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As I sit here right now and pray God speak the words through me with tact and love I do know this may not be a popular post today. I haven't even titled it (yet) as I am not sure how He will put down all these thoughts and I want to look back over it and even see something I hadn't thought of by the end. Let me give you fair warning that there will be illicit material written here today.
It is a Saturday morning cup of coffee in hand (yes decaf and organic fair trade) and I read all my emails, check the weather for the day, hang out in facebook land, check my bank account. I sigh and think okay what am I going to write about today. What has happened to me this week besides playing soccer at friends, grocery shopping, school, soap making, the orthodontist. Whoa the orthodontist! That's it!
Dalton has had braces on for about 3 years now, long story. He has a tooth that they are trying to coax little by little so we go every 3 weeks. Today we are sitting in the office waiting, a mother and child sit next to us and I hear her say to her son who looks like he is maybe 11. She is telling him, "I mean it, no more swastika's." I can only imagine what that is all about. In the back ground is the usual secular music playing. I can see the eyes rolling now. I can hear the chants oh my gosh she is that homeschool freak who guards her children's every move. Poor kids. I can see behind all that too and I know what is really going on but I won't speak it.
A few songs play that I remember and at times my foot is tapping along. Because I know I am in the world, I know my children also live in the world. I am not naive. I know they will always encounter secular music, dress, TV, you name it. I am not naive. I also know God has boundaries.
When He came to set us free it wasn't so we can be free to do whatever we want to do! He came to set us free to the truth. When He sets us free we can worship Him freely in spirit and truth. What have you attached to that freedom? How you dress? Where you go? What you watch? What you listen to? How you talk? This could be another Saturday. Let me transport you back to the orthodontist's office. Justin Timberlake's song is playing, Future Sex Love Sound. I told you I am not naive, I live in this world and though I do limit most secular entertainment I do know who and what is out there. Even as I go try to look up the lyrics to the song my cybersitter blocks the song. Wait a minute as I turn it off...this is a song I am NOT going to sit and listen to! This is NOT a song I will sit and let my young men listen to! This is NOT a song that should be playing in an orthodontist office where the majority of the patients are minors! This is NOT a song if you are my son's future wife want him to be listening too! This IS where I draw the line! I go up to the receptionists desk and quietly and politely say, " this song on the radio is about sex and I have 3 boys sitting here could you turn it or turn it off?" She says oh and turns the station. Now it is still secular, it is not much better but I am not naive and I know we have to live in this world. In a perfect world my child wouldn't have crooked teeth. Bet you thought I was going to say something else ;)
Yes I am nervous about saying something. No it is not easy as the room is filled with people who eyeball you and wonder what the big deal is about. Yes I am wondering in the back of my mind if they will write that in his charts that I asked for the music to be changed. Dalton walks through the doors, we make another appointment and leave. Sigh.
There are many other stories like that we have and are encountering. We have to respond, we can't be lazy in our diligence. You know from recent posts that my son Bryce loves cars. There is a generous gentleman we know who loves cars too. He collects a bag full of magazines and gives them to Bryce. Bryce knows they will be screened. You don't understand they have to be. The whole magazine will be about cars and the last 3 pages will be advertisements for hot girls, sex toys, want ads for men looking for women. Do I throw the whole thing out? No, I simply tear out the inappropriate sheets and hand him the magazine. Does he see me do this? Yes and I hope when he is an adult he will do the same.
I use to take Dalton to get his hair cut at a local shop. We homeshool so I can take him when we are done with school for the day but the schools are still in. We get in and out quick. Well, one day they were playing soap operas on the TV. And not just 1 TV, each station had a mini TV so each client could watch. So here is a 15 year old watching a soap opera. I have to say something. I simply ask them to turn the station and they politely turn the whole thing off. The next time we went in the new Katy Perry song I Kissed A Girl and Liked It came on. This is a horrific song! Dalton was in the chair so he had to endure it but me and the other 2 boys simply walked outside until it was over. Did we look weird? I am sure. Do I care? No. Did we go back there? Never.
Last summer I had plantar fasciitis and had to go to the doctor. The only time I could get in was during a time Tom was at work so the boys went with me. We sat in the waiting room. I will give you one guess as to what is on all hospital TVs.???? CNN. Oh boy. It was the time they were putting sex education in the school systems starting in kindergarten. Remember that last year? Of course they weren't being selective in their speech. It is a news program most children aren't watching. I make my way to the front desk and ask if I can change the channel. The receptionist says sure. I turn it and am called back. I am praying the whole time I am back there because I just left my 3 sons sitting in a waiting room where I just turned the station and could not see the reactions. The boys later tell me the older *cough *cough gentleman hastily marched up to the TV and said what the *** did she do that for? What did the boys do? They moved. They moved to seats that did not face the TV. Prayer works! Would they had done that if we hadn't shown them it is worth the risk to try and remain pure? I am not so sure. It is so easy to be complacent and rest on that freedom thing.
I sat with them this morning and told them what I was going to blog about. I asked them what verses in the Bible could they remember or find that tells us how we should conduct our lives. Here is what they came up with.
Philippians 4:8 (English Standard Version)
8Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
Proverbs 1:10 (English Standard Version)
10My son, if sinners entice you,
do not consent.
Proverbs 4:24 (English Standard Version)
24Put away from you crooked speech,
and put devious talk far from you.
Proverbs 2:11 (English Standard Version)
11 discretion will watch over you,
understanding will guard you,
Proverbs 8:8 (English Standard Version)
8All the words of my mouth are righteous;
there is nothing twisted or crooked in them.
Proverbs 20:11 (English Standard Version)
11Even a child makes himself known by his acts,
by whether his conduct is pure and upright.
Matthew 10:16 (English Standard Version)
16 "Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.
In all these thing I am free!
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Like A Bubbling Brook
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Homemaker By Choice
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A Wise Woman Build Her Home
