In His Image

I have heard a few times in the recent past from a couple of young people that being raised in a conservative (Mennonite) home left them ill prepared for dealing with “life” and reality as they know it.  I have been pondering that for a couple weeks and I would like to share some thoughts about being prepared for life.

As parents, we endeavor to train our children up in a path that is best for them.  No, it is not the most exciting path, neither is it the most daring, or risky path, but it is the safest and best path that we know of!  Our goal is not to deprive them of worthwhile experiences, but to steer them through the rough waters of life so that they can then learn how to chart their own ship to avoid capsizing, or crashing on some shoal.  But what happens if a child thinks that we are not steering them correctly?  That we are somehow not allowing them to experience life to the “fullest” of what they see the world can offer them?  Should we be giving them some more instructions as to how to live in the world, as the world, while trying to maintain their Godly moorings?

As I was praying about this, the Lord brought to mind this analogy.  In this world, we have many roads.  There are a tremendous amount of different roads, and not matter where you live, you will encounter them.  Now one thing that I think every parent tries to teach their child is to stay off the road!  The road is not a play land where you can romp around and dodge cars!  No, there is too much danger there to allow your children to play on the road!  And so we teach them that there are rules in how to deal with the roads.  There are specific places where you can cross a road safely, and when you need to move along a road, there are traffic rules and laws that can greatly increase your safety while on this dangerous concourse.  But then your children look over at the neighbor’s children and see them running back and forth on the road, dodging between cars, and laughing when one gets close enough to almost knock them into the hereafter!  And to your children, that looks like fun, it looks very exciting and they don’t see those children getting hurt at all, and they start to doubt whether what you said is true.  Now my reasons for telling my children to stay off the road were not to prevent them from enjoying life, but to protect their lives so that they can enjoy them longer!  Our desire is for their safety and well being, to shelter them from danger that they cannot perceive, but that we know is there.

In our families’ spiritual lives, we are seeking to shelter our children from the temptations and snares of this life.  We seek to teach them how to interact with the world according to God’s rules of the road, for there IS safety in them.  We try to teach them to stay off the road where there are temptations and dangers far greater than they can imagine, so that they will not have to be tempted beyond what they are able to bear.  You see, the “cars and trucks” on this highway of life, are not driven by caring human beings who will do all they can to avoid running over a child, but instead they are “driven” by the devil and his minions.  Jesus told us that Satan goes about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he can devour.  He is not trying to keep us from turning into a spiritual casualty; he is trying to make us into a spiritual casualty!! And so we teach our children that it is safer to obey the rules of the road that God Himself made and enforces, for then are they safest from Satan’s attacks, for he cannot go where God forbids him.  How do I know that?  Because when we are under God’s authority, God has promised that He will not allow any temptations to come our way that we will be unable to stand up to, but will with every temptation also provide a way of escape. 1 Cor. 10:13

So, do we teach our children to juke and jive around the devils devices, or do we teach them to stay out of temptation’s way in the first place and to learn God’s laws of this life and abide by them, so that they will know how to live amongst all these dangerous “roads”?

If you are a young person who was taught God’s ways, and you have turned to what you think is better and are winging it on your own, then understand that God’s promise of temptations deliverance is not for you and someday you will not be able to jump out of the way quite fast enough and will wonder how you could have smashed your life up so badly.  I suggest to you to read the book of Proverbs.  Start with the chapter that is the same as this month’s date, and read through the book of what the wisest man wanted to convey to his son.  Note how much this father sought to have his son follow truth and righteousness, not to cause him hardship, but to preserve his life.

How about you and I?  Are we doing what we know is God’s best, or are we flirting with the devil?

We have been wanting to get our Photo greeting cards on the web for over two years now, and today it happened. We got another 10 inches of snow so I was stuck here and decided to tackle the job.

Here is a sample of one of the cards.

You can get to the site by clicking on the link in the right column, or click here.

Enjoy!

I want to thank all of you for your prayers for our little niece, Regan.  I just got a call this afternoon from Loren, her dad.  The lab at Johns Hopkins found that the tumor is a “poly???  ?????.” I repeated the words to him several times but couldn’t get them right and don’t want to confuse you here.  The tumor was neither malignant, nor benign.  They did another CAT scan today and everything looked really good.  There is still a little more fluid in the brain sack than the doctors like, but it probably took a long time to build up, and will take a while to shrink back down.  They will NOT have to leave a stint in for drainage!  This is a big blessing since that would have been a major source for potential infection. 

As far as Regan goes, she is on the road to a rapid recovery.  She spent quite a while today walking around the halls pushing a little toy shopping cart.  Loren said that he believes that her peripheral vision is better now than it was before the surgery in the fact before, she would often walk into things, counters, tables and such, and now, she avoides them with ease.  She went up to the therepist today and they said to take her home and keep letting her do the things she has been doing and she will get along just fine.  The only thing that she made need help with is a speech therapist for some of her slurred words.  That may disappear on it’s own, but they are not sure.

Loren said that they were getting ready to go home this afternoon and we praise the Lord for that!!  The doctors are pretty sure they got the whole tumor but she will have to be watched regularly for the next 20 years.

Loren doesn’t know that I am going to write this, and if you don’t tell them, they won’t be the wiser.    As many of you know, Loren and Kendra felt God leading them to move further south and buy a farm earlier this summer.  I know personally that their strength, endurance, and finances have been stretched to the max.  I asked him the other day if he had any way to pay for this incident and he said that they were still a part of a brotherhood aid and they would be helping to pay for most of it.  However I know that they had to hire help for the farm while they were gone, and numerous other expenses of being gone for a week from the farm.  If you would like to help them out financial, please email me for their address, or if you want to use a credit card via PayPal, please send it to my email address of jaimee@paulbunyan.net and write a note to be included with the gift.  I will then download it to my bank and send them a check.

Thanks again for all your prayers!!  Loren testified that they could feel God’s presence with them the whole time.! PTL!

Last night we had the privilage of staying at a customer’s house that they have for rent. Aimee and I usually try to do something special for our anniversary and this year, it was this! Aimee is a southern girl and not used to swimming in our lakes that sometimes have all sort of “icky” things on the bottom, like sticks and weeds and such. Thus when I found out about this place that had an indoor pool, jacuzzi, and jet air tube, I went to find out if we could work something out for our anniversary. This place was HUGE! Six bedrooms, three baths, huge deck, (too cold for that this time of year!:eek:) and huge dining, living area that’s in the picture.

It was a special way to remember the commitment that we made six years ago.

Truly, God has given me a Godly woman, far beyond my highest hopes. She is the one that so quietly encourages me on in my spiritual walk and it is such a privilege to walk thru life with her! I love you Sweetheart!!