KHATS 13 - Don't Scorn

My next challenge to you mothers in to never scorn or criticize anyone your child should respect...This may include, but is not limited to their sorry, good-for-nothing daddy, your pastor, police, or anyone in authority.  You may think the marked out words; but never speak them.  They will find out the truth about the deadbeats in their lives all too soon.  Let  Pray that God will do a work in their hearts and lives so that when the truth comes to the light they will accept it gracefully and desire better for themselves and their future family. 

I guess my mom's way of obeying this principle was to never speak of my dad.  I have encountered him only two or three times in my life.  (He has since passed away.)  I know very little about him; but the little I do know is not very favorable.  When I met my husband one of the things I looked for in him when I met him was if he would be a good father or not.  My husband is very good with kids.  I love that about him. 

In the case of this challenge the old saying works..."If you can't say anything nice; don't say anything at all."  In my experience when you criticize someone a person loves and respects, it makes that person loose respect for you - their opinion of the other party is rarely changed. 

Proverbs 18:21


Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.

Until next time,

So You Want To Win...

When I say Win a bus kid, I don't mean to lead them to the Lord as far as salvation is concerned; I am talking about keeping them in church through their teenage years and even through adulthood.  The things I plan to share are things that I believe won me.  They don't specifically apply to Black children; but I will address that for those of you who are in predominately White churches; but reach out to the Black community.

Tip #1
Remember that not every kid that that comes on the bus will serve God.  Do your best to share with them about salvation; but realize that most of those kids we pick up today but we don't even know where to find them tomorrow.

Tip #2
Look for a child that seems really hungry for the Word of God and start praying specifically for them.  It really sends chills down my spine when I think that I might be the only person praying for that child and their family.  Note:  It is important to realize that praying for their family is vital as well.  Several members of my family have been saved since I have been in church; to be honest it really all began with my Grandma.  She was the first to attend Windsor Hills and commit her life to Christ.  She gave our address to her bus captain, who gave it to the bus director, who gave it to the Jackson's, who visited us and invited my whole family to church.

Tip #3
Once you have selected a faithful child and have begun to faithfully pray for them; make sure they attend at least two out of three services a week.  This is VERY important.  I don't know any serious Christian who ever did anything for God that only attended church once a week.  I would add that I think it is important that the child ride to church in a car, rather than a bus, for at least one of the services.  This gives the child (and their family) the opportunity to see faces other than those who work on the bus.  In my situation, my mom became good friends with several people in our church.  She knew that their was a whole host of folks who cared about me and my family other than just the bus workers.  She often cooked for them on the holidays to show her appreciation for them transporting me and my siblings to church and caring for us.

To be continued....

Until next time,

Confession #3 - Afraid

This confession may be a little bizarre; but I don't like dealing with children at the altar.  So many people, myself included, have the testimony that they prayed when they were a child; but doubted and had to pray again later to be sure they were saved.  Well, like it or not; I am the first altar worker my husband calls on when a child or young lady raises their hand for salvation. 

The Sunday evening before last we had a little visitor in church.  We have been praying for some time for a single mom that lives in Newport to come to our church and let the Lord do a work in her life.  She is a close friend of one of our faithful members and has visited before; and she is very friendly when we see her around town. Well, it was her little five year old daughter who came with a friend to our service last week.  I don't remember what my husband preached about; but at the end of the service he invited those who wanted to pray to be saved, as he always does.  I was sitting directly behind her and saw her raise her hand; but my husband didn't see her.  Well, she must have been really serious because after he prayed the closing prayer she walked right up to him and told him she wanted to be saved!  I dropped everything and took her to my Sunday school classroom and VERY CAREFULLY and with fear and trembling shared with her verses and explained the best I could about God's gift of salvation.  I asked her if she was a sinner- if she had ever done anything that was bad; and with a look of severe concentration on her face she confessed, "Yes."  I told her that she could ask Jesus to forgive her for any bad thing she has done and will ever do and he would forgive her and take her to Heaven when she died.  She understood that people who didn't pray for Jesus to save them went to Hell.  She very sincerely prayed to become a Christian. 

She left that room with a HUGE smile on her face and went and told her friend that she got saved!  What a blessing.  Now if we could just get her mom and dad (and step mom) to understand that they need Jesus too!

Matthew 18:3
And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Until next time,