The Truth About Parenting (and What Kids Want More Than Their MTV)

I was 19 and had already lived on my own for two years. I had worked as a cocktail waitress the year before.  My routine was set: come home late (or early as the case may be), and wind down on the couch watching a brand new cable channel: MTV. In those days MTV was all about the music and the videos were just plain fun. 

Circumstances forced me to move back home temporarily.  Yet my routine stayed the same.  Late at night I’d curl up on the couch with my onscreen friends, VJs (video jockeys) Nina Blackwood and Martha Quinn. 

They’d tell me about the music and the four-minute movies took me away from my problems for a little while.  I’d listen to The Pretenders lament about being back on the chain gang.  Rod Stewart inspired young hearts to be free.  I’d have taken Rod Stewart’s version of life over Chrissie Hynde’s if I could.  

Shortly after moving back, my mother came and sat next to me on the couch for a chat.  And then she just came out with it.

What she said was, “I don’t care what you watch, but I don’t want your younger sister watching MTV.”

What I heard was…she didn’t love me. 

What I heard was…my worthless ways were a threat to my sister.

What I heard was…she loved my sister enough to believe she was still worth saving. 

On the outside I was 19 and a legal adult.  But on the inside I was still a child waiting for her mother to give her the discipline she never had…the love she never had. 

I moved out shortly after.  And for the next six years I behaved as someone who believed she was hopeless. 

The truth is kids want to be disciplined.

God created us in His image with an inward need for order, for discipline.  We desire structure and boundaries.  A well-lived life depends on it. Our flesh may rail against it, but our soul feeds on it.

No matter how much our kids complain about it, they want boundaries. 

They crave boundaries.

With them they find security and peace.

When we discipline our kids, we send the message that they are loved, cared for and nurtured.  That they are worthy of our time and attention.  Without discipline, they are left feeling unloved, inadequate, unprotected. 

Alone.

Without those boundaries they can begin to act out with erratic or violent behaviors, drugs or alcohol and/or sex. 

Acting out is a flashing neon sign saying:

“PLEASE, SOMEONE LOVE ME ENOUGH TO SPEND TIME WITH ME

AND TEACH ME HOW TO GROW UP!”

I see a lot of kids who are craving boundaries making headlines.  Children are brazenly and brutally bullying other children and even adults.  Victims, some as young as 6, are taking their own lives.

Cyberbaiting is the coined term for a new and brazen spin on old-school type of bullying.  It’s become a form of entertainment for bullies equipped with a smartphone. Students will continually harass and provoke a teacher until he or she breaks down.  Students then easily and ruthlessly take pictures and videos of the teacher and post them online.

Sometimes even the justice system backs up the child who has bullied. That was the case in Florida when a student started a Facebook group for people who hated a particular teacher.  She encouraged other students to post comments about how much they hated the teacher, too.  The group was eventually deleted and the child was suspended.  But the student sued, saying her right to free speech had been violated.  She won $15,000. 

These are students.  Children.  How do they go from being innocent babies to such ruthless and destructive young people in such a short amount of time? 

As parents we think we have 18 years to shape them. 

But here’s the kicker: we don’t. 

The truth is we have a good 7 to 10 years to instill discipline.

Maybe less.

God tells us we need to begin early. 

Train up a child in the way he should go, 
and when he is old he will not depart from it.

Proverbs 22:6

The word child in this verse refers to the time between infancy and adolescence.  A child’s character is largely molded by the time they’re 7 or 8. 

So what is discipline? 

Loving…Exampling…Respecting…Guiding…Training

Teaching…Communicating…Listening…Leading…Correcting

PRAYING!

Jesus gave us the perfect example. He discipled twelve men for three years.  Through eleven of them and Paul, God radically changed the world.


(Let me just say this as an aside, not because it's less important but because it's off the main topic: the fact that Jesus was the perfect mentor and still one of his disciples, Judas, went astray, is a perfect example that we can be the very best parent possible and yet one of our kids can choose the wrong path.  Sometimes they get in with the wrong crowd.  Sometimes there's been abuse from outside the family.  


If you see a sudden behavioral change in your child, I urge you to not simply chalk it up to adolescence or a phase.  Pray God will show you the truth.  Then sit down with your child and and talk.  They may be reluctant to talk at first, or even for a while.  Keep trying. Hopefully you've had the lines of communication open all along and they'll come around, knowing how much you love them.  Keep reminding them they can trust you with anything they have to say.  If you need to, reach out for counseling.)

