Craig Clouston

 There Are No Soft Rocks

February 29

And do not give the devil a foothold.

Ephesians 4:27

The driver slammed on his brakes! The bush the kid was hiding behind wasn’t nearly big enough to keep him from eventual discovery. Panic gripped his heart! Why had he thrown those limestone pebbles in the first place? He was paralyzed by fear! Even though everything in him screamed run, his body wouldn’t respond.

Time stood still; then a flashlight with an angry voice attached emerged and started probing for him. “Who threw those rocks? Where are you?” He sure was mad! As he was about to bolt, the beam of light found him.

Oh no! He jumped up and turned to run, but the man had anticipated his move and intercepted him, grabbing his sweatshirt by the collar, pulling him up short. “What do you think you’re doing, kid? You could’ve killed us!” At that moment, he heard the little girl crying in the car.

“I’m sorry, mister!” he offered, scared to death. “I didn’t think it was such a big deal. I thought it would be fun,” he blurted out, realizing this wasn’t fun at all. It was about to get a lot worse when Dad found out!

†

Rarely as children do we contemplate how our actions affect others. Uninformed choices usually lead to consequence rather than reward. Unrestrained, pranks can, and often do, graduate to more daring exploits in order to elicit excitement. Childhood traits are patterns that become footholds for the enemy. Left unchecked, they become strongholds. It requires substantial effort to unlearn bad behaviors, so it is critical that we help our children learn good behaviors that breed character and integrity. Well-informed children stand a much better chance of making right choices more consistently. This requires investment of ourselves and our time in our children in order to raise up caretakers for their generation.

If we fail to do this, our children will reap the harvest of their own experiences. We will be leaving them open for innumerable enemy footholds.

Prayer

“I love the children You have entrusted to me, Lord. Help me invest in their character and future. Help me nurture them instead of allowing the world to raise them. In Jesus’ Name, amen.”