?
Where does God fit into your priorities?
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