Parents, Grandparents, Foster Parents, Aunts, Uncles, Guardians:

We need your children.  A lost and dying world needs your children.  We need them to grow up to be loving, responsible, respectful, hard-working men and women of integrity.

We need children who will grow into adults who care more about contributing to the well-being of the world and those in it than their own comfort and entertainment. 

The truth is we have get back to parenting.

Real parenting.  The kind where we take a real interest in our kids and what they’re doing.  Even if they’re watching MTV.  Parents and kids have gone their separate ways in America for too long.  We can’t be too busy, too lazy or too afraid to discipline our kids…to disciple our kids.

They won’t tell you, but what kids really want, more than their MTV or anything else, is a parent who cares about them...who cares for them.  A parent who loves them enough to be involved in their life.  A parent they can look up to.  A parent they can go to for advice when they don’t know what to do.  A parent they know will have their back.  A parent who’s on their side, for better or worse. 

So what if your child is older?  Say, 19 and beginning a life of rebellion by watching MTV?

Remember: on the outside kids can appear hardened, but it's all a ruse, a protective mechanism.  They don't want you to see they’re vulnerable...and hurt. And a lot of parents don't get that. They don't look past the anger and rebellion to the hurting child they are on the inside. But we have to.  That's what love does.

So what can you do?

Read God’s Word. Daily.  

Pray.

Pray some more.

Keep praying.

Love through the attitude.

Don’t give up.  Ever.

There is hope.  I am living proof of God’s grace and mercy and redemptive power.  

You can do it.
Let me know how it's going!


Blessings,
Dorci  

Lessons Learned ~ An Open Letter to My Dad

Dear Dad,

When I saw you last, you laid in a comfortable room all your own in a beautiful home. The first time I walked through it I knew Jesus had hand-picked that home and that room just for you. 

Dad, you would have loved it.  Your room kept watch over a gorgeous collection of plants and flowers in the big backyard. Oh, how I wanted to be able to walk through the gardens with you, enjoying the sunshine and the beauty of every rose and daisy. 

No doubt our conversation would have meandered with the gardens.  We’d eventually ponder much weightier issues like the world’s problems and how to solve them.  We always had the answers, didn’t we? 

And our conversation would have invariably settled on the mysteries of the universe, and of God.  This conversation would have gone very differently than all the others, though.

For thirteen years I prayed for you.

And when we were finally able to enjoy those weekly gabfests on the phone I did my best to steer as many conversations as possible toward the Lord.  I tried to explain to you historically, intellectually, logically and emotionally why Jesus is the only way to salvation, the only way to heaven.  And you’d always say you were trying. 

The end of every conversation would come, and I’d let my words offering you Christ hang in the air as a gift, desperately hoping you’d take them, but you never did.  I always hung up thinking if only I’d said it differently... 

If I could have I would have forced them on you as a parent forces a child to eat his broccoli and drink his milk. 

Soon after you had gone, I realized the mistake I’d made all those years.  And all I wanted to do was grasp one day to do it over. If I could I would have done it all over.  I’d trade in some of those conversations, some of those awkward attempts at apologetics, and take a meal to you. 

I’d take a jar full of jelly beans to your apartment and set it on the table next to your chair. While I was there I would have cleaned your apartment and done some laundry, if you’d let me.  I’d frame some pictures of your grandsons and hang them on the wall. 

I’d buy you a proper journal so you didn’t have to write your soulful words on the scraps of paper and backs of old envelopes we found scattered around your apartment.  I’d have you over for dinner more often so Eric and Sean could get to know you better.  We still grin and tell each other your favorite joke: So a horse walks into a bar and the bartender says, “Why the long face?” I can still hear that high-pitched almost giggle you reserved for jokes you thought were especially hilarious.

I would have shown you the love of Jesus I tried so desperately to tell you about.  I thought I’d have enough time, but I didn’t. 

Time is always short.

You might not have let me do those things, but I wish I had tried.  I wish I had used the short time we had together to show you how much I loved you and how much I appreciated you.  I would have shown you that you were worth loving and you were worth dying for.

I loved our conversations, but I wish I had used the time putting feet to my words, enriching both our lives even more.  And maybe, just maybe it wouldn’t have taken until just five days before you went to be with Jesus to give Him your heart.  Maybe those acts of love would have opened your eyes to the truth sooner.  But they were opened, and I am so grateful.

