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Sometimes life hands you moments of pure hilarity in an otherwise dull day. My daughter was begging her older brother to drive her to Missionettes tonight. He was trying to get out of it and asked her what the program was about and why she wanted to go. She explained to him why and he, not understanding the program asked “so it’s like Awana?”, to which she solemnly replied, “No, it’s like I-have-ta”. 
Tags: Funny Children
Eli, the priest of God died not from a broken heart but a broken neck. I Samuel 4:17 &18 tells us that he was first told of the death of his two sons in battle, but doesn’t record a response to that news. It was not until he heard that the ark of God had been captured that he died. He fell backward off his chair by the side of the gate. His neck was broken and he died, “for he was an old man and heavy. I found this little reference to his weight interesting when I read it. In this age of ever increasing size, and concern about obesity I began to wonder it Eli suffered from this problem and if so, why? The answer to why he may have been heavy is alluded to in I Samuel2: 13-16, then I Samuel 2:39. According to the scripture Eli’s sons had been taking the choice (fatty) portions of the offering to roast and eat for themselves. But what we now see is that they also shared their ill gotten gain with their Dad. The scripture said that his eyesight was bad, but it said nothing about his taste buds. Scripture states that he knew of his sons sins, supposedly this is a sin he was also aware of, so by partaking in the roasted meat, he was also accepting their crime and taking their sin unto himself. Eli’s attitude reminds me of a father I once worked with who was upset that his son was smoking pot. However when I spoke to the son, he informed me that his Dad only hassled him when he, the son, didn’t bring home some to share with his Dad. Or take the situation with the obese child who lives with obese parents. They bemoan the problem in their child, but will not restrict the access to fattening or unhealthy food in the home, because that would inconvenience them. In Eli’s situation we find many modern day analogies. A parent must not only preach righteousness, but must exemplify it in their actions and in the corrective actions they take when their children are engaging in wrongful actions. Many people like to absolve themselves of the knowledge of, or the responsibility for wrong doing. They would like to, like Pilate, wash their hands and state that the wrongful act had nothing to do with them. However whenever you are aware of wrong doing and do not act to stop it in a definitive way, you are giving an implied consent to its continuance. Recently in the news there was a mom who knew of her daughter going online to trick another girl. She claims that she believed it to be harmless at the time, unfortunately it lead to the tricked child’s suicide. She saw herself as innocent of responsibility for the outcome. Like Eli, she is perhaps not guilty of actively participating in wrong doing, but certainly guilty of passively allowing for it to occur. Eli knew what his sons were up to. He verbally warned them about their sin against God, and then proceeded to eat the sacrifice that they had stolen from God. As a result he got fat. He got so fat that when he fell backwards his neck was broken. I may be reading more into it than is there, however it’s clear to me that what we gain in our wrong actions is sometimes the same thing that will be used in the punishment for that same wrong action. God is very poetic that way.
The Lord is my pacesetter… I shall not rush He makes me stop for quiet intervals He provides me with images of stillness which restore my serenity He leads me in the way of efficiency through calmness of mind and his guidance is peace Even though I have a great many things to accomplish each day, I will not fret, for his presence is here He timelessness, his all importance will keep me in balance He prepares refreshment and renewal in the midst of my activity by anointing my mind with his oils of tranquility My cup of joyous energy overflows Truly harmony and effectiveness shall be the fruits of hours for I shall walk I the Pace of my Lord and dwell in his house for ever. A version of the 23rd Psalm from Japan (excerpted from Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World by Joanna Weaver) I thought this was worthy of a reprint given the season and the general craziness that ensues. May God Give You Peace This Holiday Season.
The Lord is my pacesetter… I shall not rush He makes me stop for quiet intervals He provides me with images of stillness which restore my serenity He leads me in the way of efficiency through calmness of mind and his guidance is peace Even though I have a great many things to accomplish each day, I will not fret, for his presence is here He timelessness, his all importance will keep me in balance He prepares refreshment and renewal in the midst of my activity by anointing my mind with his oils of tranquility My cup of joyous energy overflows Truly harmony and effectiveness shall be the fruits of hours for I shall walk I the Pace of my Lord and dwell in his house for ever. A version of the 23rd Psalm from Japan (excerpted from Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World by Joanna Weaver) This is for all the busy moms out there who are trying to get kids back to school and for all those who feel that God moves too slow or too fast at times. If we trust that he is setting the pace, then all we need to do is keep up. The goal of the pacesetter is to insure that we finish the race!
