A Lesson on Obedience and Patience

Peyton, my eleven year old, is getting to old for me to use him as much for Sunday morning message illustrations anymore. The older he gets the more in tune he is to what is said on Sunday and of course he now dislikes it when someone says something to him that I said on Sunday....so I have stopped telling as many stories.

However, he does not read the BLOG and most of his buddies do not either. So....the WWW is free game for a little while......

Last night as I was getting ready for bed I heard a scream and some crying. Peyton came limping into our room saying he had hurt his foot and it was bleeding. I took him into the bathroom and by this time Kelly had also joined us. Sure enough he had two toes bleeding and they look cut and smashed all at the same time. He will probably lose two toe nails and be limping for a day or two. While getting ready to take care of him....I asked him...."how did this happen?"

To make a long story short....He had a friend over to stay the night (Spring Break) and wanted to show him his picture album project from his trip to Williamsburg last year. His friend had just got back with his school last week. Peyton had asked his mom where it was and could he get it. She told him it was in the top of the closet with a bunch of stuff on it and that she wold get it in the morning. She told him NOT to try and reach it himself and just to wait until in the morning.

While listening is usually something he will do, patience is not a virtue in his vocabulary. His lack of patience won out and he tried to get the album himself. While doing this, a heavy wooden item fell and "smashed his toes." My empathy for his smashed toes quickly vanished as I learned the reason why it happened.

In our last series I mentioned how easy it was to understand why God says to us No, Slow or Go. It is easy to understand why God does a lot of things when we just think about why we do what we do as parents. Moreover, it is easy to see why we sometimes get wounded and smashed in life.....because we disobey our Heavenly Father. Or, because we simply are not patient. It really is pretty simple.....

As Peyton stopped crying, but was still feeling the pain of throbbing toes....I thought I would help him have a teachable lesson from his memorable experience. I told him with a hint of humor:

1) Always remember....."if you do the crime....you will do the time."
2) "Your sins will find you out...what is done in the darkness will be brought to light."

He looked up at me with a "you have got to be kidding me" look. I kissed him on the forehead and jokingly said to him as I went back to bed and left him with his ice pack...."bet you wont do that again?" HA HA




The next three days I will give you the verses to help you prepare for Easter!

Luke 22

The Festival of Unleavened Bread, which is also called Passover, was approaching. The leading priests and teachers of religious law were plotting how to kill Jesus, but they were afraid of the people’s reaction.

Then Satan entered into Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve disciples, and he went to the leading priests and captains of the Temple guard to discuss the best way to betray Jesus to them. They were delighted, and they promised to give him money. So he agreed and began looking for an opportunity to betray Jesus so they could arrest him when the crowds weren’t around.

Now the Festival of Unleavened Bread arrived, when the Passover lamb is sacrificed. Jesus sent Peter and John ahead and said, “Go and prepare the Passover meal, so we can eat it together.” “Where do you want us to prepare it?” they asked him.

He replied, “As soon as you enter Jerusalem, a man carrying a pitcher of water will meet you. Follow him. At the house he enters, say to the owner, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is the guest room where I can eat the Passover meal with my disciples?’ He will take you upstairs to a large room that is already set up. That is where you should prepare our meal.” They went off to the city and found everything just as Jesus had said, and they prepared the Passover meal there.

When the time came, Jesus and the apostles sat down together at the table.Jesus said, “I have been very eager to eat this Passover meal with you before my suffering begins. For I tell you now that I won’t eat this meal again until its meaning is fulfilled in the Kingdom of God.”

Then he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. Then he said, “Take this and share it among yourselves. For I will not drink wine again until the Kingdom of God has come.”

He took some bread and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this to remember me.”

After supper he took another cup of wine and said, “This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood, which is poured out as a sacrifice for you.