You taught me that lesson, Dad.  I don’t always remember it, but you taught me that life is short, and sometimes it’s over much sooner than we ever thought it would be.  And sometimes our words are just words until we bring them to life. 

 

I can picture you now, tending the garden of your dreams and having long conversations with everyone who stops by to smell the roses. I'll be there soon, and when I am, I’m coming to your house, Dad, the one prepared just for you.  I’ll clean it, top to bottom.  I'll set a crystal vase overflowing with fresh flowers on your table.  I’ll bring you some jelly beans and we’ll talk. 

Your loving daughter,      @

Dorci                               ~\~

Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.

1 John 3:18

Glorifying God in the Daily Challenges of Being a Mom

Moms face more challenges than they ever would have expected on the day they first met their child.  It starts out easy--bottles and naps and diaper changes (quick ones if it’s a boy).  And the crying, oh yes, the crying.  One of mine had a shriek that could crack a window pane. 

Then the challenges graduate to making sure every drawer and cabinet and toilet seat is securely locked.  And there are the temper tantrums, in the middle of a store or restaurant no less, with every judgmental eye glaring in your direction. 

Then there are the school lunches, the peer pressure, the homework left until 10 pm on Sunday night.  There are pre-teen crushes and sometimes bullying, either on the giving or receiving end. There’s the time they get lost in the store for a full 7 minutes and 18 seconds. 

   

There’s the first time your child lies to you.  And the first time they say, “I hate you!”

There are threats to run away to live with a friend who has much better parents than you.  There are struggles about what to and what not to watch on TV.  There are the late nights wondering who they’re with and what they’re doing. 

Sometimes the challenge is losing a child far too soon.

Sometimes there’s shoplifting or drugs or alcohol. You listen for sirens or a knock at the door.  You wonder for long stretches if anything you’re saying is sticking between the ears.

 

And through it all you love them with a love that is indescribable.  They are not just your child but a part of yourself.  They are your heart living on the outside.  And you’d do anything for them.

 

It’s a wholly beautiful mystery, this relationship between mom and child. 

And some moms face challenges that others of us will never know.

   

When the angel Gabriel told Mary that she would be with child, being an unwed mom would be just the beginning of the many challenges she’d face. She had no idea what else was coming.  Seeing her son crucified would be the greatest challenge.  But she accepted those challenges with grace and humility as she told the angel, “I am the Lord’s servant.” May your word to me be fulfilled.” (Luke 1:38)

And in the end, that’s really the greatest challenge of all--to accept the unique challenges given to us in each child every day with grace and humility unto the Lord.  And when we do, and we train them up in the way they should go, and never give up (okay, maybe for a minute or two), we bring God glory.

What you do does not go unseen, dear mom. God sees it all and He smiles on you. What you do matters, and in the end it will all be worth it.  God will make sure of it.

This is the story of another mom who has accepted the challenges of the precious child given to her by God with grace and humility.  I am strengthened by her inspiring story and I think you will be, too.

Happy Mother’s Day and thank you for all you do!

Our God's Alive!

"I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever!"

Rev. 1:18

~Jesus the Christ

Happy Resurrection Day!
Dorci

The Way of Love

Tommy’s taken some time out of his successful life as a doctor, spending the day out on the golf course with his buddies when he receives an alarming phone call from another part of the world. 

His son, Daniel, is dead. 

And all at once, a life that seemed to have every duck carefully placed in a row was upside down.

And thus begins a father’s journey in the movie The Way with Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez.   It is a poignant look at a man who has been caught up in the world’s version of success and has, ironically, become somewhat cynical and bitter.  And when the unthinkable happens we see the ensuing inner struggles of a man who suddenly realizes he doesn’t have things figured out quite the way he thought.   

FYI - If you haven’t seen the movie yet, this will contain some slight spoilers. 

The last time the two men spoke they were engaged in an awkward conversation as Tommy drove his son, Daniel, to the airport. Daniel tells his dad about the journey he’s going to make and, in an effort to try connecting with his dad, asks him to come along.  Tommy cynically laughs it off, saying that not everyone has the luxury of taking time off from work to do such a thing. 

And now the time was gone. 

