Saturday, March 29, 2008

Inside scoop

For those of you in the know, I thought I would add a short message today.

Karen and I, as well as many of you, have earnestly been praying about a possible career change for me. If you have not heard the latest update, I will not have the opportunity to change careers any time soon. I appreciate all of your prayers and would humbly ask you to continue praying that the Lord will continue to use me as He desires.

We know that the Lord uses many things to stretch us and cause growth. This may be one of those times. I believe that the Lord gifts people according to the needs of the church. When those needs change, mightn't the gifts as well?

I ask that to say this, a calling may be specific and not general. At least for now, I am going to assume that is the case in this instance. Until the Lord shows me differently, my desire is to be used where I am at.

Thanks for your prayers, Jon

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

The value of a dollar

Karen shared a story with me during lunch yesterday that I'm sure many of you have already experienced. The names may be different but I'll bet the circumstances are similar.



Our youngest daughter (Audrey) has a birthday coming up next month. As every parent does, Karen asked Audrey what present she wanted on her special day. Audrey was quick to give a reply. She wanted a "Just Like You" doll from the American Girl collection. She had seen it in the catalog and was quick to inform her mother that it was only $95.00



Ordinarily we would put this down as a child just not understanding the value of money. This however was clearly not the case for Audrey.



In an effort to challenge our children to read through the entire Bible this year, I promised the first girl who finished reading through the Bible $100.00 (Our children need to earn their own way to camp). The girls, including Karen, have been working at this faithfully. When Karen told Audrey that she was not going to purchase a $95.00 doll as a B-day present, she added that if Audrey thought the doll was a necessity she could use the money she earned from her bible reading to purchase the doll.

Knowing the value of a dollar, Audrey replied, "I'm not going to spend all my money on a doll, that wouldn't be worth it."


Monday, March 10, 2008

Child Rearing and your child's Rear

The last few weeks have been busy ones, and I have not taken the opportunity to post as often as I should. For that, I apologize!

To keep everyone up to date, I have been asked to preach on Easter Sunday. I am looking forward to the opportunity, but I have spent many hours seeking the Lord's direction for this message. Today I believe that I have the direction I have been looking for. Praise the Lord!

On a different matter, I have been meditating on this verse...

Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

I truly believe that many have been in the habit of improperly applying this verse. The reason that I say this is because I have heard parents (when discussing rebellious children) say that they find comfort in this verse. They believe that their child will eventually come back to the Lord if they just give them room and make no waves.

Let me be perfectly clear when I state my opinion here...
This verse is not meant to bring comfort, it is meant to bring warning!

When we interpret this to mean that our children no longer need correction and guidance we are giving Satan a foothold in their lives. We are also allowing Satan to deceive us in regard to what the Lord has said. After all, that is what he did in Eden. He twisted what God said in order to deceive. How have we allowed Satan to take the word "depart" and change it to "come back"?

If your children are departing let it be a warning that they need more training. Is this becoming clear to you? I earnestly hope that you will not be deceived about your parental responsibility in regard to this passage.