A conversation can change things

Since he has been able to pick up a stick , this boy of ours  has played a soldier, walking around our neighborhood in full camouflage and pretend rifles and hand grenades slung over his little shoulders. When I married Scott coming from a family of Marines, being a Marine himself, must have been a gift from the God he was getting to know. I was sure this was going to be a phase...like being an astronaut or president.
As he got older, he immersed himself in WW I and II history, military history and reading soldier stories of old and present. I began to understand that this was not a little boys imagination but a young mans ambition and my Mama influence came into full force. I was using my 'amazing' persuasive powers to change his mind.
I have worked on him for the last 4 years and finally when he decided to go on a mission to Palestine with Pioneers, I thanked God I had a year more to talk him out of it or God  who if course was also  on my side, would change his mind while he wandered in the "holy" land.
Last week at the fair which comes here every summer, Nick went to talk to the Marine recruiter...on a whim, a short conversation changed to a long conversation. It seems that if you go to a country that is hostile to the US after the age of 15, your security clearance to do anything in the Marines is significantly limited. He could be a cook...maybe. You would think that this would be an answer to my many years of prayer, he would go on his mission and never go in the Marines,
 OR...go on his mission, which is the Marines.

In churches, I always have found it amazingly ironic that students who go on mission trips, or go to YWAM  get prayed for in  front of the church.  As if what they are doing is more important than a student who is working a job or  going to University where their faith will be tested and their opportunity to be a witness more profound then a 10 day mission/tourist trip or a 6 month long discipleship course. I think if every student was sent out with prayer support from their church body, than students would realize they are always on a mission to bring the Kingdom of God wherever they are planted. There is nothing we do that is of more value then something else in kingdom building.There are some things however,  that are more difficult.

I think going in the Marines will be difficult for his mind, body, and soul as a Kingdom Builder. I would have asked you to pray for Nick if he was going to Palestine, I need to ask you to commit to pray for Nick going into this mission, the Marines. You won't have to support him financially...but can I ask for your prayer support?

There is a lot of fear in this decision...not him,I have never seen him more sure. I am afraid because I know God does not necessarily keep safe. I know the business of the Marines is war...
He wants to be an Honorable Warrior.
He wants to honor God in the Marines...I wonder at times if that is possible.
I know, I know....

One conversation...

N3um56be97rs and idols

^{1 John 5:
18} We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the One who was born of God keeps them safe, and the evil one cannot harm them. ¹⁹ We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. ²⁰ We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true by being in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.
²¹ Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.

There is so much in those 4 short verses and I have had these verses in mind all month...what surprises me about 1John though, is how he ends. He has not spoken about idols in all 5 chapters. It is as if it is a PS: Oh, children...keep yourselves from idols. 

On my walk today I was thinking about idols. What makes something an idol?
I think it is any thing or person  that generates strong emotions and in which we think lies our happiness, safety and fulfillment. My idols are money and numbers. 
Money because the lack of it makes me afraid and more of it makes me happy. Numbers, and this is a bit of a sneaky one but so amazingly pervasive...
Think about how numbers can make a difference in how you feel about yourself and others. How a number can make you feel discontent, insignificant and prideful; age, weight, size, miles run, hours spent, money saved, money earned. Everything we are comes down to numbers...numbers create a boundary in which we choose to live. 
How often a day can be ruined by a silly number on a scale or written subversively in my wrinkles. How about a number on a pair of jeans, dress or shirt which is bigger or smaller than what we anticipated and how that can affect our day positively or negatively. That number has ruined many a young woman's life as that number has dictated whether she can eat or not. If a person has a number attached to their person as to the numbers of years they have been given to live, we choose to respect or not respect. A year of my life was thrown for a spin because I was turning an inevitable number...

What do you do with idols? You find them, you burn them and you repent from them and begin every day from that day forward to untangle the web of lies that idol has wrought upon your soul.  Then you read the verses before verse 21...

¹⁸ We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the One who was born of God keeps them safe, and the evil one cannot harm them. ¹⁹ We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. ²⁰ We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true by being in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.