The Lord Gives and Takes Away and Gives Back Again, Blessed Be the Name of the Lord
Michael recently had his birthday.
One thing he really wanted was a Nerf gun. He got a gift card for his birthday, so off to Wal Mart we go.
He picks out the one he wants and buys it all by himself.
We get home and he insists that he can open it and put it together himself, so I set about cooking dinner and a few minutes later he calls me and tells me it doesn't work.
I look at the gun and look at the picture, praying "God help me figure this out, this is so NOT my gifting".
I notice in the picture when you open the gun to put in the "bullets" there is a white string. On Michael's gun, the string is cut.
I asked him if he cut it. He told me that it wouldn't open all the way, so he cut it. I asked him if the directions told him to cut it.
He said no.
I told him matter of factly that he broke it.
He melted down completely. He was so upset that he wasted the money and didn't have his toy.
He was mad.
God gave me the opportunity to explain to him that if toys are more important than people, his brother and mother that he was being ugly to, that God will take them away.
He calmed down and he understood. He was still sad, but not hysterical.
Later that night Kevin and his lovely Lisa came over for ice cream. Michael showed him the gun and explained what happened. Kevin opened the gun up and it turns out the string that he cut runs through the whole gun and causes it to shoot.
Apparently kind of important.
Kevin, forever now known in our house as McGyver, said "this is fixable". With Alex in his lap, holding a flashlight "helping" Kevin took a shoe lace and ran it through the gun where the string was and got it to work.
The important lesson that Michael learned that night is that because he realized that people are far more important than toys, God gave his toy back to him.
Toys come and go and serve no eternal purpose. The people God brings into our lives to love and share Jesus with, that what is important.
Thank You God for these teachable moments.
"Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised." Job 1:20-21
posted by Kathryn, Michael and Alex at 8:49 AM
5 Comments:
This is a lesson we keep learning at our house too. Emma's verse last week for Sparks was "Be content with what you have..." I did a Bible lesson on this. I talked about contentment for a while, then asked them if God asked us to go far away and be missionaries somewhere else, besides CS, and we had to sell all our things, except for what we really needed, would we be happy? Emma said "Yes!" Jax said, simultaneously "No!" Kathryn, keep praying for Jax's salvation:) (He is learning, though.)This is a lesson we will probably never stop having to teach in our home. That's okay. I need it too.
Thank heavens for Kevin! I believe it requires testosterone to accomplish assembly of almost anything. Good job Kevin!
jenn
First of all, what a precious lesson. Thank God for wisdom!
Second of all, everybody needs a Kevin. Thank God for Kevin!
Everybody does need a Kevin!!!
It is an ongoing struggle of spiritual warfare seeing Michael battle between the world and God.
Praise the Lord for Emma and I will continue to pray for Jax. Pray for Alex. He understands the concept but is not quite there yet.
The Sunday night of baptisms we were riding in the car talking about all of the kids that got baptized and asking Jesus into their hearts.
Alex said that he wanted to ask Jesus into his heart. I get really excited. Michael and I go through the steps and when we ask if that is what he wants to do, he says "no, I want to be an alligator"
So close...
hey michael...
my favorite bible verse is
2 Corinthians 12:9-10
love you!
Wow.
I've never had a blog post induce blushing.
Y'all are too kind!
w/love,
-Kev
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