One of Those Parents....

Well, I've recently been learning a little about myself. Of course, God is teaching me this lesson through my oldest son Noah. A few weeks ago we were being stupid in the long run and running around the outside of the house in the dark after AWANA. For some reason Noah got a cramp, stumbled a bit, and his foot caught the edge of the driveway and went down, bracing himself with his left hand. Of course, he complained a bit about his arm hurting but we thought it was just the fall that got him. Well, after going to school the next day Traci got a call from the school and he was having problems with pain.

Thankfully, I work for 4 Orthopaedic Surgeons and Dr. Shine was willing to see Noah here in the office that afternoon. After an x-ray it was found that his wrist was broken, which I would have never guessed based on looking at his arm. (Dr. Shine says that is why we have the expensive equipment - which I understand!) So, Noah was casted and sent on his way.

The next week Noah was here for a checkup on the wrist and it was found that the cast alone wasn't enough and he needed surgery the next day. So, we rearranged our schedules and worked it out for family obligations to be taken care of while Noah had the surgery. Thankfully so far things are looking good and we'll find out tomorrow if a second surgery will be needed for pinning, or if it's healing on it's own.

Now, you may be asking what I have learned, other than the expensive x-ray equipment is much better than just looking at someone's arm. Well, I learned what it's like to be a parent of a child who plays sports and is injured. I've been here at Access Ortho 3 1/2 years and I've seen time and time again parents almost forcing the doctors to allow their kids to play their sport for this reason or that. I never understood what it was like to be the parent, always thinking that the long term health of the kid was worth more than that individual game.

Well, now I get the mindset of "those parents". You see, Noah has had a great year when it comes to sports. His team won the championship in baseball for their division, and at the time of the injury his team was tied for first in his soccer division as well. They were tied with the other top team and Noah was scoring a good number of goals and really striving to better himself at every game. He was a leader on his team often positioning other players while on the field and setting up others for goals when he couldn't get there himself. It was so much fun to watch. Then, with one fall all of that stopped for us.

You see, I was watching my oldest son take on a lot of responsibility and want to drive his team to first place. That is addictive, and his desire and enthusiasm was contagious for us as parents. So, when I heard that all of a sudden he can't play any sports for 6-8 weeks I think I was as hurt by that as Noah was/is. It's been hard as now we can't play catch with the football outside or baseball, soccer, etc. He still had the desire to go and root on his team and try to make his teammates better. He wanted to be there because he was a part of the team. Yet, it was hard for me to watch the games knowing that he had to sit on the sidelines. And now I wonder when/if he'll be able to play basketball this year.

So, in conclusion to what I learned, I've learned not to judge others as you don't know their motivations. I was never overly critical of "those parents" but wondered what drove them to the decision they were making. God has taught me through this what it's like to be in that same type of situation and now have the same feelings as those parents. I can't imagine what it would be like if my kids were being scouted by colleges when they were in High School, etc. I've learned that if you are not in someone else's shoes it's really going to be hard to totally relate to what is going on with their lives. I'm sure this lesson will help me to relate in other areas of my life as well.

What is a relationship?

I recently heard a stat that 70% of today’s American youth don’t know how to define what a relationship is! Another staggering stat is that 80% of American church attendees don’t know what it means to have a relationship with Christ. No wonder we can’t spread the importance of this to the masses when some of our own people have no idea what it means to have the relationship that we all should be seeking.

More that ever it is going to be important for us who do have the relationship with Christ to now become examples to the world. We need to show them that there is more to this “thing” we all have than just showing up to church or reading our Bibles every day. They need to not only be shown by our day-to-day walk, but also taught why it’s important and how they can get their piece of the pie. We have to be outgoing and willing to explain ourselves. This has to be more than you and I “playing church” on Sundays. This has to be more than us doing what we do in our homes behind closed doors. We have to be willing to go and make disciples – which really is what we’re called to do!

My question to you is this: Are you ready? It’s not going to be easy and there are going to be lots of hurdles to get past along the way. Do you trust God enough to take the leap of faith and be that example to others about Him? We know you can live for Him and have that relationship, now show others what a relationship with Him can do in their lives

What If?

What if two and a half years ago you decided to stop doing your daily devotions or going to church, knowing that some day you’d come back to it again.

What if two years ago you started a relationship with someone of the opposite sex even though you were married.

What if three months into that relationship your spouse found out, and three months after that the divorce was finalized.

What if six months after that the “other person” decided to leave you.

What if three months after that your kids decided they didn’t want to talk to you any more.

What if today you were working on a project involving power tools and had an accident.

What if you died there all alone in your workshop as there was no one there to hear your cries for help.

Now, what if instead, two and a half years ago you decided to fight back against the Devil and increase your time in His Word.

What if you strengthened your marriage by suggesting to pray with your spouse instead of spending time apart.

What if you spent time with your children playing and teaching them about God.

What happens if you have that accident now….

Every day we are attacked by the Devil one way or another. He tells us that skipping a day of our devotions isn’t a big deal. He tells us that we don’t need to build relationships with our spouse, our children, or our extended families. He tells us that this one day won’t be a big deal and that we can pick it up another time.

What do you think now, is it a big deal? What if you spent more time with God the next time you were attacked? What if you spent more time praying and worshiping Him who deserves our adoration? What would your life be like now?

Sure this may not happen to most of you reading this, but what if something like this did happen? What if you stopped spending time with God on a daily basis? What if.....

Worship

So, what is worship exactly? We talk about it a lot in the music we listen to, the songs that we sing, the studies that we do, and the messages that we hear. Yet, do you really know what worship is?

Let’s look it up in Webster’s dictionary, shall we?

Main Entry: 1wor·ship
Pronunciation: \ˈwər-shəp also ˈwȯr-\
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English worshipe worthiness, respect, reverence paid to a divine being, from Old English weorthscipe worthiness, respect, from weorth worthy, worth + -scipe -ship
Date: before 12th century
1 chiefly British : a person of importance —used as a title for various officials (as magistrates and some mayors)2 : reverence offered a divine being or supernatural power; also : an act of expressing such reverence3 : a form of religious practice with its creed and ritual4 : extravagant respect or admiration for or devotion to an object of esteem <worship of the dollar>

Well, I’m sure that helped clear things up for everyone, right? Ok, maybe not, so lets look it up in a thesaurus as well:

Function: noun
Meaning: excessive admiration of or devotion to a person
Synonyms adulation, deification, idolatry, idolization, worshipping (also worshiping)
Related Words adoration, deference, glorification, reverence, veneration; idealization, romanticization; affection, fancy, favor, fondness, like, liking, love; appreciation, esteem, regard, respect; approval
Near Antonyms condemnation, disapproval, disfavor, dislike, dismissal, disregard, hatred, loathing, scorn

Now I’m sure we all have it, right? What do you mean that those responses aren’t exactly how you feel about it? Well, I think that can easily be explained, read on:

Worship for me is something deeply personal. It’s probably different for everyone, and how you get to that point is also probably very different. For me I can get into deep worship with the right music in no time. I listen to the words of the songs I am hearing and can very easily feel God’s presence. To me that is what worship is all about, finding God and showing Him my appreciation for all that he’s done for me. I’m not one who will be outwardly showing that, but deep inside I’m screaming for Him. I know other people are quick to throw up their hands, sing loudly, clap, pray in tongues, etc. All of the above is approved by God as He just wants to have that relationship with Him.

How do you get into worship? How do you connect with God on a daily basis? Not only should we pray daily, but also spend time in worship and connecting with Him in every level that we can. The more we connect with Him, the less chance the world has to get in the way. Have you worshipped Him lately?