Walk in Integrity

The righteous walk in integrity—
    happy are the children who follow them!
A king who sits on the throne of judgment
    winnows all evil with his eyes."

                                                Prov 20:7-8

My grandchildren are growing up and I am growing old. One word that they have heard from me an awful lot over the years is "integrity." I have admonished them many times to "walk with integrity" and to "speak with integrity." That is to not embellish stories so that the stories fall apart once the details of the story begin to be questioned and to not be creating drama for drama's sake.

I usually do not remind anyone other than my grandchildren to walk and talk with integrity. But, that is not because I don't want to. I simply don't feel that it is my place or that it will do any good. My grandchildren, though, I have major amounts of hope for so I remind them of the way the Lord would have them go so that they might have peaceful and fruitful lives. The "others" usually just get the "eye." My grandchildren also know about the "eye." Many times over the years, when my eldest granddaughter and I have been together, she has asked me, for no apparent reason at all: What?" I will respond, "I didn't say anything." She complains that I looked at her with that "eye." That is usually when I start wondering and questioning what she is up to; what she is planning that she doesn't want me to know about. I do this because I care about her life and her future and not just life in this world; but, in the Kingdom to come.

The righteous are those who are cleansed by the blood of Jesus and because he abides with and in them, they will desire to walk in integrity, to walk in the way of his truth. Happy are the children who follow those who walk in integrity. Happy are the children who follow Jesus.

May God keep you in his truth, talking and walking in integrity.

God's Peace - Pr. J

The End Of The Line

I was not the perfect child growing up nor was I a particularly bad kid good growing up, either. I liked to climb trees; ride bike; go for walks; build forts... My parents had strict boundaries set for us and when we crossed them, my father would let us know: "you reached the end of the line, sister." I knew someone was in big trouble when I heard that!

Last winter, my husband watched hours and hours of "The Walking Dead." All of the living were trying to get to Terminus. I could not figure out why they figured any place named Terminus would be a good place to go. Terminus means the end of the line. It means the final point in time or space. So why would anyone go there?

But, then again some people want to do a lot of things that I can't quite fathom why they would do them. They want to get blitzed! Why? Blitzed means to be attacked and defeated. How about getting stoned? Why would anyone want to get stoned? In biblical times getting stoned was not a good thing. It also meant the end of the line. It meant death. Getting wasted also doesn't sound like something to look forward to on a Saturday night. It means physically or psychologically exhausted; debilitated. Again, near the end of the line.

So why would anyone follow a path that leads only to the end of the line; to destruction?  Jesus said to, "Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it. For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it." (Matt 7:13-14) Yup! The road that leads to life can be hard. But, I'm thinking a tough road to eternal life is better than an easy one that leads to eternal destruction.

I had taken some young men from a correctional facility hiking to see a beautiful waterfalls. About half a mile in, I realized that they were very nervous. I asked them why. It turned out that they feared that we were lost and would be attacked by some wild animal or maybe come to the end of the line by falling off a cliff. They were from Detroit and although very street wise; they could not see the path that we were following in the wilderness. Someone has to show the way to those who cannot see the path. Will you show them the way?

May God help us to choose wisely the path that we will follow and guide others on the way.

God's Peace - Pr. J