Charity Starts At Home

If you are anything like wife and I, you are routinely asked to give to one cause or another. This can often be overwhelming. I often wonder, just how much more can I give? These causes are important but I wonder if we are missing the point sometimes. Is it right to give to these causes and at the same time make our children take out loans to go to college?

These many causes often have lots of trained people trying to convince you that their cause is the most important. We should support some of these. But what about the least of my children?

Jesus in the gospels tells us to clothe the naked and feed the hungry. My wife is helping with vacation bible school this week. One woman came with a large number of children. Their clothes were ragged and worn. Moved to action, my wife came home and went on hunt to help provide this woman some clothes for her children. All of the closets were cleaned out. If we didn't have a size that she needed, she contacted friends that might.

This is what I feel it is really all about. Seeing a need and meeting it without being asked. The woman did not ask for anything but my wife saw a need and was moved to help meet it.

Jesus is the same way. Sometimes we don't see our need or are too embarrassed to ask for help, but Jesus knows what we need and He will provide at the appropriate time. 

Luke, It is your destiny

While we don't all have a Sith lord as our farther, we do all have a destiny. We will all be held accountable, one day, for our actions and words.

Always speak and act as men destined for judgement under the law of freedom. Merciless is the judgment on the man who has not shown mercy; but mercy triumphs over judgment. James 2:12-13

My wife has told me, and it is true, that I often speak before thinking. This gets me into trouble at times. There are times when I speak out of anger or hurt not thinking about what kind of damage I might inflict on others along the way. This happened again yesterday. I could come up with all kinds of excuses for my behavior but the bottom line is that I am an adult and I must take responsibility for my actions and words.

The other half of this comes just as hard. Do I show mercy for others who may be having a rough day just like me? Do I forgive others easily or do I hold onto hurts, real or imagined? 

While I am getting better, sadly the answer is no to both of these questions. Because of our sinful nature we will all struggle with these things. What am I doing to get better?

1. Pray
2. Scripture(read and prayed over daily)
3. Pray
4. Practice patience
5. Pray

We live in a world where we are told to demand our rights. To never back down. To go for the kill. The world may look at me as weak for being merciful but Christ demands something greater of me. 

I keep praying that I will be able to show mercy in everything I do and with everyone I meet.

Time To Open The Gifts

1 Peter 4:8-11a - As generous distributors of God’s manifold grace, put your gifts at the service of one another, each in the measure he has received. The one who speaks is to deliver God’s message. The one who serves is to do it with the strength provided by God. Thus, in all of you God is to be glorified through Jesus Christ.

Time to open the gifts!

I have 6 children so you can imagine how many times I have heard this. In the above reading from 1 Peter, this is what I believe God is calling us to do, to open our gifts. As Christians, we have been reborn. We have been given great gifts from God through Jesus Christ. Sadly, most people just take those gifts, say thank you, and put them up on a shelf.

We met with a group of ministry leaders from our church last night. It was a great spirit filled time where we prayed, read scripture and discussed our various ministries. At the heart of it all is the call to put our gifts to use to bring God's message to all the people.

I was touched as I reflected on my service in the church(and outside). I have been given many gifts and I am called to use them for the glory of God. I am a distributor of God's grace. I must speak with words and actions in delivering God's message.

We were having a tense time at work a couple of days ago. I was prompted by the Holy Spirit to stop what we were doing to pray. I knew that the only way I was going to be able to calm the situation was through prayer. It worked! 

Time to open the gifts!

Chivalry

It has been a while. I guess I went into a writing black hole. However, this thought just came to me very strongly with a desire to write about it. 

I have 5 daughters of various ages and they are all my biological children. Anyway, I was thinking over incidents of the past few months. Some of them have stuck in my mind and it isn't very pleasant. 

Am I willing to stand up for my daughters? Am I willing to protect there purity? Am I willing to do what it takes to protect them from today's society?

I think it would be easier if we had dragons. It would be a lot easier to know who and when to fight. As a Christian father, I have to be willing to fight for my daughters. If I don't, who will? 

It would be easy for me to sit here and say that sure I will fight for my daughters. Really? Let's look at the evidence. 

Do we limit what they can watch on TV? Are we willing to be disliked for not letting them watch what the other kids are watching?

Do we scrutinize friends? Especially boys?

Do we set guidelines on what they can wear? Do we keep their dress modest? (It's one thing when they are 5 but try when they are 13+). 

Our daughters need their Dads to step it up and be the type of person we want them to marry some day. They desire time and attention from us. We have to make time for them. It is pretty easy for me to write this because I fail at all of these form time to time. Now, for a few last questions.

Do I limit what I watch on TV or listen to on the radio?

How do I treat women?

How do I treat their mother?(even if divorced)

If I tell my daughters to dress modestly but then ogle every scantily dressed woman I see then I am sending mixed signals. If I want my daughters to remain pure, I must remain pure.

I was approached some time ago about putting on a Father-Daughter retreat. I think this should be a topic of one of  my talks. What do you think?