Tommy makes the pain-staking trip to St. Jean Pied de Port, France to retrieve his son’s body and his belongings.  Daniel had just begun his journey on the road of El camino de Santiago, The Way of St. James, a pilgrimage that millions have traveled over the last thousand years.  The journey can begin on any of a number of paths, but the destination is always Galicia, Spain, where some believe the remains of the apostle James are buried.  Depending on the origin of one’s journey, the pilgrimage can take weeks to months. 

Tommy arrives in France and decides to have his son’s body cremated for the return trip.  He begins looking through his son’s backpack at the things he’d chosen to take with him on his journey of discovery.  It’s perhaps the first time in a long time that Tommy had taken a few moments to really study his son. 

And we can’t help but think about how we’re spending the days of our own short lives. 

Tommy decides to honor his son by taking him on the journey anyway.  He throws the backpack over his shoulders, the box of ashes tucked safely inside, and he sets out to make the 500-mile trek in his son’s stead. 

Tommy reluctantly picks up a few friends along the way, each of whom has their own reasons for traveling The Way.  But their reasons seem rather selfish and superficial compared to the heavy burden that Tommy carries. 

The others approach their goals half-heartedly, but Tommy remains steadfast in his mission to do this last loving act for his son. 

As they all reached their destination together, it occurred to me that the only one who successfully accomplished what he set out to do was the one who, in love, set out to do something for someone else. 

It was too late to reconcile with his son, but through choosing this unselfish and loving act he gains much more—a heart of forgiveness, humility, love, and peace.

"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another."  John 13:34

Jesus made this statement to the apostles the evening He had washed their feet.  He didn’t just say He loved them, He became their servant.  That is what God says love really is and this is the way we’re to live our lives. 

It’s love that gives us the strength to do the hard thing--the ability to lay aside our pride and our own lives in order to finish what God’s called us to do. 

We are all on a journey called life, and loving others is what makes life worth living. The specific ways we’re called to sacrifice throughout our lives may sometimes go against all common sense.  Sometimes we may just not feel like it, just like Tommy didn’t feel like going on the trip with his son.  But God says that by choosing to live a life of sacrifice we’ll gain a lot more that we ever gave up.

As I watched the movie I couldn’t help but also make comparison to Christ and the road He walked in our steads, too.  Like the story, while we were dead in our sins, Christ embarked on a journey for us, a journey we couldn’t take ourselves.  He journeyed to the cross and laid down His life for us to purchase our souls from hell. 

It was His love for His Father and for us that kept Him steadfast on the road to an agonizing death.  But to Him, the reward of giving us eternal life made the journey worth it.

Question4U: What is one thing you can do to live your life more unselfishly?

Blessings and Love,

Dorci

Suffering with Purpose

Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ,

so that you may be overjoyed when His glory is revealed. 

1 Peter 4:12-13

I’ve been reading a devotional called The Gospel According to Job by Mike Mason.  I may have mentioned it once or twice.  It follows the story of Job and his sufferings and compares them to Christ and the lessons we learn in the Gospels. 

Job suffered in every way imaginable way including having to put up with the insufferable and ignorant advice given by his so-called friends.  They accused him over and over.  But because we were given a peek into the conversation between God and satan that led to Job’s sufferings, we already know that God considers Job a righteous man. 

But Job is caught in the middle between God and the men who came to impart their religiosity.  And in the end, God instructed the men to offer their sacrifices to Job, saying that Job would pray for them and He would hear his prayer and forgive their sins. 

Job is given the position of being a type of messiah, a foreshadowing of the mediator between God and man, Jesus Christ.

At the end of the story, we know what happened to Job.  God blessed him more than at the beginning, much like Christ received back His throne and rightful place at the right hand of the Father in heaven, along with all the souls that were saved, once His work here was done.

But I wonder what happened to the three men when all was said and done.  Once God told them they had sinned, once they offered their sacrifices and were forgiven through Job’s righteous prayer, I wonder what happened to them when they went back home. 

Were their hearts changed?  Did their encounter with the Living God, and with a true man of faith, dispel the incorrect beliefs they had previously held about God?  Did they change from men of religion to men of faith?  Personally, I don’t see how they couldn’t. 

And if their hearts were changed, if they believed, did they go back to where they lived and tell their family and friends?  Did they go back and preach faith rather than religion?  And did word of a just but merciful and loving God spread throughout the land? 

