Joshua, Caleb, and I sat on their bed the other night as we were preparing for them to go to sleep. I knew that some older boys on the bus had been calling them names and aggravating them, so I wanted to see how they were dealing with it. After talking with them, I discovered it wasn’t the older kids picking on them, it was a boy their age. Joshua and Caleb were upset because this young man would not listen to them as they told him about Jesus and God.

Who knows how five year olds explain the great truths of the Scriptures, but the other boy put his hands over his ears, shook his head, and said, “I’m not listening, I’m not listening, I’m not listening.” My sons of thunder were upset that there was a person who would not listen to the stories of Jesus. It upset them that their friend did not know Him.

So I am praying for another night to sit on the bed with my boys and discuss not only that we need to tell others of Him, but that we should do it with “gentleness and respect.”

Perhaps we will look at 1 Peter 3:15-16 “But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, ¹⁶keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. ¹⁷It is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.”

I believe that one of the ways maturity shows itself is that a person realizes some things about themselves and accepts them as fact. Can people change, absolutely – but they have to be willing to accept the facts as they stand. For example, math has never been my strong point – can that change? Sure, but I’m not in that big of a hurry to sign up for a calculus class any time soon! Also, I have always admired people who run marathons, but I have no desire to put in hours and hours every week, to prepare for the race. I prefer to use my time doing other things (which usually involve potato chips or French fries).

Which leads us to my point, discipline is something that is difficult and requires commitment. You become like what ever you are committed to. If you run eventually you will look and act like a runner (beyond a sweat suit and shoes). If you take enough classes and do your homework, you will have a degree of math proficiency.

So at age 33, I realize that I am maturing (whether I like it or not). I have chosen to follow a certain life course. I have chosen a certain lifestyle, to be a certain kind of father, person, etc.. and the Lord has blessed me. Sometimes the decisions have been good and sometimes not so good. I realize that I will more than likely will never be president of the United States, fly in outer space, or shoot spider webs out of my hands as a super hero. And you know what? – I’m ok with that. God has blessed me and I am happy with my life.

I gave Hannah-Grace a set of play make-up for her last birthday. So from time to time she will ask to get it out, and last night was one of those times. We went through the routine of putting make-up on her eyes, lips, blush on her cheeks, etc.. We even painted her finger nails and toe nails. To end our time there was a little red heart that we stuck to her cheek.

About the time I was planning to be finished, Joshua asked if he could put make-up on her as well, and then Caleb joined the fun. Kimberly and I got to talking about another issue and before we knew it, several minutes had passed. We looked back and we saw their creation – vow-la! With two boys who have a little sister who is willing to go along with some crazy plans, you have to stay on top of things.

I just finished reading Thom Rainer and Eric Geiger’s book Simple Church. It’s premise is that the reason why many churches are stagnant or declining is because they have allowed themselves to become too complicated thereby focus is diffused and effort is scattered in opposite directions. They and their group officially studied various churches and discovered that those churches that were vibrant (their word) had a simplified structure for making disciples.

Usually, I know if I am going to like a book and get anything from it in the first 30-50 pages. I knew I needed to read this book after the first few pages! The first chapter begins with an illustration of a pastor named Rush who is returning from a conference. It describes his week, and it is blow by blow very similar to mine. I said to myself, “dude, that’s me!” These gentlemen go on to describe the process for how a church can simply its’ structure in order to more effectively make disciples. If you are a church leader it is a must read, and our whole team will be reading it real soon.

I mention this because I try to make it a discipline to read regularly. I have found that when I am struggling through specific issues and need to address some things, God will bring a book at just the right time. There have also been some times (as I look back) that as I have preached through the Bible, the right Scripture has come at just the right time, to deal with a very specific issue. I didn’t plan it that way, God did. People have also come up to me and asked how I knew they were doing something, or going through something, that I would choose to preach to that particular issue. I was just preaching through the Bible, and God worked out the timing. As a church we fall into the category of “vibrant” but definitely have some things we need to tweak. This book coming to my attention now, is a God send.