Lifestyle

Several years ago, one of the teens in our youth group pulled me aside, literally, and informed me that he was gay. "Okay . . ." was my reply.

"That's it?," he said. "I thought you would have been more upset than that."

"No, I'm not upset. You're a sinner and so am I. Anything else you want to tell me?"

"No, I guess not," my friend said, walking away, somewhat disappointed.

"Look, I still think homosexuality is a sin," I told him. "But your sin is just like MY sin. There's dozens of others sins in this world - stealing, adultery, lying, drunkenness, there's lots of them. The question is, what are we going to do about our sin?"

That brief conversation has probably happened thousands of times around the world. Maybe not that same way. Some reactions to such an announcement were probably worse than mine. Such disclosures can cause splits in families or estrangement. Division amongst friends and family members can occur. Even violence.

I have now had four teens deliver similar messages to me over the past few years. Apparently, this message is one that must be "delivered" compared to other sins. I have experienced such announcements delivered face to face and I have seen them delivered on Facebook. Either way, the outcome we show is always mixed. Some people encourage, some say nothing in response.

There is always some awkwardness associated with "coming out of the closet." Just like the friend in my first example. The person making the announcement isn't quite sure of the reaction he or she will get. There is some caution and perhaps a little fear. And it definitely takes some courage to make such an announcement because the announcer is not too sure just what they will encounter.

Recently though, I began looking at these announcements from a different point of view - that of the parents. Some parents might be proud of their child for making such a bold statement. Other parents might be embarrassed. "What will Aunt Edna think?"

But when we get right down to it, what should parents think? What should we do?

I recently talked to a mom who was going through one of these "announcements." As I listened to her I could sense many emotions coming from her words - frustration, disappointment, sadness. But the one emotion that I noticed most was love. Unconditional love.

That made me wonder about how God feels with all these announcements being made these days, about these new lifestyles that are being experimented with. I imagine he's feel the same way as most caring parents do. Disappointed and sad to be sure. But God still loves, unconditionally.

God's Word gives us a listing of characteristics that God does not like and those that He does. Homosexuality is one of the ones He doesn't like. But that doesn't seem to make a difference in the world we live in today. We are told we must me accepting and tolerant and loving. The Bible never tells us to be accepting or tolerant of sin but we ARE told to love.

Where does all this acceptance and tolerance talk come from? It comes from our society. It comes from us. But the main sources of this indoctrination is our public schools. God has been or is being removed from schools and the resulting influx of sin is filling the void.

The type of lives we are supposed to lead is clearly outlined in the Bible yet more and more we see these values falling by the wayside. Why? Because they are not being taught and that leaves our kids to be the ones to determine, on their own, what is right and what is wrong. That is a mistake.

We parents need to make a stand. A loving, God-honoring stand. We can no longer simply ship our kids off to schools thinking that they will be just fine. We need to invest in our kids and care about them enough to make sure they are not receiving the false teachings of the world.

When a child makes an announcement about a new lifestyle they are living in, it is already too late. We must take action BEFORE things get to that point. We must pray for our kids and their teachers, we must go to meetings and make an effort. These are our children!

For these teens and for their parents there is still hope. God desires that none should perish (2 Peter 3:9). Seek out the counsel of pastors and mentors who can build into your child's lives - someone to help keep them accountable in ALL things. And pray. Prayer is a mighty weapon. Place your faith and hope and trust in God. And give this all to Him. We as parents struggle to handle things like drug & alcohol use, sexual activity, and violence in our children's live. But God can handle it. He's been dealing with it for centuries!

"3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst 4 they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. 5 Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” 6 This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. 7 And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. 9 But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. 10 Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” 11 She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.” - John 8:3-11

We need to come along side these kids who are making these lifestyle decisions. We need to do so in love. Yes, they may be sinning, but each of us sins every day as well and we need to remember that as we speak to others about THEIR transgressions. We need to love them where they're at and tell them about the love and saving grace of Jesus. If they would only come to know Him and place their trust in Him, and Him alone, most of these other issues will fade away. The key in all this is repentance and that comes through a relationship with Christ. He is the only one who saves. And He is the one who modeled for us the perfect lifestyle. It is HIS lifestyle we must emulate, not the one society offers.

Indoctrination Movie (partial)

Paint

My brother-in-law is quite the photographer. My brother too. They know all about F-stops and aperture settings and photo composition. All that stuff is way over my head. Much like God is too us.

I was involved in a discussion with a youth pastor and a couple of students a few years ago. We were discussing creation and the book of Genesis and an apparent "contradiction" between Gensis 1 & 2 (There is no contradiction by the way). The youth pastor turned to me and asked, "So, what do YOU think, Bob?" This was my answer . . .

"I think we humans spend WAY too much time trying to figure out how God does things. We like to drag God down to OUR level and try to explain Him - what He is and what He does - in HUMAN terms. God is WAY above our pay grade."

I still believe that. I am quite content just to sit back and marvel at God's creation and to give him thanks for the beauty of it. The simplicity of it. And the complexity of it. I never cease to be amazed by it.

Look at this little dude. This guy is a tree frog -probably from some Amazon jungle or some place tropical like that. Scientists most likely have spent millions of dollars trying to figure out why the frogs skin is green, yet his feet are orange. That's what scientists do. Try to figure things out. Oh, and then there are the red eyes. Another million!!