Could it be that along with millions of people throughout the centuries who have been comforted by identifying with Job and his intense suffering, those fiery trials were meant for his present time as well?  Could God have used a righteous man’s faith and steadfastness during suffering to change the very hearts of those around him (including his wife’s)? 

Just as Jesus Christ, an innocent man, suffered for the purpose of salvation of all people both then and now, could the mystery of Job’s seemingly unwarranted suffering be made clear in a similar purpose: to spread the good news that in faith in God alone there is righteousness?

If so, can we see that purpose in our own suffering, that as we walk through it in faith we are a light to those around us, believers and unbelievers alike?  I think so.  No matter how little we may understand about all the reasons we’re going through whatever we’re going through, we can always rest assured that it is for the purpose of glorifying the Lord.    

Job had no idea of the impact his trials and tribulations--and his faith in God--would have on the world.  And we also have no idea how God wants to turn the world around us upside-down for Him as we walk through our own shadows with faith. 

The Forging of a Man or Woman of Character

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete,

not lacking anything.

James 1:2-4

I am drawn to movies about sports and war.  The funny thing is I don’t especially like either.  It’s not the competition or the violence I like, but the stories within the story. 

The team of young men, black and white, and their newly-appointed black coach, who want to play football amid the backdrop of integration in a small southern football town in the early ‘70’s. 

The coach and the team persevere through struggles among themselves and from the town.  They begin to forge friendships with one another as they work hard, harder than other teams are required.  And their hardships knit them together.  In the end, the young men are bound together in brotherly love and an entire town learns to love, too. 

*     *     *

The schoolteacher who is called to serve his country and leads a band of men whose mission it is to find and save one man from the fate that befell his brothers.  All he wants to do is go home. 

But first he has to face and fight the ruthless enemy time and time again, all the while leading men who are dying, fearful and angry.  Against all odds, he saves the young man and goes home, although not the way he wanted. 

*     *     *

It is these stories of selfless courage, of commitment, of dedication that inspire me.  When everything says quit, they don’t quit. Oh, they may want to.  They may want to quit more than anything else sometimes. 

But in the middle of this hardship, they realize what is important.  It is the dream, it is the mission they must accomplish.  They keep their eyes focused on the goal during the day as they face an enemy of racial hatred or an enemy of war, and at night when they’re left alone with their thoughts. 

Their trials developed the character they already had but didn’t know was there.  And they discovered they were more than they thought.  They were more than a team who aspired to play football and more than an English teacher or a band of men called to serve their country. They were men who stayed the course, facing enemies both within and without, to do the good and honorable thing. 

I love these stories because this is what we need to remember in a life that is full of facing our own personal battles.  And as we do, if we choose to put our trust in God, we gain strength and courage and wisdom, we come through the other side and our faith in Him grows.  And we go on to face another battle for another day.  And little by little, if we don't give up, a godly character develops.  We may not see it happening as quickly as we can in a two-hour movie, but it is happening.  It just takes a lifetime. 

So gird up, my friends!  Be ready, be prepared, be alert.  Be prayed up and repentant and humble. We never know what a day may bring. We may not face war or an entire town of people, but we will face something.  But with the Lord, we’ll never face it alone. 

And in the end, we will be victorious.

Fight the Good Fight, Keep the Faith

I watched The Book of Eli again.   And again, it’s left me with a feeling of determination, of gravity, of sober-mindedness about my faith in God and my desire to serve Him well to the end.

Just to let you know, this will contain major spoilers. So if you’ve never watched it, watch it first, if you like, then come back.  I’ll wait.

But a warning: it is rated R, and in the case of this movie, that could stand for raw and rough, but also for revelation.  There are several instances of very strong language and many scenes of disturbing violence.  Normally I wouldn’t recommend a movie with that level of crudeness, but the context in which it’s used in this movie is not gratuitous but conforms to the grave time and situations within the story.  If you’d still rather not watch it, read on anyway.  I’ve included enough of the story that you won’t miss out on the message. 

So why would I watch a movie with such violence and vulgarity?  Because it is an excellent allegory of our lives--as messy and ugly and painful as they can be—as we walk with the Lord. 

*       *       *

“You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts." 2 Corinthians 3:3

A man named Eli wanders through a barren land some thirty-one years after an apocolyptic destruction of the earth and most of its inhabitants.  He carries only a backpack and a few weapons which he skillfully uses against the violence he finds at nearly every turn in this lawless land.

