It's OK to Say "No"

I was the guest speaker yesterday morning at First Presbyterian Day School's mother/daughter breakfast. I always enjoy doing those kind of events because it gives me a chance to think of how I'll be when my own girls will be old enough to participate in something like that. I told the moms that it is "ok" to say no to their daughters and the many times I was told "no" when I was growing up.

I remember when I was in high school, pagers were all the rage. Everyone had one, except me. I don't know what the big deal was with a pager, but I just wanted one. So I went to my daddy and made my plea. "I need a pager so if you ever need to find me, you'll know how to get in touch with me," I explained. Daddy looked at me matter-of-factly and said, "If you're where you're supposed to be when you're supposed to be there, I'll know exactly how to find you!" End of discussion. I remember begging for cable so we could get MTV and VH1, after all, my other friends had it. Surely, we were the only ones in Marks, Mississippi who didn't have cable! The answer was "no". All of my classmates had a car when they turned 15. Where was mine? "When you start making a car payment every month and also paying for the insurance, you can buy yourself a car," said daddy. That never happened. And I just HAD to have a telephone and television in my room. You know, "so I won't bother you and momma at night when I'm on the phone or if I want to watch a different tv show that what ya'll are watching," I told them. "You'll be studying at night so there is no need to talk on the phone or watch tv in your room," daddy said. Boy, was I mistreated or what?!

I was surprised at the number of mothers who came up to me afterwards and told me how hard it is to raise children these days and tell them "no" because all of their friends' parents are basically giving them anything they want. One mom said, "I feel guilty; like I'm not being a good parent because we don't live like that."

The Bible says although we live in the world, we are not of this world. Matthew 5:14 says, "You are the light of the world." When we get to heaven, God will hold us accountable for how we raised our kids, not how we raised someone else's kids. In saying no to our children, setting boundaries and holding fast our values and morals, we are being a light in the world. Verse 16 says, "In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven." I want people to look at my children and praise God for the choices they make in their lives and how they exhibit God's love to others. And yes, that's probably going to mean that we have to tell them "no".......ALOT!

Praying for Your Family

With over half of this country's marriages ending in divorce, I noticed the Mississippi Senate yesterday passed the proposed "covenant marriage" law. It's clear Satan has targeted the family unit for destruction. His success is phenomenal. Why the family? Satan has targeted the family because the relationship between the husband and wife and between the parents and children are to be earthly examples of our heavenly Father and His family. Ephesians 5:24-25 says, "But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her."

If people what to know what it's like to belong to God, they should be able to look at Christians' relationships and homes and get a taste of heaven.

One of the greatest threats to Satan's progress will be a committed Christian husband and wife who are determined to raise godly children for the furtherance of the kingdom of God. Families such as these will be on Satan's target list. The family is the backbone of any nation, because families produce the nation's leaders. The more committed Christian families there are in a nation, the greater their collective influence will be upon that nation.

How vital it is, then, that we pray regularly for God's protection and guidance for our families!

Good Friends

Monday was a long day, but boy, did I have fun. I had a doctor's appointment to get another update on baby girl, had to buy some groceries, drove to Clinton to teach my class, went to work at WLBT and stayed for much of the night watching the severe weather, and had a speaking engagement between newscasts. In between all of this, my co-workers at WLBT gave me a baby shower. We had so much fun that I had forgotten everything that was on my plate to get done for the day. The laughter and fellowship was second to none. I sat there and looked around not at all of the diapers (it was a diaper shower) and the delicious food, but just took in all of the friends I have at WLBT. I felt blessed to have such good companions.

God's love for us is shown through our friends many times. Their support, their laughs, their encouragement, their prayers...God uses them all to build us up and help us get through another day. I'm reminded of what I John 4:19 says, "My love for Him comes as a result of His loving me first."

What kind of friend are you? Are you one who encourages and supports? The Bible says God will honor those who serve others along their pathway of life.

Being Obedient vs "I did it my way"

My children have been learning alot about obedience lately. With a 4 year old and a 2 year old, there is a certain amount of hard-headedness that is a part of their personalities. On some days, I think they are miniature Frank Sinatra's and could sing every word of "I did it my way"! One of my sisters told me about what she's been dealing with when it comes to her own spiritual obedience and someone with whom she's had a difficult time with. (The name of the person has been changed.) I thought I'd share it here.

"I’m been going through a bible study by Priscilla Shirer and it’s on “Discerning the Voice of God”. It’s about obedience whenever God requires something from you. I was doing the very last lesson today at noon and God said to "Call *Jane*". All through this study, I’ve been saying “Sure God, I want to be obedient because I want to live in your will.” Well, I wasn’t expecting God to require that. For 1 ½ hours, I struggled with what I was supposed to say. Finally at 2pm, I called and it sounded like her fax machine picked up. My heart was pounding something awful. About 2:30pm I called again—same thing. I had been eating a few chocolate kisses left over from Valentines Day and after I made the 2nd call, the piece of paper sticking out of the kiss read “Way to Go”. I was so blown away!!! Most of the papers had read “I love you” or “I like you”. Those were the only messages I’ve seen in the kisses that I’ve eaten for several weeks now. But, that one read “Way to Go”. I have no idea if God really wanted me to talk with *Jane* or if He wanted to see if I would obey. Guess I’ll see where God leads."