Have you noticed the recent trend in advertising? The advertisers have found a new way to capitalize on the American families desire to make their children happy. It used to be that the advertisers would be subtle in their manipulation. They would show a product and some happy children using it, and then leave it up to the children to go and whine to their parents about wanting it. After that they moved to children telling each other how wonderful the product was. Through the use of peer pressure the children let each other know how incomplete their lives were without the product. The result would be an unhappy youngster whose parents would wonder if they were entering a depression. This depression however would magically dissipate once the product was obtained. Now the advertisers have decided they no longer needed to manipulate or coerce children to ask for products. They have a new tactic. Todays commercials show children now as articulate, worldly, and very materialistic. They know the product and they know the how when and where of acquiring it. And most importantly they know that they still need to get their parents to buy it for them. Now they are being taught that all they have to do is threaten or demand it from their parents. The advertisers are helping educate our young people that parental guilt is so strong that parents are likely to knuckle under to demands and threats. No more pouty sad faces. In one commercial you have a parent spending his weekend building a tree house for his sons. With great delight he tells his sons of its completion only to have them reject it because they prefer the comforts of his minivan, which has air conditioning and other amenities that the tree house doesn’t have. Next we see a daughter telling her dad that the appliances in the home are inadequate. As she points out the need for new appliances, he gives her opinion serious consideration. Apparently her opinion is very valuable, maybe more than that of the mother’s. Because we later see that the child was paid by the mother to tell the Dad of the need for new appliances. I guess Mom and Dad’s communication is so poor that the daughter had greater influence. The one commercial that, for me, is really disturbing is the one where the kids want the parents to get a digital package. They tell the parents how financially reasonable the package is and other benefits of getting it. However, just in case the parents don’t take them seriously they end by saying. “..til you call ------- I’ll be at the Wilson’s. " When my husband and I saw this we both laughed and said “is that a threat or a promise.” You see, for my money, if those ungrateful kids were mine I would just let them go to the Wilson’s. I say let the Wilson’s clothe, feed, and pay for the little buggers. My guess is that the Wilson’s would be begging to send the kids home before too long. Proverbs 22:6 - Train a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not turn from it.
As Christians we know some basic truths that belong to our faith and don’t question them too much. That is until some of those truths we hold to so dearly concludes in a way that touches someone we love or us in a negative way. Then the rationalizing and justifying begins. I have seen this at funerals of people who have died without accepting the savior. It is hard for those who loved this good person to believe that God would not overlook the fact that they were adamant about denying God or Jesus. The friends and relatives will begin to speculate that this person is with God because of all the good works they had done. Or they will speculate that the person may have accepted God in their heart before they died, even if there is strong evidence to the contrary. An though they are right, that only God knows the heart of the deceased, it is obvious that the thought of that loved one not being accepted into God’s rest is too painful for those left behind to accept, so they need to believe that God’s mercy and Grace will provide what the person lacked in life. How do you reconcile your belief in Jesus and his statement that He is the only way to the father, with your love for someone who died without Christ? A similar dilemma was presented to me recently when two mature Christians I respected greatly were trying to convince me that marriage was not something that was necessary between Christian couples. Their argument was that as long as the Christian couple was “in their hearts” committed to each other, then God would accept it and they would not be in sin if they chose to live together. This really shocked me to hear this married couple, who are mature Christians, put forth this belief. We discussed this good-naturedly for a while and looked at scripture and discussed the evolution of the institution of marriages throughout history and across cultures. They had some well thought out points and pointed to some things said by noted Christian apologist. However, they were unable to convince me that “living together without the benefit of marriage” especially when obtaining such a privilege and sacrament was available and accessible, was anything but outside God’s will for a young couple who claim to be committed to each other. In the end I began to realize that the argument was not about this issue, but about a desire on the part of these people to justify and rationalize an action that was affecting someone they cared deeply about. When we love people we don’t want to be in a position of judging them or their actions. We want to believe that God’s love and not his judgment will reign in the lives of our love ones. In 1 Samuel 15:22 it says:” but Samuel replied: ‘Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams”. Remember lack of obedience was instrumental in the fall of man. When the serpent, in Genesis 3:1 said to Eve “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat form any tree in the garden’? he started the ball rolling whereby we would try to fit God’s word to our desires. The reality is that God’s word and our desires sometimes don’t fit together. At that time we have to decide will we obey God’s word or try to bend and twist it so that it can make sense in light of behaviors or feelings that we are experiencing. God wants obedience, and that same obedience is for many Christians more times than not, going to be a sacrifice. I pray that all my readers will understand that a loving God will not put before you commands that you cannot follow. He has promised many helps to his people to assist them if they would only make the commitment to obey Him. In Isaiah 58:11 it says “The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. Then in John 16:13 the word promises “But when he, he spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.” I pray that you receive guidance from scripture and the Holy Spirit who will present to you only God’s truth, and when it is presented to you, you will obey, even if it means sacrifice. God Bless You.