 

Eli guards with his life the contents in his backpack: a book.  But not just any book.  It is the only copy of the Bible left on earth.  He’s been traveling with it since the destruction and his job is to take it west.  Why?  Because a Voice told him to.

 

The Voice leads him through peril after peril.

 

Eli comes to a futuristic old west town of lawless men, run by one deranged man whose goal is to find a Bible.  He knows there is power in the Bible and he wants power. He’s managed to enslave a group of people, including a blind woman and her daughter.

The man discovers the contents of Eli’s pack.  Eli takes off in a hail of bullets, leaving several bodies in his wake.  Eli is unharmed.

 

Eli is back on the road, dutifully headed west, when he discovers the teenage daughter of the blind woman has followed him.  They find shelter for the night where he removes his most guarded possession from its cocoon and begins reading.  The illiterate girl asks him to read to her and he begins to recite scripture from memory.

She asks him if he reads it every day.  He responds, “Without fail.” 

As they continue on in their journey west, the deranged man and his band of not-so-merry men have found Eli and the girl. After a gunfight, Eli finds himself standing in the middle of the men while the ringleader has a tight hold on the girl and a gun pointed at Eli.  Eli has hidden the Book, and the man wants it.  Eli stands in total confidence that the protection he’s known for thirty-one years will continue.

 

And then, Eli is shot.  He stumbles and his face twists with confusion.

   

The man snarls at Eli, “Where’s your protection now?”  And we wonder the same thing.  Why would God allow him to be hurt?  And even more, why would God allow him to be placed in a position where he feels he has to give up the Bible to this abusive, power-hungry man?

Eli gives up the Book’s hiding place, it is taken and the men are gone with the girl.  Eli gets back on the road and continues his journey west, led by the Voice, as if nothing has happened.  The girl musters some courage of her own, and finds her way back to Eli.

They reach the ocean where they cross by boat to a sanctuary.  The guard asks him why he’s there.  He says he has a copy of the King James Bible.  The girl looks at him quizzically, and so do we.

 

They enter the sanctuary where they meet with the proprietor who is in the process of collecting a library of books which have become precious in this post-war era.  He’s never seen a Bible.  He, the girl and Eli sit down.  Eli asks for some paper.

 

Meanwhile, the man is back in the old west with his stolen Book of Power.  The Book is opened and we see the pages but there are no words, only raised dots.  The blind woman stands in front of it, having no clue as to the treasure that lay right in front of her.  He screams at her to read it.  She throws her hands down in anger, and she feels the dots.  Time stands still for her as she realizes this is a Bible, a Bible she can read. 

Back at the sanctuary, Eli begins to recite the Bible, from memory, word by word, verse by verse:

Gen 1:1  In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

Gen 1:2  And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the
                 deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

Gen 1:3  And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

We are taken up close and we see Eli’s eyes, and suddenly realize that he is blind.  And yet, he sees more than anyone because the truth of God is written on his heart.  It is the light from the sun and the voice of God that led him, gave him discernment, and filled him with wisdom to walk across the country for thirty-one years, facing death at every turn, fulfilling his mission. And so it is with us.

My friends, our life in Christ is a journey, and we’ll most surely encounter struggles, pain and evil along the way.  And God will use those times of trial in ways we may not ever know until we stand with Jesus in heaven.  Because Eli was shot and the girl’s life was at stake, he had to release the Bible. No doubt the Voice told him to, a Voice with which he had become very well acquainted.  And in doing so, the Word of God that gives freedom to the humble was taken back to a lawless town and the truth was spoken.  Ironically, the man who wanted to use it for his own gain lost the very power he coveted. 

And because Eli persisted in doing God’s will, the Bible was produced again en masse, and its message filled a lost and dying world.  Eli sums up his belief about the Bible’s message by saying it’s about doing more for others than for yourself.  And so it is. Rather than saving Himself, Jesus Christ died for us so that we can be saved and live with God forever.  And this is the message we carry in our hearts. 

Whatever comes along on your long and winding road--the good, the bad and the ugly--our ultimate purpose is to carry the Lord, and with Him, the inspired Word of God, in our hearts. We are the living letter of God given for our own lost and dying world.  Keep focused, keep true and finish well.

 

“I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.”