Scientists come up with so many theories for why THIS happened and THAT happened. I would submit to you that it takes more faith to believe in all the scientific theories and wonder about the why's and wherefores, than it does to simply believe that God creates amazingly beautiful things and all we have to do is admire the beauty of His creation.

I took the picture of the clouds at the top of this post. The sun was setting and its light was reflecting off the underside of the clouds. The picture doesn't do justice to what my eyes actually witnessed, yet the picture still gives us an idea of what I am talking about - the creative wonder of our God and King.

I suppose I could theorize why the clouds were pink, when just an hour earlier they were white. There's probably a reason for it - light filtering through the atmosphere at a particular angle or something like that, but what's the point in figuring out "why" and "how"? Isn't it more enjoyable and God-honoring to simply be amazed and leave it at that?

Sure, scientists have done great things and figured out cures to illnesses and things like that. Who can forget the "miracle" of Velcro"? But when it comes to God and His creation? I'd just as soon they'd leave that mystery alone and appreciate it for what it is - amazing.

The whole theory of evolution . . . and it is just that - a theory, is quite a stretch of the imagination. Yet evolution is taught in our schools as if it were fact. Why? Because "they" can explain things and somehow justify things without bringing God into the equation. If schools exists to educate and to expand the minds of our kids, to all of the possibilities of life, why don't schools teach ALL of the "theories" like creationism? Wouldn't that make sense?

I'd like you to watch two short film clips. The first was produced by Animal Planet, a TV channel here in the U.S. It theorizes how mermaids, fictitious water creatures, evolved from humans. I couldn't stop laughing! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. But people see this and believe!

Mermaids - Animal Planet

The second clip is about our country's educational system and what we are teaching our children these days. It's more of a horror film really but I will let you make up your own minds.

Indoctrination Movie Trailer

I am thankful for parents who choose to home-school their kids. They are providing God with what He truly desires - godly children.

" 14 . . . the Lord was witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. 15 Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union? And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring." - Malachi 2:14-15

How can we as followers of Christ provide Godly offspring? By teaching them the ways of The Lord. By teaching them about the incredible mysteries of God, not necessarily trying to solve them. By sitting down with our children as the sun sets in all of its colorful glory and reflect the light on them that is shining from with in us. We can teach them about God's creation - the beauty and the power of the God we love. Then, and only then, will our children be made beautiful, Godly offspring.

"The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork." - Psalm 19:1

Clean

When our children were young, and we're talking INFANT young right now, my wife and I always
enjoyed bath time for our kids. We'd take their little tee shirts and diapers off and then we'd gently place our little bundles-of-joy into the bath tub. We'd make sure the water was just the right temperature first though and and then we'd take some soap and one of those tiny, little wash clothes and gently wash their little bodies. A little Johnson's Baby Shampoo, some baby talk and bath time for babies was simply a dream.

That's how it was SUPPOSED to go.

In reality, there are times our precious little bundles of joy simply do not WANT to take a bath. They would rather GIVE one then receive one. That's when bath time becomes - Armageddon at Sea!

My wife and I were over at our son's house for dinner a couple of months ago. He and his wife have recently blessed us with a grandson. It wasn't long after our dinner was done that it became bath time for their 6-month old. One thing you should know about our grandson. He likes to kick. Tubbie time for baby usually involves THREE people toweling off afterwards. Ha ha ha!

We can laugh now, but 30+ years ago that was US on the receiving end. Gone are the days of us having to wash our kids clean. Now, thankfully, they can clean themselves. Or can they?

We parents can do all the right things as we raise our children. And even though we try our hardest to raise good, God-fearing kids, our off-spring can STILL make decisions that make us ask ourselves, "Where did we go wrong?" How can we as parents keep our children clean in an increasingly dirty world? What do we do . . . . WHEN CHILDREN ATTACK!!!

I think we as parents need to lift up our children in prayer. Seriously! We must pray, pray pray! And not just one of those, "Good morning, God" prayers. We must pray deply. We must WEEP for our children. Then we must be willing to take action. Our children are our most valuable assets. What steps are we willing to take to protect them? To help them stay clean? To help them GET clean?

"And when he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. 2 And many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even at the door. And he was preaching the word to them. 3 And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. 4 And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him, and when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay. 5 And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” - Mark 2:2-5

These men dismantled a house to help their friend, to get him nearer to Jesus. We have to ask ourselves, what would WE do? What are we willing to do . . . for our children? Honestly? I think things have to get bad before they can get better. I think there has to be some anguish in our lives, in our children's lives, before they can begin to see the light.

Giving an infant a bath is a simple way to make them clean, but that's just what's on the outside. All of us need to become clean on the INSIDE.

I praise the parents who make the decision to home school their children. They have seen the danger in the schools of today, handing over their children to be taught and raised by people who are basically strangers. Praise God for parents who care!

I know some parents who have literally moved to another town so that their children could be raised in a better environment. So they could be kept relatively clean. Sometimes even steps like that don't work. So what do we do.

We must come before a Holy God and give our children to Him. Jesus is the only one who can make them TRULY clean. Pray for their protection from evil. Pray that their hearts remain pure and that their minds would not become polluted by the teachings of this world. We must do everything in our power to save our children from the eveil one. But that STILL won't be enough.

Nothing will be enough until we call upon Jesus - the Lord, God Almighty. Maker of heaven and earth. Only then can any of us become truly clean.

"22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water." - Hebrews 10:22

A Call To Anguish - David Wilkerson