The Devines over at:  http://devinespot.blogspot.com/

posted this at their blog this week.  Take a visit over there for some great wisdom.  They are the leaders of HomeBuilders, the sponsors of the Father/Daughter Banquet we attended last month.

Several of our dear friends have large families. We have a good time once in awhile, sitting around laughing about the comments these folks have to endure. Such as, "don't you know what causes that?", "don't you have a tv?", "Wow, you've got little stair-steps", "Are they all yours?", "Are these all from your first wife"......you get the picture;) Actually, we only have four and I've heard several of these comments myself!
We all know God says children are a blessing--we also know that God calls children "arrows in the hand of a warrior" and that "our children will speak with the enemies in the gate". It also says in Psalm 127 that a blessed man will have a quiver full. Psalm 128 calls them olive shoots(sign of wealth)around your table. But as a society, we really don't view children as a blessing, but rather a hindrance to our lives and yes, even our ministry.
Well, back to math.....Herb and I did a fun little project that you can check out yourself. Let's do some numbers on a man that has two children compared to a man that has 10 children. The two children grow up and have two children each--now that man has four grandchildren, right? The 10 children grow up, have 10 children each and that man has 100 grandchildren. Take it one generation further and you have the four grandchildren having their two grandchildren and you have eight great grandchildren. The 100 grandchildren grow up, have 10 children each, and you have 1,000 great grandchildren. Take this out a couple more generations(a generation being about 40 years)and you have 32 descendants(from the two child family)and 100,000 descendants from the 10 child family. Keep going like Herb did for another 6 or 7 generations and you get into the billions! It seems hard to believe, but do the math yourself.
All this to say, God had a pretty good plan, didn't he? He told Adam and Eve to multiply and "fill" the earth--He also said the same thing after the flood.
Now, it's not enough to let God give you children, those children--we know have to be discipled if they are going to "speak with the enemies in the gate".
So the next time you see that big family, how about a little less snickering and showing some encouragement and blessing to those next little "arrows" and the courageous parents who are sacrificing to raise the next generation for the kingdom!