House Rules

As I begin to get ready for a new school-year, I always try to get things in good working order in other matters as well.  Just today I began tweaking our House Rules a little bit.  When I began making our House Rules, my younger daughter was just learning to read, and I had to keep things very simple.  As time went on, it got more and more complicated.  Now, however, I have found that simpler is better.  I was able to break down everything so that it fit under four basic rules.  I thought some of you might be interested in using our house rules and/or modifying them to suit your family's needs, so here they are:

ANDERSON FAMILY HOUSE RULES

1.  LOVE the LORD (Mark 12:30)

•     God loves you; Jesus died for you.  Respect the love you have been shown.
•     Love and obey God and all other things will fall into place.
•     Choose to be thankful and content.
•     Pray.

2.  LOVE ONE ANOTHER (John 13:34-35)

•     Honor and obey your parents with a respectful attitude.
•     Serve, encourage and forgive one another.
•     Treat others the way you want to be treated.
•     Be generous.
•     Be a peacemaker.
•     Be honest and kind.
•     Give help cheerfully when you see it is needed; accept help graciously when it is offered.

3.  LOVE YOURSELF as a CREATION of GOD (1 Corinthians 6:19)

•     Choose to be joyful and patient.
•     Do what you know is right, regardless of what others say.
•     Exercise self-control in every kind of situation.
•     Ask before you act if you are ever unsure.

4.  BE a LOVING STEWARD of GOD'S GIFTS (Matthew 25:14 - 30)

•     Use our resources wisely.
•     Complete your assigned tasks with a cheerful heart.
•     Take initiative to help without having to be asked.

Remember to show J.O.Y.!
J - Jesus first
O - Others second
Y - Yourself last

My Broken Heart

I think I’ve mentioned on this blog before that I am involved in an outreach ministry at my church.  We go out into the community and pick up about twenty children and bring them back to the church for a Bible class.  This past week was our VBS so we picked up our “community kids” every night.  I had an opportunity to spend a little more time with them than normal both during class and on the ride to and from the church. 

 

I think I’ve also mentioned that these kids deal with more issues on a day to day basis than I have in my forty years of life.  This week we talked about two fathers.  One died two weeks ago.  The other went to jail about a month ago.  In both cases the children are left without their father.  The one that went to jail will be there for years this time rather than months.  Since we’ve known the kids, this is his third time to be arrested.  Several of the kids are related so these events were fresh on all their minds.  The funeral for the other father was only days before VBS began.  I spent a few minutes on two of the evenings talking about these things and more with one of the moms.  She is overwhelmed.  So am I.  It is very sobering to hear a nine year old boy talk about the details of the last few hours of his father’s life.  His father was 32 years old.  Basically, he died as a result of drug and alcohol abuse.  His son said to me, “I just wish he was still here.”  I do too.

 

Our “normal” Bible class time is on Monday night.  From the time we pick up the kids, have our class and take them back home, we’ve spent a maximum of two hours with them.  We have two hours a week with these children.  Our message, the gospel and the love of Christ, is competing with all the other “messages” they get during the week.  They are inundated with information from parents, friends, school, television, etc.  We have to push through all of that and hope that the gospel penetrates their little hearts before they are hardened by the world. 

 

There have been many Monday nights that I’ve headed home with my heart broken into a thousand pieces because of the stories they tell.  On other nights their behavior is so bad that I leave thinking, “I can’t do this anymore.  I can’t do this.  I can’t do this.”  I’ve driven home with tears streaming down my cheeks because I just don’t know what to do.  Sometimes it seems we’ve made no progress at all.  I’ve driven home asking God, “What is the purpose in all this? What are we supposed to be doing with these kids?”  So many times I want to just give up and quit.  Thankfully, somehow, someway God always brings me back to the broken place in my heart where I am so in love with these children.  I want nothing more than to be a small light in the dark world in which they live.  At the age of nine or ten years old they are already beaten down by the world.  They are living out the consequences of the bad choices their parents have made.  That is the hardest part for me.  These kids could have better lives if only their parents made better choices.  That nine year old boy might have his dad if his dad had never taken that first drink or smoked that first cigarette!

