The verse that has been on my heart the past two days comes from Psalm 119:11. It is a very familiar verse, and the Psalmist does reflect the verse upon himself. However, I can’t help but apply it to the wonderful ministry I have seen the past two days. This wonderful verse says, “Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You!” As parents our primary responsibility is to teach God’s truth to our children. We are to make sure that they don’t just know the stories, but the ONE behind the stories. We must make sure that there is not just head knowledge, but heart knowledge. The lessons we share and teach must move past mere mental comprehension to life transformation.

I believe that the best way to accomplish this tremendous task is by hiding God’s word in the hearts of our children.  It is by living our the truth of the lessons we teach in front of them every day.  In Deuteronomy 6:4-9 God says -

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one!
⁵ You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.
⁶ “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart.
⁷ You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.
⁸ You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.
⁹ You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”

This passage tells us as parents of the responsibility that we have of living a life before our children that not only teaches, but reinforces, the truth of God’s Word. It speaks of the awesome obligation that we have of showing our children what it really means to love the Lord with all of our heart, soul and strength. These are the “life lessons” that we should be teaching to our children.

So, with this in mind, how can we hide God’s word in the young hearts of our children? What are some simple and fun ways of making sure that they “get it” when it comes to their relationship with God and His Word? Well, after we got home last night from the AWANA workers banquet, Kim and I began to discuss some ways that we have used – and some we haven’t yet – to teach about God and the truth of Scripture to our three children.

Here are just a few simple suggestions on how to hide God’s Word in the hearts of your young children. You can help hide God’s Word in your children’s hearts by:

* Regular family devotions.

* Learning and singing Bible songs.

* Scripture memory.

* Application by observation.

* Ministries such as AWANA and Sunday School.

* Watching Biblical movies and cartoons.

* Reading Bible stories together.

* Handling tough times with grace and faith.

* Prayers before meals.

* Being faithful to church.

* Discussing the sermon together after church.

*  Showing that you have a real, daily walk with God.

These are just a few, simple suggestions on how to hide the truth of the Word of God and a love for the God of the Word in the hearts of your children.

What other ways have you used to accomplish this awesome task as a parent?

“Blessed are the meek, For they shall inherit the earth.” Matthew 5:5

There is a meekness that will not inherit anything. There are two types of calmness that can be found in this world. There is the calmness that is found in a stale, stagnant pond, and that which is found in the depths of the mighty sea. One is quiet because it doesn’t have anything to say. The other is so because it keeps itself from speaking. That is the greatness and glory of the latter. It is a meekness that remains silent, not because it is empty, but because of the fact that its depths are full.

Why is it that I love and admire the gentleness of Jesus so? There are countless thousands of silent souls in the world who do not strive or struggle or strain, but I do not call or consider them to be divine. So, why has the gentleness of Jesus made Him so great and glorious to me? It is because of the fact that in Him I find the stillness and quiet calm of His creation. It is a quietness that doesn’t exist because it has to or needs to, but because it chooses to do so.

I know that His beautiful sky could begin to frown and thunder and crack and send lightening down on this earth if He so chose, but I am thankful for the gift of a quiet, calm, beautiful day. Yet, even in the midst of a cloudless sky I understand that beneath the sky’s silent surface  there are depths of countless unspeakable voices, feelings that are unfathomable and powers that are beyond measure. I know by instinct that no man takes His life from Him, but that He and He alone has the power to lay it down - and take it up again. I know that if He so chose He could call ten thousand angels to make Gethsemane into Sinai. He could change the calm into a tremendous storm and I respect and revere such strength that will not do what it could do so easily and immediately.

I bow before the might of the Lord’s meekness. I stand in absolute amazement in the presence of the One who is so mighty that He could empty Himself of His might. He is more wonderful while hanging on the cross than even when wearing His crown, for He is greater because of what He laid aside than what He possessed. His glory is His shame. His majesty is the surrender of Himself. His royalty is found in His service. His power to rule come from His power to bear. He is the head over the whole body of humanity, for that reason He took all of the pains of all of its members and opened not His mouth. His gentleness has made Him great and His meekness has inherited the earth.

I don’t know about you, but that’s the kind of joy I want to have in the presence of God – “the joy of harvest.”  But, what exactly is the joy of harvest? It is a joy that comes from resurrection. It is not a joy that comes from getting something new. It is the tremendous satisfaction in seeing those things that have been buried come bursting from the ground. It is seeing dead things rise. There is no other joy that can compare to that reality.

It means more than just being lifted from my problems. You see, being lifted from the miry clay or rescued from the pit is a good thing, but it is not the best thing. The best thing would be discovering gold in the miry clay or oil in the bottom of the pit. Likewise, to be delivered from my past is good, but to have my past redeemed and be able to say, “It was good for me that I have been afflicted” is even better.

