Children

This morning I am thinking of my son who is in his forties and in Jail. The call came to bail him out. It would be an extreme hardship to try and bail him out. As a parent, we want to. Sometimes as we pray for wayward children, we need to realize that perhaps this is God trying to get his attention. Sometimes as parents we tend to bail our kids out of trouble until the trouble becomes so big that we cannot rescue them anymore. A second DUI in Washington State is a big deal. As I read on the internet it may require a minimum of 30 days in jail. It may require a $1100 plus up to $5000 fine. It was as I understand a $2000 cash bond. If this is God trying to work in his life and get his attention, I do not want to stand in God's way. Sometimes love is tough love and perhaps it is hard for parents to just stand back and let children suffer the consequences for their actions. Sometimes I don't feel like a good parent when I stand back and let the consequences for an ungodly life style happen. I often think of Asia, a fatherless child in Tacoma that I tried to help and there came a point I felt I needed to stand back and let consequences for a sinful lifestyle happen. I continue to pray and wonder did I do the right thing. I know the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much as scripture tells us. Sometimes just praying feels like doing nothing and we want to do something. At this point all I can do is pray for God to intervene in a life that is following a worldly path and ask God to knock on a hearts door and bring them into relationship. I wish they knew the God I know, a present help in trouble. There is nothing to hard for God. ‘Ah, Lord GOD! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you. Jeremiah 32:17. “Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me? Jeremiah 32:27.  Enjoy prosperity while you can, but when hard times strike, realize that both come from God. Remember that nothing is certain in this life. Ecclesiates 7:14. Nothing is too hard for God, and that last verse says to realize that even hardship can come from God. It can have a correcting influence on our life when we go through hard times. I have experienced hard times that corrected behavior. I remember I 2001 when I had 4 traffic tickets and one accident, and my license was suspended. In order to drive I had to get SR22 insurance for three years. I remember checking how much my insurance would cost me if I had full coverage. I wanted to by a new car with payments. When I checked with the insurance carrier, I found my insurance would have been $430 a month. It would have been more than the car payment. I stuck with old used cars and liability insurance until I could do better. That hard time had a correcting influence on my life and I do feel it was sent from God to make a course correction in my life.  God bless, LVZ.