 

Ultimately all we can do is to continue to tell them the greatest story they will ever hear.  Hopefully the details of that story will weave into the details of their story.  I know for sure that I have to keep loving them and speaking God’s Word to them.  His Word and His Story never return void. 

 

One of my co-workers in this ministry said just last night, “if only one of these children is saved, our ministry will have been a huge success.”  Amen!

“And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.” 

 

--Galatians 6:9

Hey, That's Not Fair!

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Editor's Note:
I would like to apologize to you, our loyal readers, for our absence in the month of July.  It was entirely my fault.  As we know, to everything there is a season and, apparently, July is not the season for keeping up with a blog - at least not for me.  As the days cool and life settles back into it's rhythm, I hope, with help of my amazing co-writers, to bring you more regular updates and additional improvements that we may all further glorify our Lord. ~ E.A.
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I do not know what to write. Those who know me, know that things roll around my head a long time and I preach to myself all day long. Now, thanks to this blog, I not only preach to myself, but to you as well. :) It is a good challenge have an outlet for the things I’m trying to get into my head/heart. By writing this, I invite you to take the journey with me.

I will paraphrase a question that was recently asked pertaining to marriage. “How do you not let your spouses faults get under your skin?” or “How can I learn not to bear a grudge when they violate MY standard of living?” or “When is service to my spouse just too much to bear?” All three questions are really variations on one theme. I will confess that I am not perfect in this area, but God’s word is perfect and so through it we can have the direction we need(2 Tim 3:16-17).To begin, we must realize that life is not fair. Nope, the Creator of the world living here on Earth in a perfect manner and being killed for my sin is not fair (Phillipians 2:6-8). Jesus endured trickery, lies, beating, mocking, head wagging, and even slow, painful death by those who claim to love God when He could have stopped it. Simply put, God’s grace isn’t fair. 

Did you know that we aren’t called to be fair? We are called to present our bodies as a living sacrifice (Romans 12:1). We are called to love. Now that we have our eyes on Jesus, we’ll have the perspective necessary to answer the question in a right way, one that brings honor to our Lord. 

Let’s rephrase the question. “What are we not willing to joyfully bear in order to bring glory to God?” A spouse who lets the grass grow too long? One that doesn’t pick up his shoes? One that expects us to bag a lunch for them day after endless day? After the burden that Christ lifted off our shoulders any burden we bear for others is light in comparison. Did He not wash the dirty feet of a dozen men to teach us a lesson about servitude? You see, when we stand on our “rights” and declare that it’s just too much for us, that we don’t deserve to be treated with such disrespect and we’re not going to put up with it any longer, we are not being poor in spirit. In fact, we are making ourselves greater than Christ. When we complain to ourselves and to others because our spouse walks on our freshly mopped floors with muddy shoes, we are making ourselves greater than Christ. He never once complained during His suffering.

Who was made for whom? Often, when I am frustrated with my spouse, it’s because I forget our roles. I expect him to support my whims, goals, dreams, expectations, and lifestyle when my role from creation has been to be his helper (Genesis 2:18).

Other times my frustration is from the unbiblical notion that marriage should be 50/50. I tend to look at my 50% and wondering why he isn’t helping me with it. But, Colossians 3:23-24 tells me “Whatsoever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.” If I am only putting 50% into my marriage, then I am only giving the Lord 50%.

Ideally, Christians marry each other and help each other grow closer to God causing them to grow closer to one another. They are gentle, patient, kind, loving, and submissive to one another. But, sometimes we live outside of the ideal. Sometimes a spouse drifts from the Lord causing a tremendous schism between husband and wife (2 Corinthians 6:15). Then what? 1 Peter 2:19+ offers this help “For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly… For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in His steps… He himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.” It is through remembering what God has done for us that we can humble ourselves and endure injustice. The good news is that we don’t put up with it forever. We are “children…heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him…the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed in us.” (Romans 8:17+) I can’t think of a better ending than that!

I’ve got a LONG way to go in this area, but now that I know God’s expectations and that He can give me the ability to carry out His will, I’m ready to change direction.