Ephesians 6:4 English Standard Version (ESV) Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

We are not all raised up by fathers and mothers who worship God. What we learn as children is what we see in the behaviors of our parents and older siblings.

Blessed be the children of God fearing parents.

That is not one of the Beatitudes but maybe it should be.

I discovered that the language of my father was not acceptable in school. I got taken to the cloakroom for a proper scolding. I did not find any correction for my foul mouth at home.

Thankfully there was a model of Christianity that lived down the street. I spent more time with that family than I did my own. They took me to church every Sunday and Baptist Youth Fellowship on Wednesdays. I wanted to be a part of that family so much I dated all three of their daughters.

This is the grace of God in the life of the wayward. He finds the faithful to model His abundant love. It was the love that attracted me to them and finally to the source, Christ in them.

When on leave from the Army I would visit them faithfully. They always made a point of praying with me. No visit happened without a hug and a prayer. Over the years I discovered that hundreds of children like myself called them Mom and Dad Williams. 

Children need consistency and stability and if they cannot find it at home they will seek it elsewhere. If not with a Christian family then perhaps with a street gang.

Consistency and stability are God traits. They are character traits of the faithful who have built a life in the Kingdom of God.

Consistency and stability can be modeled by users and abusers. A child that is not loved will seek that out wherever they can find it.

While I found that in the Army I did not find the love I had in Mom and Dad Williams.

Nothing is as attractive as the love of God.

Acts 4:32 English Standard Version

They Had Everything in Common

32 Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common.

This is about what ails me. Since the Word is true, then this ails us all.

I am intolerant. This is a disorder which has varying degrees. For some of us it is nothing more than a minor nuisance. We might not even notice it as much as an itch we can scratch. For me, it is a trigger I must not pull because it can wound others.

I confess this in order to tell those of us that suffer this same degree of irritation that we are not alone and there is help for all of us.

My latest foray into intolerance comes with the reporting of Hurricane Lee being reported to likely hit Downeast Maine, specifically Eastport, Maine on the Canadian border. That is not what downest means. It irritated me every time I hear it.

That is absolutely harmless for a weather forecaster to get wrong. Having grown up in Maine and being a Downeaster myself is how I identify with my childhood. 

This affects only me and people like me. That isn’t the point here. I live with people I love and they should not have to listen to me complaining every time that report comes on tv. What it does do is tell them that if I am that intolerant of a weatherman, what must I think of them.

James wrote to us about the unbridled tongue. God’s word is true. It harms the trust in relationships even when it is not aimed at a person present at the time.

I have taken God’s Word to heart and know it is true and I have bridled my tongue. While I might feel it, I don’t have to infect others. As a Christian I should model control.