That moment in time, when your sixteen year-old son informs you that the friend he was driving with yesterday, got arrested for a D.U.I. That moment, when he tells you, so and so got arrested, when he was in the car with him. The panic, that floods a parent’s mind. The questions that race through your mind at 100 mph. Where did this happen? Are you kidding me? How did you get home? How do you know he was drinking? What did the police say? Are you kidding me? Why are you telling me this now? Were you drinking? Why did you get in the car with him if you thought he was drinking? Are you kidding me?

Having and raising children is the best thing you can ever do. Having and raising children is, sometimes, the most trying thing you can ever do. I looked at my son and told him he dodged a bullet when the police pulled them over. He said he knows that. He said he tried to stop the friend from driving. He pulled the keys out of the ignition and told him he didn’t think he should be driving. He took the keys away from the friend, about 5 times. But then the friend threatened to leave him, so he decided to get in the car anyways. Yeah, young minds sometimes don’t think too straight.

But God was there, with my son. Less than a mile from the beach, the cops pulled the car over. No time to get into an accident. We had just heard a message about angels, this morning, at church. Those cops saved my son’s life. How many times are kids in car accidents? How many of those are drinking and driving accidents? This boy was so drunk, the cops pulled him over as soon as he got on the streets. I don’t want to think about what could have happened. I’ve seen too many memorials around where teenagers have left this planet way too soon.

Was this why I was compelled every time my son left with this particular friend, to pray for him? Every time. Lord, please bring him safely home. The Holy Spirit was speaking to me again. He was telling me to pray for my son. He needs protection. And that’s all we can do for them. We raise them the best way we know how. We teach them the things of God. We believers give them the gospel message. And then, we pray, knowing that God loves them more than we do. Their lives are in God’s hands.

I’m glad my son got to see first hand what happens when you drink and drive. He first saw the lights of the police car behind them. He said he felt that fear you feel, that I’ve done something wrong. That’s when he said he started praying. Praying that this would work out for them. He saw the police come to the window, and ask the friend to get out of the car. He saw them tow the car away. The police asked if he had a way to get home. He walked back to the beach, leaving his intoxicated friend in the hands of the police.

When the pastor spoke on angels the morning, I looked over at my son and pictured him having quite a lot of them. Probably more so than me. I would imagine, God’s assigned at least 5 big strapping ones to my son. He needs them.

As a parent, that should be our job. Pray, pray, pray for our kids. It keeps us connected to God. We are bringing our children to the very throne of God through our prayers. So, Believer, every time you feel that nudge to pray, do. Maybe that’s why Paul says to “pray without ceasing.” We can’t be with our kids 24 hours a day, so pray for them. “Pray without ceasing.”

 

 

 

Be angry and sin not. How do you do that? How can you be angry and sin not? I’ve always believed all anger is sin. Isn’t it? We’re taught when we’re little, don’t be mad. Control your temper! How in the world do you be angry and sin not?

I’ve been racking my brain about this whole idea. I had to talk to the insurance company of the lady that smacked into me back in November. I knew the insurance company was going to jerk me around. And they did. They were offering me a settlement that was lower than what a friend of mine got, and she and her daughter weren’t hurt. I had to call them back and haggle with them. I really didn’t want to. I want everybody to like me. I want people to think I’m nice. But I had to remember that the insurance company wasn’t my friend. They could care less about me. They are more or less snakes in the grass. I had to keep telling myself that. We weren’t friends, the insurance company and I. We were never going to be friends.

But I had to prepare myself for this. I was angry and that verse, “Be angry and sin not,” kept ringing in my head. How do you do that? I prayed about it and God sent me a reminder. First, He gave me a verse, “Be shrewd as serpents, yet innocent as doves.” (Matt. 10:16) That’s a great verse. Serpents are shrewd. The verse reminded me to fight for what I should get. I could be angry at the insurance company. I just couldn’t sin. Yet, I still believed in my heart of hearts, that all anger is sin. In my head I knew that wasn’t true, but deep in my heart, that’s what I thought.

Then God gave me more verses. He reminded me of the story of Jesus in the temple. Now Jesus never sinned. Not ever. He was the spotless lamb, to die for the sins of all people. And what did Jesus do in that temple? I think it’s a good story of being angry and sinning not.

Let’s review, shall we? In John 2:14-16, Jesus walks into the temple and sees money changers throughout. At that moment, He’s not worried about people liking Him. He makes Himself a whip and proceeds to use the whip to drive the money changers out of the temple. Picture that. How would you drive people out with a whip? Well you’ll need to use the whip. He overturned the tables of the money changers. He did what angry people do in the movies, He lifted up the tables and flipped them over. This wasn’t a peaceful, quiet scene. He also poured out the money of the money changers. Now I can imagine, the money changers were none too happy about getting their tables overturned and their money poured out on the ground. I imagine they had some choice words for Jesus. I imagine they got fairly angry about the whole ordeal. Yet, Jesus is clearly angry here too. He’s snapping a whip around, overturning tables and pouring out money on the ground. This is one angry scene. But Jesus never sinned. You can be angry and sin not! Jesus showed us.

