The Guest
Author Unknown
A few months before I was born, my dad met a stranger who was new to our small Tennessee town. From the beginning, Dad was fascinated with this enchanting newcomer and soon invited him to live with our family. The stranger was quickly accepted and was around to welcome me into the world a few months later.
As I grew up, I never questioned his place in our family. Mom taught me to love the Word of God. Dad taught me to obey it. But the stranger was our storyteller. He could weave the most fascinating tales. Adventures, mysteries and comedies were daily conversations. He could hold our whole family spellbound for hours each evening.
He was like a friend to the whole family. He took Dad, Bill and me to our first major league baseball game. He was always encouraging us to see the movies, and he even made arrangements to introduce us to several movie stars. The stranger was an incessant talker. Dad didn’t seem to mind but sometimes Mom would quietly get up—while the rest of us were enthralled with one of his stories of faraway places—and go to her room and read her Bible and pray. I wonder now if she ever prayed that the stranger would leave. My Dad ruled our household with certain moral convictions. But this stranger never felt an obligation to honor them.
Profanity was not allowed in our house—not from us, our friends, or adults. Our longtime visitor, however, used occasional four-letter words that burned my ears and made Dad squirm. To my knowledge, the stranger was never confronted. Dad didn’t permit alcohol in his home. But the stranger enlightened us to other ways of life. He often offered us beer and other alcoholic beverages. He made cigarettes look tasty, cigars manly, and pipes distinguished.
He talked freely about sex. His comments were sometimes blatant, sometimes suggestive, and generally embarrassing. I know now that my early concepts of the man/woman relationship were influenced by the stranger.
I believe it was only by the grace of God the stranger did not influence us even more. Time after time he opposed my parents’ values. Yet he was seldom rebuked and never asked to leave. More than thirty years have passed since the stranger moved in with the young family on Morningside Drive.
But if I were to walk into my parents’ home today, I would still see him sitting over in a corner, waiting for someone to listen to him talk and watch him draw his pictures. His name? We always called him TV.
Teaching Our Kids about life through Noah and the Ark
Genesis 6
A. Plan ahead. It wasn’t raining when Noah built
the ark.
We plan ahead in so many other areas-
Christmas shopping in July
Retirement accounts
Day timers and calendars
Are we planning ahead spiritually?
B. Stay fit. You never know when someone might ask
you to do something really big.
Today’s young people are the most obese
generation of young people. They spend far too
many hours sitting in front of a television or a
computer.
We need to be physically fit as well as
spiritually.
“for physical training is of some value….but
spiritual training…”
C. Don’t listen to critics- do what has to be done.
Live not to please the crowd or even parents…but
only to please Jesus.
D. Build on high ground.
Higher standards for them. You get what you
expect from them.
If we expect great things from our kids, we will
get great things.
The parable of the wise builder and the foolish
builder make this clear.
E. For safety’s sake, travel in pairs.
The most important relationship in life is with
Jesus Christ.
We shouldn’t go anywhere without him.
Friendships are important too. We must stick
close with other Christians.
F. Don’t forget, we’re all in the same boat.
Do people see the church today as a unified body
of Christ?
Do they see church as a place where everyone
fights?
Or do they look at all the different
Denominations and shake their head?
Instead of focusing on our differences and
pointing fingers at one another, perhaps we need
to spend more time in His Word discovering the
truth, and more time loving one another because
of the one person we have in common, Jesus Christ.
G. Remember the ark was built by amateurs and the
Titanic was built by professionals.
When our kids go off to college they will face
the belief that we are smart enough and talented
enough we don’t need God.
They need to see the power of God in our lives.
If young people don’t see our faith lived out in
our lives, they won’t accept it as real.
H. Don’t miss the boat.
Many parents know their kids grade point average,
our how many points a game they score. But how
many parents know what their kids relationship
with Jesus is like?
The most important thing we can do as parents is
to prepare our children to love Jesus and prepare
to spend an eternity with him.
I. No matter how bleak it looks, if God is with you,
there’s always a rainbow on the other side.
If they trust God, they will never be alone.
Wooden ark saved Noah and his family.
Wooden cross saves us.
Do you need to come to the cross today and be saved?
The Bible is clear what you and I need to do:
Beleive (John 3:16)
Confess Christ (Matthew 10:32)
Repent (Acts 3:19)
Be Immersed (Acts 2:38)
Life for Christ (Rev. 2:10)
