abandoned to Christ.

prodigal   (ˈprä-di-gəl)  adj  1: exceedingly or recklessly wasteful. Before I share where our youngest son, our prodigal is today, I want you to join me as I remember where we've been; soberly view where we are now; and with great hope, share where we're headed. From the day we found out God blessed us with each son; beautiful gifts of life growing inside of me, we sang songs of worship and read Scriptures to our boys so their lives (as much as it was up to us) would be saturated with God's grace, peace and love. Every moment was beautiful, even the hard moments when we nearly lost both of them. Our oldest son was born with a rare condition called pyloric stenosis. If this developed, it usually happened two months after birth, but Michael was born with it; so by the time he was only two weeks old, he required emergency surgery so he wouldn't die from starvation. He's now a very healthy and robust 21 year old young man and we are grateful to the Lord! ...

In short...no. We'd like the answer to be yes, but in reality, we can't control another person's heart, mind or will—only God can...and does. It's easier to parent our children with the euphoric expectation that if we follow all the rules and train them up "right" that we are guaranteed perfect results...or at least the results we always hoped and dreamed for. While this nice and neat image of a family does happens to some, it doesn't happen to all. I wasn't raised in a Christian home, but was saved when I was four, and remained the only Christian in my household throughout my entire childhood. I rode the bus to church every Sunday morning and Wednesday evening. I held tightly to God's Word and His standard of living. Were there challenges? Yes. Did I behave perfectly? No. But no matter the persecution from others or my own personal failings, I always ran back to my Lord, who alone could then (and now) provide me with ...

So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets." ~Jesus the Christ (Matthew 7:12, ESV) Few in this world understand this concept and even fewer live by it. Too many harm others as harm has come to them. Or they withhold good from others as it's been withheld from them. Sadly, we've often heard parents say to their children, " I can't help it! I yelled, hit, scared, etc. you because that's what was done to me!" or "Well, I did without love and affection from my parents and I turned out fine. So don't expect to get love and affection from me." But it should not be so with the Christian. A Christian is saved from merely reacting to our environment and empowered from on high to respond to all things with the love, grace and the righteousness of Christ. Unlike the world, we're not enslaved or overpowered by our sinful flesh; rather, we've been emancipated by ...

I’m sure you’re familiar with the latest story about Utah dad, Scott Mackintosh who donned a pair of homemade Daisy Duke-like shorts while on a family outing, to convince his 19-year-old daughter Myley that her choice of immodest apparel was unacceptable. Prior to this latest escapade of child-shaming tactics as a form of discipline, there were others. Back in April 2012, 15-year-old Quandria Bryant of North Carolina was made to carry a sign on Highway 17 in New Bern that said, “I have a bad attitude. I disrespect [sic] people who try to help me.” Her father Donnell employed this public shaming tactic after Quandria was suspended from school for her increasingly disrespectful attitude toward her ninth grade teachers. My question is, was her dad involved prior to her disrespectful escalation that led to her suspension? As a parent, I know schools don’t do this without some warnings to the student and parents. So what forms of discipline, if any, were incorporated prior...

God  crushed  His Son; Christ  relinquished  His majesty; then  gave  Himself up for us so that we might be His people—holy and righteous (1 Thess 2:10), full of mercy and grace (James 3:17), and to proclaim His excellencies to the world (Ps 9:1-2, 40:5, 116:12-14; 1 Peter 2:9). God didn't save us so we could be free to do whatever we want, knowing we're forgiven of all sins: past, present and future. Neither did the Father do this so that we could haphazardly wander around this earth, mooning over all we want and don't have (like the rest of this world). Just as the honor of being assigned as an ambassador of an earthly country should not be taken lightly, so we also, who are in Christ, should not take our high calling as children of the Most High God lightly. An earthly ambassador is chosen to live in a foreign land to represent their country, while maintaining every attribute and character of their homeland. An ambassador does not lose or...

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As children of the Most High God, we're called to be doers of the Word, not merely hearers, or agree-ers. We can’t behave like little plastic bobblehead dolls: Stiffed-necked and immovable; only nodding our heads in agreement for the sake of false peace, or to appear holy and righteous, yet with no resolve to put anything we hear/read into practice. Jesus said, “This people honors Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me.” (Matthew 15:8) In 1 John 3:18 we're given this excellent exhortation, “Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.” Just talking about God and all the “right” and “good” things to do, does not make us doers of the Word; it only makes us wind bags. And like wind, all our talking comes and goes, but there’s no lasting effect in our lives or others (James 1:22-25), because there's no power coming from it by the Spirit of Christ; since creating anything false only comes from the Devil or our flesh, b...

beautiful photo used by permission: Gilbert Lennox www.GilbertLennoxPhotograpy.com In my last post , I shared why I no longer follow John Piper and "Desiring God" ministry, but I continue to love him, pray for him, the ministry, and anyone who's following them, to practice discernment and test everything from anyone (including me of course) with the Word of God, which alone is perfect. What motivated me to share this is my love for God, His Word and for my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ who have been misled by the a recent resurgence of an article written by John Piper's, once prodigal son (now believer in Christ), Abraham, regarding 12 ways parents of prodigals can love their children to the Lord Jesus Christ. I found this article years ago, and agreed with some of it, and disagreed with much of it as it contained quite a bit of worldly psychology and little Scriptural foundation for how parents of prodigals ought to shepherd their children's he...