Okay, so let me describe to you how EVERY Sunday night goes for our family. We get within 5 feet of our car to come home from church, and the baby girl begins her screaming. I'm not talking about whimpering or pouting, I mean eardrum busting, toenail pulling, absolute yelling at the top of her lungs. That continues for 30 minutes as we navigate country roads and deer to come home. She doesn't pause to take a breath at all, and we can clearly see that she has a powerful set of lungs on her. Then, when arriving at home, we have to fight the battle of getting them changed, bathed, and in bed while trying to unwind ourselves and prepare for the beginning of the work week. Sunday nights are not so restful for us....
Tonight was no different regarding the girl; however, the boy was completely out of the ordinary. He did not have a good nap this afternoon and played hard, which, of course, led him to whine the whole way home. Because he got to see grandma at church, we was calling out to see her because she, obviously, could make things better (if you need to, go back and reread that last statement for the blatant sarcasm contained in it). Not getting his way, he decided to formulate a confederation with his sister and began to cry as well. Again, bear in mind that this ride is 30 minutes with 2 screaming children; so there is no talking among the adults and the radio cannot drown them out either.
In all honesty, I have no earthly idea why this is taking place or how to even eradicate it. The screaming just gets all over me and there is no escaping it within the tight confines of the small SUV. Apparently, the Lord really has a lesson that He wants me to learn because we endure this EVERY Sunday night!!
I, in trying to get ready for bed and following my "no Bible no bed" rule, grabbed my NKVJ and flipped it open to 2 Corinthians 1. I was quickly reading some verses, just to "satisfy" the daily routine instead of truly digging for truth, when I stopped and started reading again. I knew that I was not here to really gain truth; so in restarting, verse 2 caused me to pause: "Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ."
Grace? I get that. Peace? That word needed some examination. Using Strong's Concordance of the New Testament and Thayer's Lexicon, a light bulb began to flash. Our modern world talks of peace and means and absence of war or a time of harmony with everyone. While that is the foundational element of peace, there is something else that is missing -- harmony between nations comes when they are content with their circumstances. Order exists because each side is prosperous and secure. Others may have more, but a balance between wants and needs has been attained. The balance is created by personal choice either due to significant military strength in the other nation or happiness with the current circumstances.
The concept of peace, when applied to Christianity, invokes a rather unique picture. We have nothing to fear from God because His grace has brought us into the family. Peace, as an acronym, could be: Presenting Evidence About Christ's Excellence. Let me explain -- when the "hell and high-water" of life hits us, we get the opportunity (yes, I did say opportunity) to showcase the excellence of Christ. Instead of fussing and fuming about our circumstances, we can sit calmly and acknowledge the control of Christ. Because He is more glorious than anything on this earth, the loss of a car due to a wreck really does not matter. In fact, it is a chance for us to share the gospel with the persons involved or, at the very least, the law enforcement official investigating.
In the car with those screaming kids, I need to be more like my wife who can "tune out" the screaming. I don't know how she does it, but, then again, I do. She is with the kids all day long and has become "immune" to this screaming. We, as Christians, need to follow that example. We need to be with Christ so much that these bumps in the road can be tuned out because our focus is exclusively on Jesus.
Presenting Evidence About Christ's Excellence! To do so, you must know Him through a dependent relationship. Yeah, looks like the kids are going to keep screaming so that I am reminded of that fact EVERY week....
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