Modeling

I love working in education.  Now don't get me wrong, there are days that I get frustrated with the woes of working in public education.  The pay is terrible, and the hours can be long.  Many times I have to take work home.  And there are always those students, that no matter what you do, just don't care.  However, each child that comes to me and says thank you, or comes back to visit after graduation just to visit me and ask for help outweighs all of the bad.

Now one of the best strategies that I have for teaching, and coaching, is modeling.  I try to model what I expect them to do.  If it is an assignment, I show them how to work out some examples.  If it is a concept, I give them a chance to create a real life example, or I make up one, to help them visualize.  When I coach, I get on the field and practice with them.  I show them exactly what I want them to do, and do it with them.  To me, this is the best way to learn.  Now don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with a good lecture every once in a while.  But, the best way to learn is by experiencing it.

The same is true with Christianity.  The best way to share it, is to show it.

John 5:36
"But the testimony which I have is greater than the testimony of John; for the works which the Father has given Me to accomplish—the very works that I do—testify about Me, that the Father has sent Me."

Here Christ was telling of His testimony, not by words that He had said, but by the works that He did.  That was the testimony of who He was.  As we strive to be more Christ-like, we have to model what we learn in the bible.  It is not just enough to quote scripture.  Anyone can do that, and learn it.  But it is the actual application of it to our daily lives that is the biggest witness to others.  Do they here us and see us live it?  There are a lot of people in this world that are playing church.  As Revelations 3 teaches us, they are lukewarm.  Neither cold nor hot.  They put on a good show to go to church, but do their actions away from church show the same life.  When we model the Christian faith, or live it outwardly, we show the world a true look at what Christianity really is.  And not what they see and hear from TV and some internet counterfeits.

So, the question today is, what are you modeling?  Because, what we model is what we truly believe in.

Thanks for reading, and I pray that God will bless you all!

Personal Time

You know, it is not easy to get a chance to spend quality time with my wife. She is an amazing woman, and deserves all that I can give to her. But it just seems that something always gets in the way. Sometimes it is the kids. We have three wonderful children and I would not trade them for the world. But we stay so busy with them, that we are wore out by the time we get them in the bed. And if I do hug or kiss my wife, they want to be apart too and squeeze their way in between us. Sometimes its my job. Working as a high school teacher and a varsity coach, my schedule is never set. Sometimes I get home around 4:30 in the afternoons, and sometimes I am lucky to get home before midnight. Life always seems to get in the way of continuing to grow our relationship. I find that the same is true with God. How often do we try to grow our relationship with God?

Matthew 22:36-38
"“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And He said to him, “ ‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’ This is the great and foremost commandment."

Here in this passage we see Christ quoting from the book of Deuteronomy on the greatest commandment which is to love God above all else. I noticed while reading this verse that it is meant for an individual. "You" should love God with all "your" heart, soul, and mind. Not, your family should love. Not, your church should love. Not, your spouse should love. But you should love Him. This denotes that we as individuals should be devoting ourselves, by ourselves, to loving God. It has to be personal. I know of many individuals who only pray when with family, and they never talk to God unless it is a large group doing so. Now don't get me wrong, coming together as brothers and sisters for worship and prayer time is a great thing. However, it should not be the only time that we set aside to develop that relationship. A proper relationship takes individual time and devotion to cultivate.

A good way to see this is in the relationship of King David and God. The Psalms of David give us an insight into the personal time and devotion that David spent with God. Now David still had his problems. He is also known as a man after God's own heart. There was a true relationship there. He still had his sins and shortcomings that He had to deal with. And we can see this in the lament of some of his prayers to God in these Psalms. But that is true of everyone's relationships. Even between my wife and I, we sometimes fall short. There are a lot of times that we have to apologize to each other. And that will never change. This difference between our relationship with each other, and our individual relationship with God is that He will never fall short. He will never fail us in any way.

So what do we need to do to grow our own relationship? We need to do a few simple things. 1) We need salvation. We cannot have that relationship with God unless we accept His Son and make Him the Lord and Master of our lives. 2) We need to humble ourselves before Him. We need to come to a place where we truly see who God really is, and what we are not. Sometimes we come to pray and do so selfishly. We pray for what we think is right, and what we want, instead of praying for the will of God to be done. 3) We need to set aside and guard our personal, private prayer time. By getting alone daily to pray and commune with God, we can develop that relationship with God. 4) We need to spend time each day in the Word. Whether it is a devotional book, Christian websites that teach scripture, or just opening the book and studying, we need to individually learn everything we can about God. We do the same when we try to date that guy, or that girl. We learn everything we can about them so that relationship can grow. What better way to learn about God, than to read His Word.

So, how is your personal relationship with God right now?

Thanks for reading, and God bless you all!

Am I On the Right Path?

This is a question that I find myself asking a lot while on my walk with Christ on this earth. Am I choosing the right way? Am I following God's will for my life? Am I trying to do things on my own? Sometimes I find that I go through life without considering what God would have me do in situations that come up. As I think about it now, it is like playing the game risk. Do I make moves on my own that may hold serious consequences if I am wrong, or do I place my trust in God for Him to guide me on the right path? Do I look for the advice of others, and give that equal value to what the scripture says? It seems like there are always going to be things that will pull us from our walk and get us off course. This reminds me of a set of scriptures from 2 Timothy.