I love puzzles, labyrinths, and mazes. I find that they have so many lessons in them that speak to us about our lives. In doing mazes the first thing you do is identify where you need to start and where you want to end. When you know where to start and where you are supposed to end up the rest is about plotting the journey. Mazes however don’t conform to the rule that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. With a maze you learn that there are very few straight lines. To be successful in doing a maze you must get use to the idea that there will be many turns and twists. Some twists however can produce a lot of resistance in you. This resistance occurs when the maze seems to dictate that you turn around and head back the way you have just come. Everything in you screams NO! This doesn’t seem right, or fair. You were so close. When the only thing separating you from your goal is one wall you feel a lot of frustration. However the maze’s designer designed it so that you would recognize how close you were to completion but now you have to go backwards to approach the end again from another direction. This is the only way to be successful you soon realize. Can you see any life parallels? It seem that sometimes God allows us to approach our goals and come within reach of them, and then we are faced with an obstacle that dictates that we once again need to retrace our steps and approach our goal from a different direction. When this happens it’s not unusual to feel that the Designer is cruel. However He is the Designer, and He is the one who lays out the maze of our life. There are many choices that we make as we approach our goal; however there is the one path that will ensure that we are successful. Those who are able to get there without ever having to retrace your steps are rare. Most of us will at one time or another need to head in a direction that appears to lead us away from our goal, but if we allow God to lead us he will make sure that regardless of the twists and turns that we must make, in the end we will exit in the right place.
Proverbs 14:12 There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.
Proverbs 16:9 says: "A man plans his way, but the Lord directs His steps."
A young child will look at you with innocent tear-filled eyes and swear they don’t know who ate the cookies, all the while there are tell tale crumbs about their mouth. It’s not as comical when an adult lies to you about their culpability. The crimes of adults are usually more serious with graver consequences. They therefore have more to lose and fear when their crimes/sins are revealed. In Exodus 32: 1-4, we read about how the Israelites told Aaron that they wanted to make a god to help lead them as they were unsure about whether Moses was coming back from the mountain. Aaron’s response was by no means neutral. He embraced the idea, gave them specific instructions, and verse 4 even says he “took the gold from their hands, fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made it into an image of a calf.” Based on the extent of his involvement it is clear that he was not an innocent bystander. However when confronted by Moses’ “What did this people do to you that you have led them into such a grave sin?” Aaron’s answer was surprising. This was Aaron’s opportunity to come clean and confess the extent of his involvement. However he chose to lay the blame on the people who “are intent on evil”. He as a leader confesses to being led by these same “evil” minded people. Not only that, but when they gave him the gold he asked for, all he did was “threw it in the fire, out came this calf”. If Aaron is to believed the calf appeared through passive means, not by any deliberate action on his part. My kids use to try this one with me. “I don’t know how I got an “F”. “ The teacher just gave me detention, I don’t know why”. They would be heartened to know that this passive line of defense didn’t originate with them but is centuries old. Aaron forgot that he was facing an all-knowing God. He was focused on disconnecting the result from his preceding actions. He wanted to absolve himself from direct personal responsibility for the result and its unexpected consequences. Now it’s easy to say that Aaron was wrong and should have done the right thing and own up to the part he played. However this whole episode is there for us to also reflect on the times we choose to go Aaron’s way. How many times do we look at situations in life and with innocent tear-filled eyes we look up to the Lord and say “I don’t know how I got in this mess that I am in”. Perhaps we can do a little better if we remember that we serve a just but compassionate God. One who wants truth from us and will deal with us with justice laced with a lot of mercy and Grace. Can we trust Him to do so? If we can, then the truth will be on our lips and in our hearts more often.
Like in the short story by O’Henry, Gift of the Magi, I received a wonderful gift from my son this mother’s day. The beauty was not in the cost of the gift, because it was expensive. It was in the COST of the gift. He had been saving for a new amplifier, something he had wanted for a long while. Music is his life and as he explained to me the amp he had been using was just not good enough. He had priced out the one he needed and had been diligently working and saving for it. When he presented me with a beautiful diamond pendant on Mother’s day I became suspicious, but not wanting to pry and take away from his joy at giving me such a beautiful gift, I remained quiet. After a time he told me that he had decided he would get his amp at another time, and I knew that he had spent his money on my gift. Over the years our children will give us gifts, gifts that we have paid for ourselves, gifts that friends, teachers and relatives will fund and help the child make or buy, and finally gifts that they will have worked for and obtained themselves. However when the receiver of the gift realizes that a sacrifice was made for them to have the gift they receive, it is an awesome feeling. King David said in I Chronicles 21:24, that he would not accept a gift from someone to give to God as a sacrifice. He understood that for it to be truly from him it had to cost him something. My son’s gift COST him something; it was truly a gift from him to me. I write this poem to all my wonderful children, whose greatest gift to me was always their Love. The Gift When he was a little boy of five His grandmother took to the store He was too young to drive To get the gift mom was longing for. When he was a young boy of ten He mowed a yard to earn his pay He knew how much money he would spend On a gift to make mom smile today When he was a young man of twenty His life was friends, cars and sound His job left his pockets far from empty For the jewelry he presented mom was richly bound Throughout the years the gifts always came With smile so bright, eyes sparkling with glee All the gifts were received with the same love For that little boy always saved his best for me
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