When I think of all that Job lost and had restored I don’t think that his was a complete compensation. Sure, he was healed from his disease. His home and lands and flocks and family was restored. It was joy, but it wasn’t a harvest of joy because it didn’t say why there had been the years of famine. It couldn’t give back the time that was lost. It didn’t explain why the night of his soul had come. You may say, “The night is long gone, the day is at hand and everything is now fine and well” but that’s not enough. I want to know – to be able to hear the songs in the night for myself. I want to find that I haven’t been wasting my time. I want to be assured that the time I spent in the desert brought me that many days closer to the promised land. I want the joy that comes from the harvest of buried seed, for that is the joy that is found in the harvest.

The Bible says that Jesus came “to seek and to save that which was lost” – those that were dead and buried. He alone can retrieve my yesterday. Some may offer new gardens, but only He remembers the treasure that was hidden beneath the old ground. Only Jesus can give me back my past, restore the wastelands of my heart and teach me to walk a road I believed impassable. Christ alone can show me the angel sitting on the tombstone of my buried life, reveal to me the truth that the One I wrestled at Peniel was from Heaven or let me see the beauty that hovered over my pillow of stone. It is only He who can show me that there was manna in my desert that was better than anything Canaan had to offer. It is only then that there will be in my heart a resurrection, a harvest of joy as my buried past is gathered together. That’s when my heart will be lifted and satisfied as I see that my soul’s travail was indeed autumn’s gain. I view my beautiful mountain from the vantage point of my previous valley. For, you see, the joy of the harvest is really the joy of redeeming love.

As the the father of a very young family I want to make sure that my children learn to honor and express their love for their mom. I want them to learn by watching me honor and express my love for my mother, as well as their mother. I want to show them simple ways of expressing their love, appreciation and respect for their mom.

I know that we live in a very materialistic world, and some may think that the only way to show love and appreciation is through some kind of expensive, extravagant gift. But, I think that the best gifts are those that come from the heart to touch the heart. I believe that mom’s appreciate a gift that is intended to make memories more than one that has a lot of “bling.”

So, with that in mind let me share a few suggestions on how to make memories on Mother’s Day – or even better, on any day.

* Make a card for your mom, and write three things that you love or appreciate most about her.

* Hug your mom and tell her how much you love her.

* Make a bookmark and then put it in a book that she’s reading.

* Wake her up with “breakfast in bed.”

* Leave her little “Thank You” notes in unexpected places.

* Write a song or a poem telling her how much she means to you.

* Offer to do things around the house that are no on your “To Do List.”

* Make an arrangement of fresh cut flowers.

* Cut out pictures from magazines and make a collage of things that she likes to do.

* Hug her and tell her you love her.

* Ask her to tell you about some of her favorite memories.

* Fix a plate of chocolate covered strawberries.

* Make her a “Memory Book” of some of the experiences you’ve shared together.

* Bake some cookies and decorate them with expressions of love.

* Pray for her every day.

These are just some simple examples of how to express your love and appreciation for your mom. However, nothing beats telling her each and every day just how much you love her.

“Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted.” Matthew 5:4

Does Jesus mean that those who sorrow most will be the most blessed? No doubt this was a strange and foreign thought to fall on the ears of His disciples. They believed that the only kind of blessing was that which came from the world and was evidenced by being clothed in purple and fine linen and faring sumptuously every day. They thought that a man who was stricken with sorrow must be smitten and afflicted by God. So, it must have been a very surprising and startling thing to hear Jesus say, “Blessed are those who mourn…”.

What then is the kind of mourning that the Master is speaking of in this verse? It is worldly unrest. It is the inability to be content with the things of this life. Jesus says that our very unrest is itself an indication of our position; it shows that we are above our surroundings.

Why do I starve in the midst of the pig’s pods? It is because they are pig’s pods. They were made for creatures that are lower than I. If they had been my natural food I wouldn’t starve, because the pigs don’t hunger when they are in the trough. It is because my home is higher that I am can not be satisfied by the things of this world. It is because the far country is so far from my nature that I am in want whenever I wander there.

My famine is my greatest comfort. It is the promise of my immortality. It says that this world does not exhaust the powers of my being because it can not even measure up to their current requirements. It says to me that my wishes outrun my abilities, pointing to the fact that they will be enlarged in eternity. The famine is the shoot; it predicts the blooming of new blossoms from the soil of my soul. It points out that there are treasures buried deep in this world that await another light to reveal them. My spiritual unrest is a promise of summer’s approach.

I thank Jesus for His divine dissatisfaction! His peace comes out of dispeace. The unrest He brings is a harbinger of a higher and holy calm. Like the fluttering of little wings that come within sight of the nest, my blessed hope comes from the sight of Him.

To be “poor in spirit” seems a really strange goal for me to seek to attain. However, while it might at first appear to be easy and unheroic, it is actually one of the most difficult and heroic things in the world. You see, while it may be easy to be poor spiritually, that is really not the same thing as being poor in spirit.

Only those who are truly rich spiritually can can be poor in spirit, for to be poor in spirit means that I am aware of the fact that I am nothing and have nothing. Before I can have that conscious awareness I must have begun to be something. Isn’t it only as I begin to know my true state that my ignorance begins to be revealed to me? Isn’t the fact of my own sinfulness made apparent as I look on the One who is infinitely pure and holy?

