I Wanna Be Rich

I want money lots and lots of money!  I wanna be rich!

Now be honest.  Did you just flash back to 1989 and sing those lyrics?  Maybe it's just me.

 

This week my family flew to Phoenix AZ to celebrate Christmas with my family who lives there.  It was quite an expensive trip.  We had to pay for the airfare for 5 people plus suitcases and golf bags.  We had to purchase gifts for 19 people who would be at the Christmas celebration.  We wanted to be able to chip in and cover some meals and groceries.  My husband wanted to golf.  I wanted a mani/pedi while we were there.  It was quite an expensive trip.  My husband is a pastor and we don't make a whole lot.  All of our needs are met but there is not a ton extra at the end of each check so I started selling on eBay for some additional income.  This is what we call our "play" money.  We don't want to overextend ourselves and use it as income because you just never know if it is going to be a good eBay week or a slow one.  We use the play money to take trips and buy fun things for the family.  That is what paid for our entire trip to Disney World and it also funded our most recent trip to Phoenix and bought all of the presents and things.

 

While we were there I went out golfing with my husband.  We were at a VERY nice country club.  The kind with dress codes and things.  This is not typical for us.  It was a big splurge.  We decided to eat lunch in the restaurant on the course.  As we were sitting there, I started to people watch.  It is one of my favorite pastimes.  It drives my husband crazy.  I was watching all of the people who "belonged" there.  You could tell just by looking at them.  They talk different.  They dress different.  They carry themselves different.  You could pick them out as having a boat load of money probably just as easily as you could tell that Matt and I didn't.

 

At one point I leaned over to my husband and made this statement.  "Do you think they realize how blessed they are or do you think that they take it for granted?"

 

As soon as the statement left my mouth the Holy Sprit pricked my heart and asked me the very same question.  "Rachel, do you know how blessed you are or do you take it for granted?"

 

Sometimes it is so easy to compare our lives with others and forget about all of the good things that the Lord has done for us.  It is easy to say "I wanna be rich" and forget that we really already are.  So I am dedicating my last post of 2013 to brag about my wealth!

- I have 3 healthy, beautiful girls

-My husband adores me and treats me like a queen

-My husband has not been hospitalized with his Crohn's disease at all this year

-I do not have cancer

-I have been able to visit with all of my family this year

-I have a great church

-We are debt free

-My parents and grandparents are still alive

-I have a warm dry beautiful house

-I have great friends

-Jesus Christ has redeemed me

-I have a brand new van

-All of my children have accepted Jesus as their Savior

 

The list goes on and on and on  And I wouldn't trade it for any country club membership anywhere!!

 

Blessed,

Rachel

"Mom, look at that woman!"

"Mom, look at that woman!" said my 5 year old as we checked out of a store yesterday.  She was referring to the cashier who had numerous body piercings and tattoos. Thank the Lord that my daughter waited until we were walking out the door to make her comment so the lady didn't hear her.  I have many stories like this with all 3 of my girls.  In this crazy world that we live in, I am sure that you do too.

And here begins the tightrope walk - that delicate balancing act of teaching them morals and standards without turning them into judgmental Christians.  And it is hard - very hard!  We have been commanded by Christ to not be conformed to this world, but to be transformed.

Rom 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
I truly believe that God has a very high standard for His people and I want my children to learn that principal, but I have to handle the process very delicately.  Giving them a list of what I believe is wrong for Christians to do will never work.  It will only make them see what everyone around them is doing wrong.  "That girl's skirt is too short!"  "That guy needs to cut his hair!"  "Did you hear that man cuss?"  You get the picture, and while all of those things might be true - pointing them out certainly doesn't help my children or the person who might be in error.

So what do we do?  Do we throw out any standards in an attempt to not be judgmental.  Do we just stop teaching our children about the fact that God wants His people to be different and act different from the world?  No way!

We need to teach our children to be transformed into the image of God.  We need to guide them in standards and morals, but most importantly they need to see us love those who don't hold to the same standards.  My husband has a saying, "Unsaved people do unsaved things - Don't be surprised by it!"  This is what I teach my children.  When they see someone who is doing something that they know is wrong or displeasing to the Lord, I try to remind them that the person may not know Jesus.  They might not have had the privilege of being raised in a Christian home.  And then we go out of our way to be kind to that person.  It teaches them compassion instead of judgment.  That is exactly what Jesus did when he walked this earth.  You never see Jesus drop His standards, but you do see him show compassion on the unsaved.

What about people that they know are saved?  Here is where the tightrope gets even harder.  There are probably no 2 people in our church with the exact same standards.  Some ladies wear pants.  Some don't.  Some people smoke.  Some don't.  Some people listen to rock music.  Some don't.  I know that it can be very confusing for kids.  They have been taught a set of guidelines from their parents and then they go to church with truly good Christian folks, but they believe a little bit differently from what they have been taught.  I can't use the same reasoning that they may not know Jesus to explain their actions to my kids.  I must teach them about the Holy Spirit. 

It is not our job to police the standards of our church members.  I have to trust that the Holy Spirit can do a much better job at it than me.  I have to teach my children to let the Holy Spirit work in people's lives and while He is working I need to show them real love and kindness - even if we differ on our standards.

Compassion and love really do make the difference.  I can still teach my kids to live a life with high standards and morals, but they must see me show compassion and love to those who differ.  Last week my middle daughter went to the hair dresser with me.  We love our hair dresser.  We have followed her from working at the salon in Wal-Mart to owning her own shop.  All of this time we have been working to get her to church.  She has piercings and is covered in tattoos.  She has spiked multi colored hair and no matter how hard she tries a few cuss words slip out every now and then.  Once again we told her we would love to see her visit the church sometime and once again she told us that she might show up one of these days.  When we got in the car my daughter asked me if I thought she would ever come to church.  I confidently said yes.  I told her that some day when she is going through a very rough time she is going to remember that our family was always kind to her and loved her even though she was different than us.  We always tipped her well and sent customers her way and she will come to us for help.  I truly believe that she will be saved one day because of compassion.

Jude 1:22 And of some have compassion, making a difference:

It really does make the difference!

Blessed above measure,

Rachel