Ever had one of those days that just tests you and wears you down? Not even sure how to respond? Just had one of those today.
It started out a good day. An ordinary day. Both boys being o.k. and just moving through the day. Then it happened...
My younger son decided to defy me. You could even call it challenge me. In the privacy of our own home? NO! In a scout meeting. Being physically aggressive to other boys so that they are all saying you are hurting them doesn't allow you to stay in the game, by the way. "Please go sit down." "NO!" And the stance of you can't and won't make me and I am bigger than you. Count down, 3-2-1," go sit down or no t.v." "NO!" "In your room for the rest of the day." The look, the decision, then the going to sit down. Finally. Now the rest of the day looks tough.
Come home and send him to his room. Follow through that eats a parent up sometimes. Needs to happen but we hate it, too. So will they some day when they are the parent. Minutes later, the shatter of glass. Broken window. Wow, what anger over something that could have been a 5 minute sitting out of one round of game and over. Now you get to live with the window letting all of the outside into your room. It is cold today. Birds love to perch all over our house. I am sure they will join you.
Luck. One storm window to pull down left. Guess the outside gets to stay out and the heat gets to stay in. I am hoping it accomplished what he was hoping for. He said he didn't know what he was hoping to get by doing that. I would guess he was hoping I would be really mad. Instead I am just sad. Sad for a boy who thinks he can make me quit loving him. Sad for a boy who is confused and hurt and doesn't know how else to show it. How can you get mad at that. I calmly had a good talk with him about it not hurting me but only him.
That no matter what he does or says or acts like I will still love him. And say it again later at bedtime for good measure.
And that is how it turned into one of those days that tests you and wears you down. I am thankful that Jesus is there to pour out to. To ask what to do to help him. To ask Him to watch over this boy. To heal him in a way no one else can. Thank you, Jesus, for just being there to keep me calm and to ask how to guide my boys.
Paul was very active in spreading Christianity throughout the Mediterranean. He established churches in the Southern provinces of Asia Minor (modern day Turkey). These included Cilicia (Paul's home-Tarsus), Galatia (received one of Paul's earliest letters), and Asia (Ephesus was capital). He also founded churches in Philippi and Thessalonica.
Worship would have been filled with the sounds of flutes, smells of meat in the market, and speakers making a good show before the crowd to be praised by them.
He was different sharing the gospel with the Gentile world. He proclaimed that Jesus was the only Savior, not the emperor or any of their gods. He spoke powerfully and pointedly to the Mediterranean people. He offered hope.
He traveled with others for protection (Acts 13:5). The travelers preferred to stay in private homes because the food and accommodations were safer (Acts 16:15, 17:5-7). The virtue of hospitality was highly prized (1 Peter 4:9).
The early Christians were willing to take many risks to travel and spread the gospel. They often sailed on cargo ships (no passenger ships available) which were not an easy way of travel but often the fastest. They took these risks because they believed they were responding to Jesus' commission to "be witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8). They had a conviction that there was only one God who created all men so they were responsible to him (Acts17:24-31; 1 Cor 8:4-6).
The risks they were willing to take and their willingness to have no permanent home showed how they believed in the gospel. They believed it was their job to share this with all they could. So different from us but were they really?
I have recently been through a rough week. One where I spent some of it trying to live in the past and some of it trying to live in the future. None of it trying to live in the present. This brings Satan on like nothing else, by the way.
Ever have those times when you just can't seem to forgive yourself? Through sharing this week with a great friend, I found out I wasn't forgiving myself. Do you know God has already forgiven us? Why then can we sometimes not forgive ourselves?
I learned that by not forgiving myself, I am refusing what God has already given freely--GRACE!
He can forgive me. I had already recognized my part in my mess. I had already asked forgiveness for it. He has already covered my sin and moved on. He is already trying to lead me down the path of my life that He has next for me. I was standing still while He beckoned from ahead.
Receive the grace God has given. Grace is the undeserved forgiveness of ALL we have done and could ever do. It is a free gift just by believing in Him, His son Jesus, and accepting it. Just reach out and take the present. Unwrap it and live in a freedom you can't imagine.