Okay, I think I was prepared now, to call the insurance company. I rehearsed in my mind what I was going to say. I had to keep reminding myself that we weren’t friends. It doesn’t matter if I’m nice or not. Well this insurance guy was a piece of work. He told me that he didn’t want to talk about money. He told me he cared about me. (Yeah right, you don’t even know me). He kept using my name in this sickening sweet, soft tone. I wanted to gag. I don’t know how many times he told me he cared about me. He said he didn’t want to talk about money, he wanted to just talk about me. Gag, gag, gag. I told him what I wanted. He, again, said he didn’t want to talk about money. (Then what are we talking for? We’re not on a date!). I expressed what I wanted and I got angry. The more he tried to placate me, the angrier I got.

He did raise the settlement, but it still wasn’t want I wanted. I’m not sure what my next move is, but I sure learned a lot about myself. You can be angry and sin not. You don’t have to have everyone like you (especially sleazy insurance reps.). God gives us what we need, when we need it. And anger is not a sin. Just remember Jesus overturning tables in the temple and thrashing things with a whip.

A few years back, I came out of a grocery store to run smack into Green Peace workers asking me to sign some sort of petition. The young girl walked up to me and asked me if I cared about the environment. The look on her face was priceless, when I said that I didn’t. “No, I don’t care about the environment,” I told her. She was speechless. I left her, standing there, with her clipboard at her side, looking like she just witnessed a brutal puppy killing.

Al Gore is coming out with a new movie, a sequel to his first billion dollar movie about global warming. I just saw a trailer for it. The trailer talks about how the first movie predicted several events, and shore enough, they all came true. Well I’ll be a monkey’s uncle. Al Gore can’t win a presidency, but he can predict earth events. Weathermen can’t even predict the weather, but Al Gore, can predict what’s going to happen to the earth in the future. That’s amazing.

Um, Al Gore, uh, this isn’t how it’s all going to go down. You see, there’s this book. You might have heard of it. It’s called the Bible, and this book has predicted events that have been 100% accurate. I’m not talking 20% or a whopping 50%. No, this book has been 100% correct in every one of it’s predictions. Those are some good odds. And this Book (the Bible) has predicted how it’s all going to go down, and global warming just ain’t an issue in there.

Al, buddy, the temperature of the earth changes all the time. I took a biology class in college, so I have some expertise on the matter. It ebbs and flows, sometimes cooler, sometimes warmer, simple. Now there are going to be some major catastrophic events that will happen to this earth in the future. Let me fill you in on some of those.

There’s going to be a cataclysmic earthquake. It’s going to wipe out a third of the population. A giant meteor called Wormwood, is going to smack the earth and poison all the freshwater. (See, the Bible even has a name for the meteor). There are going to be hailstones bigger than bowling bowls. Now, you can’t give global warming credit for these hailstones, because God already predicted them in the Bible, way before you put out your global warming movie. God gets credit for it, because He said that’s what He’s going to do. A third of the sea will become blood, killing a third of all the sea creatures. The lights will go out when a third of the sun, stars and moon go dark. Some creepy locusts are going to come out and sting people so badly they will want to die, but can’t. Some horses will march through the earth breathing fire and brimstone, and killing a third of mankind.

I could go on and on, but those are the highlights. You can find all of these predictions in the Bible, in the book of Revelation. If you want to read about these things, go straight to chapter seven and read on from there.

The point I am making, is that some serious events ARE going to happen to the Earth. But global warming doesn’t get credit for it, God does. He has predicted them in the Bible. And global warming really isn’t an issue, at all. It’s men’s hearts. It’s for you, Al Gore, and anyone who refuses to bend their knees to Jesus Christ. That is why this stuff is going to happen.

The saddest part about all of this, as you read Revelation, is after each catastrophic event, the Bible says:

“But the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons, and idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk,” Rev. 9:20.

So to you Al Gore and anyone else who is a disciple of global warming, quit fussing about the Earth getting warmer or cooler. That’s really not an issue. What is an issue is men who need to be saved, before all this happens. People who need to bend their knees to Jesus Christ. This stuff from Revelation IS going to happen, God told us how it’s all going to play out. He did it as a warning.

But you don’t have to fret about all this either. Accept Jesus Christ as your Savior, and you will be spared from all of this happening. And pish posh global warming. It’s really not an issue.

My first job right out of college was at a group home for teenage kids who had been removed from their homes. This was a state funded home, and the kids were either waiting to be placed in foster care, or reunited with their families. It was a soulless, awful place to work.

The kids were bad. I was one of the few staff members who enforced the rules there. I firmly believed that structure and rules were the best things for these kids. It creates a measure of safety for them. And that was all I could give them. I would enforce the rules, and then get called names by the kids or cussed out. By the end of my job I had a nick name from the girls. They called me the “f**kin B*t*h.” When I would arrive to work in the morning, one of the girls would see me, then yell out to the rest of the girls, “The ‘f**kin B*t*h is here!” That’s how they greeted me in the mornings.

The kids were not allowed to have blankets in the common rooms. I think you can imagine why. These are hormone charged teenagers with little to no guidance for most of their lives. Sitting in the common room, watching tv, under a blanket – really not a good idea. We already had two teenage mothers, we didn’t need more.