Why are we so hesitant to obey what God asks of us? Is it because we are afraid of rejection? Saying the wrong thing? Failure? Isaiah 54:17 says, "No weapon formed against me shall prosper, and every tongue that rises against me in judgement I shall show to be in the wrong. This is my inheritance because I am a servant of the Lord." God is not looking for us to impress Him. However, He is looking for an obedient heart. If we are obedient to whatever He has asked us to do, He takes care of the rest and His word says if we are a "servant of the Lord", we will want to do what is right.

When Life Goes Dark

I was prepared for bad weather to hit during my shift Thursday, but wasn't prepared for what actually happened. Just as the WLBT 6pm newscast was beginning and as the floor crew were about to give us our signals, a large boom was heard outside the studio and we found ourselves in the dark. Pitch black. Howard, Maggie and I sat still thinking the studio lights would flicker back on momentarily. They didn't. People rushed in to check on us and a few made their way into the studio with flashlights. Then word came: the Entergy substation in downtown was hit by multiple lightning strikes and all of downtown was dark. It would be at least an hour before we knew what to do. There were only a few flashlights in the building so most of us used our cellphones to provide enough light to help us walk the halls; others grabbed decorative candles in their offices and lit them to provide more light. We were even locked inside WLBT for a short period of time due to the security doors and gates. We sat, we waited, we talked.

When the lights came back on at 7:05pm, the first problem had been solved. The second issue we had a in place as big as WLBT is to get the computers up and running again. That took quite some time. By 9pm, all systems were completely back online and we could prepare for the rest of the evening that would see bad weather.

Have you ever been caught off guard by the lights going off in your life? What a mess you can find yourself in. Everything is going well for you, then *boom*, lightning strikes and you find yourself wandering down a dark hallway in your life just scrambling to put the pieces back together again.

John 14:18 says, "God will not abandon me or leave me an an orphan in the storm--He will come to me." James 1:2-4 goes on to say, "I will be happy when the way is rough, because it gives my patience a chance to grow. So I will let it grow, and not try to squirm out of my problems. For when my patience is finally in full bloom, then I will be ready for anything, strong in character, full and complete."

Hanging tight in the middle of a storm can be hard, especially when you want everything fixed right then! But God is the master in the middle of the mess and teaches us how to persevere, even when it's hard to find our way down the dark hallway of life.

Prayers & Severe Weather

I received a post yesterday on the blog from the family of Landon Arrington. He is the little boy who desperately needed blood transfusions and platelets. I posted his picture on Valentines Day (see February 14 blog entry) and mentioned how critically low blood donations were, hence the reason why Marshall Ramsey and I teamed up to do the blood drive. His family posted this comment yesterday:

"Thanks to everyone who gave blood to help out sweet little Landon, but sadlly he lost his battle on Monday 2/18/2008. We will all miss his bright smile and bubbly personality. Thanks again, the Newman family"

My friend Chuck also sent me this request for prayer for a friend of his:

"I have a really good friend who has a friend in need. Kelly is my friend and Nana is her friend. Nana has found out that her cancer has returned and that it is inoperable. Kelly is rallying up all of her blogging friends and is asking them to pray and ask their readers to pray. You can never have too many people praying. In Nana’s daughters words to Kelly “what if everyone that blogs posts a prayer request for Nana…think of how many people would be praying. do you think that’s a good idea?” Kelly’s reply was “well, let’s just hunker down and pray like mad women….she’s strong and if anybody can fight through it, she can”. So, I am asking if you have a blog, please pass this along to your readers. If you don’t have a blog, then please just pray for Nana. Kelly tells me she is a wonderful lady. So, say a prayer for Nana and anyone else you know that is in need."

As you go through your day, please pray for the Arrington family and their loss of little Landon. Landon received the ultimate healing but I know his family would covet your prayers. So would Nana and her family.

Now for the weather....once again, it looks like we could be in for some severe weather late this afternoon and tonight. A strong cold front and several disturbances will move in producing gusty winds, hail, heavy rain and the possibility for tornadoes. The worst of the weather looks to be confined to the I-20 corridor and points south. If you don't have to travel in this mess, don't. It could be a long night (or early morning, whichever way you want to look at it), so please have your weather radio on. I've posted the latest graphic from the National Weather Service so you can pick out your county and see what is likely in your area.

The Old Self

Saturday night, I had the chance to speak to the Shady Grove Church of God in Smith County and had a wonderful time. The church is in the middle of a building program and was using the Saturday night event to help raise money for new pews in their church and I was honored to be a part of it. One of the things I spoke about was the importance of serving.

Have you allowed your past to keep you from serving God? Have you thought because of where you've been or what you did, that you would always be a second-class citizen in the kingdom of God? Are you afraid someone will find out what you were or how you used to be? Anyone who did would have to open up a coffin because that's where the old you lies--it's dead. Romans 6 tells us that your "old self" died and that a new you has been raised from the dead to walk in newness of life.

Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5:18, "All these things are from God," so anyone who comes against you will have to do battle with God. And if God is for you, who is against you? And does it really matter? Romans 8:33-34 says, "Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was rasied, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us."

Don't buy the lies of Satan as he uses other people to get to you. Listen to God and believe Him. Know who you are in Christ---a new creature, if you are His child. Thank God! We are not what we used to be!