2 Timothy 4:7-8 kjv

The Nails in the Long and Winding Road

“Then he {Jesus} said to them all:

‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily

and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it,

but whoever loses their life for me will save it.’”

(Luke 9:23-24 NIV)

I started writing about my long and winding road back in March of 2009.  And like the song, it’s been a wild and windy night.  And like all winding roads, the turns in the path have kept me from seeing the end of it.  Where was I going?  What was this road leading me to?  I just kept walking, or standing, or crouching in a bend somewhere behind a rock to cry for a little bit.

 

God always got me up and walking again, but to where I didn’t know.  Oh, I know all roads for the believer lead to God Himself.  Though He’s promised to be on the road with me, there’s always a bigger revelation of who He is and of who I am in Him along the way.

 

But I’m beginning to catch a glimpse of what lies at the end of that road, and I don’t necessarily like it.  It’s fuzzy at first, but as time goes on, something starts to come into view.  It’s tall, it’s crude and it’s ugly.  It’s a cross.  It’s my cross. 

No one stands there to force me onto it.  But God is there to help me up, to be my strength as I crucify myself.  The nails are what I’ve been picking up along the way.  Every dream demolished is a nail.  Every time I’ve been misunderstood, every new body part that decides to start screaming with pain, every sleepless night, every rejection has been a nail, an opportunity to kill the flesh.

And I can throw those nails across the valley and run off the path, away from the cross, which would be the easiest thing to do.  I can hold onto my so-called right to be understood, or to have my dream or what have you.  That doesn’t mean I would get them, it just means I’d get resentful and bitter that I didn’t have them, because they are my rights.  Right?

Or I can give up my rights, climb up on the cross, with God beside me, and use those nails to die to myself.

 

I give up my right to be understood, or even heard…   Wham!

I give up my right to have my prayers answered in my way, in my time…   Wham!

I give up my dreams…  Wham! 

I give up my right to ever, ever, ever sleep through the night again…   Wham! 

I give up my right to be pain free…   Wham!

I give up my life…    

That’s what I want to do.  And if I do, if I get up on that cross and die, God promises to raise me to a life that is more full of life than I had before because then He can fill me up.  I die, He lives. And when He lives in and through me, all His dreams for me can be realized. 

And tomorrow I’ll have to get up and do it all over again. 

But someday, some bright day, the long, long night will be over, all the dying will be done, and all that’ll be left to do is live forever. 

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.

The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God,

who loved me and gave himself for me.

Galatians 2:20

Before It's Too Late!

Seek the LORD while he may be found;
   call on Him while He is near.
Let the wicked forsake their ways
   and the unrighteous their thoughts.
Let them turn to the LORD, and He will have mercy on them,
   and to our God, for He will freely pardon.

Isaiah 55:6-7

From the time children are toddling around in their parents' shoes, their minds are just like little sponges, soaking up everything they hear, good and bad.  I don’t think we’re any different as adults.  It’s why billions of dollars are spent every year on advertising.  We see the commercials and we believe what they tell us.  We need that thing, so we buy it. 

We believe internet rumors; we believe email scams; we believe what the government tells us.  Well, sometimes.  We watch people sinning on t.v. and in movies and we laugh.  We soak up the world like a sponge and we’re left dripping with its inane gossip, its cynicism, its bitterness, and its greed and selfishness. 

And sometimes we need to sit before the Lord in repentance and let Him wring out of us the ungodliness and then we can soak up the pure holiness of the Holy Spirit. 

Time is short, my friends.  Let’s seek the Lord while we can.  Let’s stop giving ear to the world and listen to the Lord’s heart instead.  He has things for us to do, people to see and places to go.  He has a gospel to spread before it’s too late and He wants to use us to do it. 

The flesh and spirit war with each other and we are the captains of our own war.  We choose which side wins every day.  For the spirit to win we must starve the flesh and put it to death.  We must put aside the insidious sins, the secret sins, the accepted sins.  

God tells us it’s when we die to ourselves that we can really live.  Why?  Because our plans are so selfish, so temporary, so small compared to the great plans God has for us.  If we’re willing to let go of what we think may be good and listen to the Lord, then He can bless us with what is great. 

He can bless us with Himself. 

We have all we need in Christ Jesus to live a victorious life full of His power, wisdom, strength and peace and to be able to look back on a life of spiritual growth and service to the King. 

Will we? 

May God bless you as you seek His face!

Dorci