2 Timothy 4:2-5
"Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry."

How do I make sure I am on the right path? I need to stop, wait, and be ready. The first thing we should do is stop where we are. If you can not honestly say that what you are doing is pleasing in the sight of God, then it stands to reason that you might not be in the will of God. And this is a path that does not need to be traveled on. Because danger awaits us in the form of sin.

Genesis 4:7
"If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.”

Secondly we must wait on God to act, and show us the right path. Too many times we place our trust in other people. And usually the ones that say what we want to hear as described in 2 Timothy 4. We want our ears tickled. We want to believe what we are doing aside from God is justified. And we continue down the wrong path.

Lastly, we must be ready when God says move. The best way to be ready is constant devotion to the Word of God. Because by this, we draw nearer to God, and it is easier for us to hear God lead us on the right path.

Psalm 119:105
"Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path."

And when He speaks, we must go. It may not be the path that we think is right. It may be something that we really do not want to do. But, we need to realize that God looks at everything by the big picture. We see things just where we are.

I heard the story of a pilot who on many occasions flew from Charlotte to Wilmington in the course of a year. On one such trip, the air traffic controller gave the pilot a new course. Feeling that the course was incorrect, the pilot started to move back to the course that was familiar. Within seconds the air traffic controller radioed and asked why the pilot was changing course. The pilot explained that they felt they should be on a different course. The air traffic controller replied that if the pilot did change course, his small one seat air plane would crash into a 747.

So the question again, are we on the right path?

Thanks for reading, and God Bless you all this week!

Small Moments

By now, most of you have guessed that I love to blog about my kids. It is not that I am this super proud dad with a sense of "My kid is better than your kid!" However, I am a super proud dad of my kids. They are three of the biggest blessings in my life. My son is at the top of his Kindergarten class. He never gets in trouble. He loves to play ball, wrestle in the floor, and loves all things boy. My oldest daughter is my weak spot. She is always the last one to tell me bye in the morning, and is always on the porch waiting for me when I get home. Her favorite thing to do is crawl in my lap before bed, and either watch "Tom and Jerry" or have me read a book to her. This time is filled with "I love you daddy" and an abundance of hugs and kisses. My baby girl is a little angel. She was a band aid to broken hearts after the loss of two pregnancies before her. At 6 months old, she almost never cries. Every time you look at her, all she does is smile, laugh, and try to talk in her own way. My wife and I have been blessed far beyond what we deserve in this life.

This brings me to the thought of, how do I teach my children about the love of God? As I certainly see them as a wonderful gift from God, what am I doing to ensure that they grow up with the knowledge and love for God that I have? My only answer is that I do my best to teach them of God, and what he wants us to be in this world.

Psalm 34:11
"Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD."

Now some people suggest the best way to instruct our children is with nightly bible devotion time. I agree with this to a point. We must make sure that the lesson is child friendly. In other words, put it in a way the child can understand, and do not endevour in a 30 minute to an hour bible study with a three year old. It just does not work well. When they get older, yes. Planned bible studies or devotion time is great. However, this begs the question on how to do it with small children. Being blessed to be an educator, I understand a little of what small children can and cannot handle. Instead of specific devotional time everyday, we look for small moments.

Small moments are times during the run of the day in which something happens, or a child notices something different, that we are able to relate God to them. It does not have to be a long sermon quoting many scriptures. But just enough to get them to think about God. For example, my kids have noticed in the past in grocery stores and other places of business when someone drops something, that my wife and I help them to pick things up. My son asked me one time why I did that. They were a stranger and we are not supposed to talk to them. Now I was proud that my son knew not to talk to strangers, however, a small moment appeared. I took the time to explain how helping others, even if we do not know them makes God happy. I got a moment to share with him what is meant by loving your neighbor, and to have compassion on those who are less fortunate. My oldest daughter loves to get dressed up for church. She loves to get her dresses on, and little necklaces to look like a princess to go to church. She asked one time, "Daddy, why do we always go to church and wear our prettiest clothes?" Well, there was another moment. I took a couple of minutes to explain the importance of church, and that we want to give God our best. I used the scripture Acts 2:42 to help with the point.

Acts 2:42
"They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer."

My wife and I not only look for the small moments to teach our children, but we try to model it as well. We try to read our bibles everyday. One day my son asked what the story I was reading was about, think that I had this big story book like he likes to read. It took no more than two minutes to convey the importance of reading your bible. And he and his sisters see us doing it. Children are the greatest lie detectors. They know what we say they should do, but what does it mean to them if we do not do it too. I once caught myself telling my daughter, "Do what I say, not what I do." What does that really teach my child? It teaches them that it is okay not to do what we are supposed to. They will grow and emulate everything that we say and do. If we teach them what is the right thing to do, and then do the opposite, we are teaching them to be hypocrites.

So, how do I teach my children of God's love? I look for the small moments. And you must be careful. You never know when they will come, and you can be assured, that your kids are always watching what you do.

Thanks for reading, and God Bless You all this week!