Voice Control

When I tell someone my teenage son is driving - they usually respond "Thanks for letting me know, I will stay off the road.

I understand their concern but I have a 5 step plan for my children.

1. Help them get their permit to drive.
2. Let them get their license.
3. Let them get their own job.
4. Let them get their own car.
5. Let them get their own place to live.

I do this because these people will not live with me for the rest of my life.

Of all the steps, step 1 is the hardest and scariest for me. Think about it. It has nothing to do with my children growing up, it has everything to do with giving up control. The moment your child gets their permit, you and only you, give the keys of a multi thousand pound vehicle worth thousand of dollars, capable of traveling at least 100 hundred miles an hour to a person who thinks it would be fun to travel 100 miles an hour and thinks they will live forever.

The scariest part is now at this point - you get in the vehicle with them and you have no control over the brakes, the gas pedal or the steering wheel. The only thing at your disposal is "voice control." "I said "STOP!"

Deep down in our hearts, we know that God has done the same thing to us. He give us the power to curse, to bless, to kill, to feed, to encourage and discourage.

And the only thing He uses is "voice control." Yes, I agree that God does intervene in ways we cannot understand; but when was the last time God actually used force to stop someone from having an abortion, from taking another drink and getting in their car, from hijacking an airplane and flying it into a building?

1 Corinthians 2:1-12
"When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power. We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. No, we speak of God's secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. However, as it is written: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him"- but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us."

Food for thought

Love him or hate him, he sure hits the nail on the head with this !

To anyone with kids of any age, here's some advice.... Bill Gates recently gave a speech at a High School about 11 things they did not and will not learn in school.

He talks about how feel-good, politically correct teachings created a generation of kids with no concept of reality and how this concept set them up for failure in the real world.

Rule 1: Life is not fair - get used to it !

Rule 2: The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.

Rule 3: You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.

Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.

Rule 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping : they called it opportunity.

Rule 6: If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes !! Learn from them.

Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.

Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want, to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.

Rule 10: Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.

Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one !

If you agree, pass it on.
If you can read this - Thank a parent and thank a teacher !

Transition

I experienced a transition moment earlier this month. Since my children are between the ages of 8 and 18, these moments are more frequent but this one stands out in my mind as one of the first.

One recent Saturday, my wife spent 24 hours at the hospital from 3 am Saturday morning until 3 am Sunday morning helping her sister give birth to healthy baby boy, while I stayed home and held down the fort.

In the middle of that day, my mother called and said that she wanted the 3 boys to come over and plant Arborvitae in her back yard. All I had to do was give my car keys to our 18 year old licensed driver and send them off to Granny’s house. My daughter and I walked over to Granny’s later that day.

I enjoyed that transition moment and they will continue to come fast and furious whether I am ready or not.

The bible talks about two transition moments. One is voluntary, the second transition will happen very quickly..

Paul tells us in 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 to make a transition in our thinking about other people, as he did with Christ.

"And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"

The second transition is detailed in 1 Corinthians 15:51-52 and the encouragement is in verse 58 of the same chapter.

"Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed."

" Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain."

We can enjoy our transitions by understanding that we are called to grow and change and that the final transition will the best transition.

Lord, give me the wisdom to understand, and the courage to act in your Name.

What is your daily bread?

Luke 11:1-4
"One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples." He said to them, "When you pray, say: " 'Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation.' "

What is our "daily bread"?

What with McDonald's, Burger King, Red Robin, Applebees, Carls Jr., Wendys, Elmers, Old Spaghetti Factory, Olive Garden, The Sizzler, The Old Country Kitchen, Busters Texas Style barbecue, August Moon, Jack in the Box, Cracker Barrel, BeniHanas, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Cruisers, The Mongolian Grill and (fill in the blank with your favorite restaurant); what daily bread do we need that we can't get on any street in this country?
(bold = my favorite restaurants)

If we are going to share the good new of Jesus Christ, we need to know what is meant by "daily bread". Yes we are dependent on God for our daily bread which includes food but also an attitude. I think "daily bread" includes those who need that first cup of coffee to jump start their day or the person who gets up singing or the newspaper addict or more sadly the drug or alcohol addict. My daily bread is to get up fighting - knowing there is battle to fight. I know that I am wearing my self down by constantly by being on the defensive and always looking for problems where they may be none. (I tend to be tired all the time and miss the small, pleasant things in life.)

When God tells us to ask for our daily bread, He is showing us an eternal God that cares about our daily needs because it is in our daily needs that God is growing an eternal person who He can share His goodness with.

The danger is not that we have too much food in this country, but that we use our food as a substitute, not as a supplement to our spiritual daily bread from God.

2 Peter 1:3-4

"His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires."

For it is God who works in you.

My wife just spent the last 24 hours in a hospital helping her sister give birth to a healthy baby boy. Her sister's boyfriend was not there.

I have another sister-in-law in jail on aggravated murder charges because of her boyfriend and drugs.

It would have been good if the right thing had been done in these situations, such as a committed husband and father, a man not dealing in drugs and going for the meth high, but I am not as concerned with the past as I am with the present and the future.

I am not concerned with how can we change these people or "fix" their problems but how I can be an encouragement.

I don't want to start another program or beat people over the head with guilt. I want us to realize that we can make a difference by just existing.

"Do good; you will surprise some people and annoy the rest." (If you know who made this quote, let me know.)

This is what I am thinking. In order to help my wife's sisters, I have to have my life in order. In order to help someone else be disciplined, I myself need to be disciplined. In order to give hope to others, I must have hope.

If we are overcome by our struggles and sin, we are not going to be able to pull someone else up.
I can't make my sister-in-law get married nor can help my other sister-in-law get out of jail.
Each woman will have struggles with their choices.

Am I prepared to be an encouragement, a good example for these woman? Can I show them, consistently, kindness and compassion and encourage them to return to God?

The next two scriptures show me what God has done and is doing in our lives. If we spent less time thinking about what is on TV and thinking more about what is on our heart, then we can be a strong tool for God and His kingdom.

Jesus says this in John 16:33 "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

Philippians 2:12-13 "Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.