So I married a Preacher

Last day of the month

It's the last day of the month and I find that terribly frightening! In a month or less I'll be giving birth! I'm filled with terror, anticipation, excitement and a million other things at just the thought! Not to mention that we'll be bringing home a new person that we are responsible for (for 18 plus years!). YIKES! I've been reading as many Christian (and a few secular) parenting books as possible. Many have a wealth of information and many good tidbits to offer, but all the books can get quite overwhelming. When I start to consider all the "do's and don'ts" I get very nervous. I'm so frightened of messing up this kid or living a life that steers this child in a direction other than serving God. Frankie and I have really been observing parents and families for the last year. He says the vast majority of pastor's he knows who are the head of their homes, sincere and Godly, and true servants of the Lord, have children who are in the ministry. Those pastor's that are discontent and whose wives are not submissive typically have children that do not serve the Lord. I wonder how accurate that pattern is. I mean, surely it's possible to live as holy as possible and still have a child that isn't serving the Lord (since we all have free will). And equally possible are those folks that serve the Lord diligently and their parent's never went to church and don't know God.

Anyway, the other thing on my mind this morning is the news headline about Rep. Mark Foley, FL resigning because of emails he wrote a teen male page. There's much I could say about this, ranging from the fact that he introduced legislation to protect children from exploitation by adults over the internet, to the homosexual nature of the incident. BUT, I'm not going there. All that is obvious. My thoughts this morning were completely different. I looked a picture of this older man in his nice suit and dignified appearance and I wondered what horror must have filled him when he realized people knew about his emails. I wonder how embarrassed and humiliated he must feel...Not to mention his family (although I think he's single). Anyway, my mind when to Scripture and a sermon I heard my husband preach once on "secret sin." He preached on the sin of Achan from Joshua 7 and talked about how God brings our sins to light. Additional Scripture on this:
Psalm 69:5 "O God, You know my foolishness; And my sins are not hidden from You." Job 28:11 "He dams up the streams from trickling; What is hidden he brings forth to light."
Hebrews 4:13 "...all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do."
2 Corinthians 5:10 "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad."
Ecclesiastes 12:14 "For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil."
Ok, so what I was thinking/imagining is that however humiliated and embarrassed and sorry (unsure if he's sorry, although I'm sure he's sorry people know about it) Mark Foley is, that's nothing compared to how we will all feel before God. Can you imagine the day when we stand before a Holy, Righteous, Creator of the universe and we have to account for all our sins! Our evil, vile thoughts! Our attitudes and actions. I cringe to imagine. To think of looking in the face of Jesus and knowing He knows EVERYTHING.
To end on a happier note, praise God for forgiveness and mercy! At least Christ's blood prevents us from what we deserve.

posted by Amy @ 9:53 AM