On Saturdays, I would go into the common room and confiscate all the blankets in there. I got several complaints and expletives thrown my way.

The kids had a quiet time every afternoon, where they had to stay in their rooms and not come out. I enforced the rules, because, again, that’s all I could do – provide them structure. When I was on the floor, kids were actually expected to stay in their rooms. Sometimes, they would step out to see who was in charge, see that it was me, then duck back in their rooms.

We had one girl who was a car thief. She was also one of the teenage moms. She was sixteen and her one year old baby girl was in foster care. On Saturdays, the kids were allowed to sleep in. I would sit at the end of the hallway, while they slept. One Saturday morning this teenage girl came up to talk to me. She was hanging out at the desk, shooting the breeze when she noticed my new engagement ring on my finger. She commented on how beautiful it was, and I noticed, she couldn’t keep her eyes off of it. I took it off to put lotion on, when I remembered who I was talking to. Someone said something to the teenage girl and she turned to speak with them, so I quickly picked up my ring and hid it in my mouth. She turned back and I saw her eyes scan the desk for my ring. She looked at my hand, then back at the desk, but couldn’t see where it went. I know, that if I hadn’t stuck it in my mouth, she would have somehow gotten it and I would never see it again.

Another girl was sex crazed. She was only thirteen, but all she ever talked about was sex. She was either talking about penises or sex or flirting with the guys. She thought she was so clever when she turned the word penis and pronounced it pen-es. Like none of us knew what she was talking about.

All the kids had serious problems. Whether it was drugs, sex, or crime, they were all into something. Another staff member commented that these kids weren’t in juvenile hall YET, because they hadn’t gotten caught-YET.

I hated the job, but I learned some things while there. There was something that really surprised me when I first started working there. We had to do room inspections on the kids’ rooms to make sure they didn’t have any contraband: drugs, porn, food, etc. When I first went from room to room, inspecting them, I found something in almost every room that surprised me. Almost every girl there had a Bible. And they weren’t all the same Bibles. They were all different. Some were white, leather Bibles, some were soft covered Bibles, or others were small, New Testaments, but almost every single girl had some kind of Bible. I was so shocked by this. But then, I had to remember, God says He’s a Father to the fatherless. No one can hide from Him. God was moving in these kids’ lives, as He always does. Revealing who He is. I don’t know how much those girls read their Bibles, but almost all of them had one. And they weren’t allowed to bring a whole lot to the home, only the bare necessities. So with them, in their problem infested, ruined, lives, they knew the Bible was some kind of life line.

Does God care about every tiny detail of our lives? Does He only look at the big picture of who is saved and who isn’t and that’s it? I think He cares about even the little things.

We were going to buy flooring for our home, for upstairs. Just a little thing. Nothing earth shattering or life changing. The carpet upstairs is really old and in desperate need of a change. I’m not very good at picking the right things for home decor. Usually, there are way too many choices and I get all confused and frustrated. Knowing that, about myself, I prayed and committed this project to the Lord.

So we decided to laminate the upstairs. Thought that would be the cheaper way to go. We went to a popular lumber store to pick out the laminate we liked, then made arrangements to have them come measure. We had an estimate in our minds, but apparently, we don’t know how to measure because we were off by 33 square feet. The laminate flooring came out to be way more expensive than we thought. It was maxing out our budget, so if anything need to be added, we would be sunk. My husband called them to seal the deal, then they couldn’t take his card over the phone. They said to call back on Monday. I looked at my husband and wondered if that was a sign. First the price seemed too high, and just now when we were about to pay, they couldn’t take our card. Hmmm?

I felt uncomfortable with the numbers they were telling us, so I asked my husband to go down to the store and see if they could get a line by line itemization. It felt like numbers were just coming out of the sky, with no rhyme or reason. He went down there and waited for over 45 minutes, while no one would come to the flooring department to help him out. He called me to complain that no one would come. He finally came home frustrated that no one would help. Was this another sign?

I told him that Costco has flooring, and maybe we could get a good deal with them. It wouldn’t hurt to check them out. So we did. We hadn’t paid anything out to the other store, so we thought we would hold off and see what Costco had.  Plus, we kept running into roadblocks with the other store.

So Costco came over. He told us carpeting would be way cheaper. He showed us the color of exactly what I was envisioning if I wanted more carpet. He quoted us a price. It was $200 cheaper than the other store for everything. There would be no surprises. That was for absolutely everything. Then, as he sat at our table, adding up stuff, he had some more news for us. The cost of the carpet would be $500 cheaper than the other store, for absolutely everything!

I looked at my husband with a big grin. Then, I repeated to the Costco man, exactly what he had said. He nodded, that yes, that’s what he said. I repeated the number and he nodded and said yes, that was the price for everything! I couldn’t believe it. That was amazing. I thanked God in my head for that.

I believe does God cares about the little things. He asks us to cast our cares upon Him for He cares for us. Our cares. Even the little things like flooring. He knows the number of hairs on our head. He knows whether we’re good or not at picking out flooring for our homes. God cares for us, even in the little things.