Archive for March 6th, 2008

There are some things that are so difficult for me to do that I would rather stick a pencil in my eye than try to change my behavior because it is so foreign to my nature.  I am going to pull a “JB” (said in love of course) today and write about something that I heard this morning and was strongly convicted about for my own life, but I feel that there may be others that could benefit from the same knowledge as well.  Now my conviction has to do with my children, but for others it might be the way you deal with other people or even how you deal with your spouse.  And this applies to not only pastors but also ministry team leaders, moms, dads, married couples, and singles. 

It overall is a concept from the bible that should be encouraging and comforting all at the same time.  However that being said, obviously this will be from my own heart and my point of view.

As I think back through the wars that have happened in our countries history there are several stories of our armies taking stands that either were fighting to keep a hill or fighting to take a hill.  Let me give a few quick examples and then tie this into what I learned today.  The first is example would be from the America Revolutionary War in 1775, it was the Battle of Bunker Hill. The battle was at the time considered to be an American defeat but has since been lifted to the ranks of a heroic stand against forces of oppression.   The Second example would be the Battle of Hamburger Hill.  This was a battle during the Vietnam War which was fought between the US and Vietnam in 1969. Although of little strategic value, the airborne troops took the hill through direct assault, causing extensive casualties to the PAVN forces, and also taking huge losses in their own units. The backlash due to the high casualties over a strategically unimportant point led to dramatic changes in the conduct of the war, and Hamburger Hill would be the last major US ground assault of the war. 

So from this we learn that there are hills that seem at the time like a loss but in the end are actually a victory and then hills at the time that seem like a victory but in hindsight were not maybe so.  I think these tie into our daily lives in that there are hills to stand and die for and others that in the right perspective are not that important.  As a parent I spend most of my time correcting, and not that this is a bad thing but at other times my children especially my oldest at 8 is trying to find her identity and who she is besides my daughter.  So my reaction to things is possibly not always the best way to react.  I think back to when I was finished with college and Krystal and I were married and we were trying to find a church.  We visited the Church that I grew up in and were never able to find our identity.  We were not Tyler and Krystal; we were Phil and Sherry’s son and daughter-in-law.  For her to simply follow my instruction to the letter without agreeing to the reasoning makes her a robot not a person, basically Tyler’s daughter not Kyra.  I should want her to take the instruction that I have given her to ultimately decide whether or not she agrees with it and find her own identity.  That being said as a parent you must have faith in the Lord to know that He is ultimately in control.  And when she is 20 years old and I have little influence into the choices that she makes, God does and will honor the teachings (as long as they are biblical)that we as parents give.  I again must trust that she will use what we as parents taught her and make the best decisions that she can.  All that being said to say this,  as our children grow we need to recognize as parents that we want nothing more than our children to consider us a safe place to talk and to bounce their thoughts as people off of us, so that we can still make some impact in guiding them.  If we take a stand on every hill that doesn’t really matter in the scheme of things then we are going to destroy that place.  We need to understand and rely on this scripture:

Exodus 14:14 (New American Standard Bible)
 14″ The LORD will fight for you while you keep silent.”

If your child is not following the letter of your law there are times to stand and fight and other times to let them find their way.  You must trust in the teaching that you have provided as well as most importantly remember that the Lord will fight for you while you are silent.   In those time of silence just keep trusting in the Lord and praying.  He will see it through far better that we ever could. 

God Bless ~ Tyler