A heart that is dead is totally unaware of its deadness. That’s why it is only in that moment when I fall under the weight of my own spiritual sickness that I first learn of my overwhelming weakness. The closer that I draw to Christ the more that I realize just how far off I follow Him. My humility rises with my revelation.

When I was a young child I wanted to reach up and grab the sun, but it was when I learned the laws of creation that I became poor in spirit. My knowledge of God works in much the same way. As long as I am apart from Him, away from Him, I am satisfied with myself. The reason for this is because I don’t have a standard by which to measure my fallen estate. However, when I draw near to Jesus, then I see myself as I truly am.

It is in the light of His holiness that I see my darkness. It is in His majesty that I measure my meanness. It is by His incorruption that I become conscious of my corruption. It is in the presence of His wealth that I come to grips with my poverty. In fact, my confession of sin is really the result of His holiness. It’s the dawning of His glorious light that reveals my utter darkness.

So, don’t say that being poor in spirit is something that is easy or unheroic. It is actually proof that heaven’s kingdom has come – “for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Don’t despair over the revelation of your nothingness, for this just proves that you have beheld a higher standard of measurement – the perfect measure of the stature of Jesus Christ. Gaze more and more on Jesus, for it is in the brightness of His beauty that you will begin to loath your own impurity. Then, in the blaze of glory that no human eye has seen you will fall at His feet and be lifted up – a new man in Him!

While Kim and I faced the move with delight and determination, it didn’t take us long to sense some of the struggles that our children were facing during the weeks that led up to the move, as well as on the actual moving day. We commented to each other on several occasions how Jack was acting out. He would get up in the middle of the night and wander through the house or get in bed with us, saying that he was too scared to sleep in his own bed. He began to backtalk and not obey when asked to do things around the house. In general, there was a melancholy, rebellious spirit that settled over him in the days leading up to our move.

Even since we’ve gotten moved into our new home I can still tell that Jack is not quite settled and sure in his new surroundings. While Kim and I are excited over the many new things of our life, it is evident that the “new” things are a little overwhelming for him. Even something as normal as going to church was a bit overwhelming for him last Wednesday night. I watched as he tentatively walked into the preschool wing and acted more withdrawn and quiet than he normally would.

Laura Kate also exhibited some unusual behavior during our move as well. There is no doubt that she is her daddy’s daughter and would often talk about how excited she was to be moving to Georgia and meeting all of her new friends. Like me, she’s never really met a stranger. It was odd, and a little concerning, then to hear about how when she spent a night or two with a close family friend while we got everything loaded up and moved she had a couple of accidents requiring her to have a change of clothes. This highly unusual happening was an obvious sign that even though she may not be showing it on the outside, on the inside there are some strong emotions and struggles taking place.

Last night while on our family walk, Kim and I talked about the fact that this is a time of year when many families will begin to go through the same process of moving. The school year is ending, jobs are opening and so everything has to be loaded into boxes, placed on trucks and shipped to a new city or state to begin a new season of life. For families with younger children this can be a very anxious, stressful and even frightening time.

If you’re a family facing a move, or know of somebody with young children who will be moving in the coming weeks or months, let me share a few simple ideas on how to comfort and care for your children during the moving process.

1. Make time for your children. Even though time may be in short supply during the moving process, your children are more important than moving boxes. Focus on them and show them extra attention.

2. Call in reinforcements. Enlist the help of family and friends who the children love and trust. This will help make sure that they don’t feel left out while your attention understandably has to be on packing boxes and loading trucks.

3. Keep it positive. Be excited about moving into a new house, making new friends, seeing new sights and going to new places. Let them know that this is going to be a fun time for them.

4. Have their rooms ready. If possible go ahead of your children and have their rooms set up when they arrive. Kim and I were blessed to have a family keep our two older children for a couple of extra days so that they could sleep in more familiar surroundings their first night in our new home.

5. Stay on schedule. Moving is one of the most stressful events a family will face. Often it is not just a change of location, but a complete disruption of a family’s normal routine. Do your best throughout the moving process to keep things as normal as possible. Make it a point to get up at the same time, go to bed at the same time, eat the same kind of food and in general keep things the same as possible.

6. Encourage through examples. Tell them the story of how Abraham had to move when God said, “Go.” Talk about a pastor or missionary they know who had to move to a new place to serve God. Help them understand that many times in our lives as Christians we will be called to move somewhere new – and that it’s okay.

7. Be patient and understanding. Moving is hard enough on us as adults. It is even harder on the young hearts and minds of children. Things will not get back to normal overnight, but determine today to love, nurture and display extra affection to them throughout the moving process and the weeks that follow.

Moving is no doubt a very trying time in the life of a family, but it also is a great opportunity to grow closer to each other and spend more time with each other than ever before. Look at it as a great opportunity and trust God to use it for His glory in your family’s life.