Lessons learned long ago

Jim was always right.  He made games a misery to play.  When I was young I looked for ways to beat him, not that I never could, but because he always had to win.  The funny thing was that when I did beat him in a game, often the rules mysteriously changed and he would declare himself the winner.  When Jim started to drive he laid down the rules that all us younger kids had to abide by.  He set the station on the radio.  He operated the car heating system.  And he dictated what windows could be rolled down or up.  In a family of 6 siblings we went along with his rules hoping and praying for the day to arrive when we could be the driver along with all of its privileges.

That day did finally arrive when I found myself driving the camp station wagon from the Coho fish site in Kenai, Alaska.  With Jim and everyone else loaded up on an early Sunday morning, the mood was upbeat and everyone anticipating a break from fishing.   It seemed that all of us were talking at once and the banter back and forth was pleasant.  The miles sped past as we headed up the highway and feeling the urge I reached over and turned on the radio.  I found a station I liked and leaned back in the driver’s seat tapping my fingers in time to the music while listening to everyone’s conversations.

Jim was riding in the front right seat with Dixie sitting in the middle.  The song was into its third verse when Jim reached over and changed the channel.  I looked over at him and said as I reached over to the radio to change it back, “Jim, the driver gets to set the station.”  Everyone else started jumping all over me while I tried to explain the ‘rules’ that I had to live by for years.  Jim, emboldened by their disagreement with me, reached over to change the channel again.

A rage overtook me at that moment and everyone had no idea that it was coming from far more than an argument over car rules.  For years I felt misunderstood and stepped on.  The more I tried to explain my point of view, the more people would disregard them.  In hind sight, these types of feelings would have been drawn out by my father and dealt with.  He would have helped me understand how to control them, understand them and mostly pray about them.  But, I had no father who was faithful to do so and the rage spilled out of me like Mt. Saint Helens.

Fine!  If Jim wanted to have it his way, he could drive.  Traveling at sixty miles an hour I slammed on the brakes and slid to a stop.  I threw my car door open and jumped out of the car.  In that instant I was thinking that I would walk rather than endure any more injustices from my brother.  I hated him!

As my feet hit the road, a blur flashed past my nose.

I stood in the road watching our car door cart-wheeled down the highway.  Two seconds before a large van had screamed past my face and ripped the door off as I was angrily getting out of the car.  The Van’s mirror must have come within a hair of my head.  I recognized later that it was a miracle that I was still alive.  My rage gave way to numbness of sorts, but later I would realize that it was an onslaught of shock. Without turning around or skipping a beat I started walking.  I walked past the Van which was backing up to where I had stopped the car.  I walked past the door lying a few hundred feet further along the road, all caved in and distorted and the glass missing.  I continued to walk as if to catch up to my thoughts in which were fading into the foggy distance.  I felt nothing.

Over the years, this event has come back to haunt me many times, but God has used it to teach me many things about myself.  Excuses were easy, but they were external - No dad to pass on his fatherly advice, his love and his discipline.  No one was there to referee our conversations and to teach us how to communicate while listening effectively.  But, eventually I learned what God wanted me to learn.  That I am responsible for my own actions and that whatever or whoever influenced me to make poor choices, it will not affect the verdict in a good way.  I have had to ‘break the chains’ of the negatives in my life and allow God to heal the wrongs I was born into. No excuses, only choices that are mine and mine alone.

Emergent Church Letter to Brooklin

Some of the excerpts in this letter to Brooklin where taken from Google Search (authors unknown) and the book, Why we're not emergent by two guys who should be, by Kevin DeYoung & Ted Kluck.


Brook,


    I have a few questions.  This has all arisen from your comments ‘all goodness…’ on Facebook.  I am not saying you are falling into the trap of being deceived, but your comments are dangerous for a believer in Christ Jesus.
    I am sad that someone brought the Rob Bell tapes up to the fish site.  They seem so right, but they are one of the most deceptive teachings I have seen in my life.  The following has enough substance to be a study and I encourage you to do so.  
    In deceiving the church to confuse it and divide it in the last days, Satan will use scripture and ‘goodness’ to draw people into his lies.  Remember, the relevance of the scriptures or the church today should not be gauged on its success to draw in the masses.  The Bible warns us that in the last days, the masses will have great knowledge but will not know Him.  I believe that although the numbers in the Church are lowering, the true Believers are being raised up and being prepared to do His will.  This has nothing to do with an actual increase in Believers.  The numbers do not matter as much as the quality of Believers.  Why do I say this?  Because, too many Christian people are quick to point out the irrelevance of the ‘old’ Gospel as it is preached today, due to the dwindling numbers of people in the church.
    On false prophet sites the following are some of the things being discussed.  (The Bible is the best place to go to smoke out false teachings!!!)  "Over the past few decades there has appeared a new way of looking at church ministry which incorporates a more world-relevant approach to church services. Called "the emergent church movement," it was born out of a feeling that in many modern churches something has gone wrong, especially in failing to attract the younger, postmodern generation."
    In Brother Dager's "A Personal Note" in the latest issue of "Media Spotlight", he writes, "The movement is focused on replacing reliance upon God's Word for all spiritual belief and practice with sensual experience through the return to ancient forms of worship that characterize Roman Catholicism and other so-called, "high churches" such as the Anglican, Lutheran and Eastern Orthodox traditions."  Also, he writes, "When scripture is said to be inadequate to arrive at truth apart from experience, tradition, and human reasoning, and the methodology of a movement rests upon such a claim, then we must say unequivocally that that movement is not of God. The conclusion, then, is that the movement, being of a spiritual nature, must be of Satan. We say this with no apologies to the foolish or even naive followers of that movement. Our warning is to come out of it; have no part in it; repent of it."  
    Revelation 12:9 speaks of, "... that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceives the whole world."  The Lord put that and similar verses in his Word to warn us of a reality of world history: Global deception. And even those who profess to be Evangelical Christians are susceptible to the Serpent's lie. "In the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils."   1 Timothy 4:1.

    Four ways that Christians are being deceived in our day are:

·                     The Repackaged Lie

·                     Blurred Distinctions

·                     Unequal Yoking

·                     Following Gurus

The Repackaged Lie

Satan is brilliantly clever at taking age-old lies, disguising them in subtlety, and gradually introducing them to even those who insist that they believe in the infallible authority of the Bible. Examples of lies the Enemy has deceived us with are all the various ways we are obsessed with "Self"; the numerous techniques of "Christianized" sorcery and divination within the Church; and the many issues and fads designed to give us a "Tower of Babel" vision for global unity.

Blurred Distinctions

Not only is Satan the "Father of lies", but he is also the "Author of confusion". It is getting harder and harder to tell the difference between neo-paganism and the liberal church; or between the liberal church and Evangelical Christianity. The message and the priorities of the Church are becoming indistinguishable from the World. Books by M. Scott Peck, for example, are found in both Christian bookstores and New Age/Occult bookstores. These books teach that humans are evolving to godhood; that we must become "mystics" and use Eastern meditation; and they advocate a one-world government.

Unequal Yoking

Christian leaders and Christian organizations are more and more yoking themselves with unbiblical, pagan groups and movements which set the followers up for synthesis, syncretism and compromise of doctrine and priorities. What fellowship does light have with darkness? These unholy alliances are often taking place in the name of "traditional family values" and involve relationships between Evangelicals, Roman Catholicism, Mormons, and Moonies; or, the alliances involve solving the problems of "Mother Earth" in association with various utopian movements.

Following Gurus

The final way in which Christians are being deceived is very much related to the first three. We are much more likely, these days, to not refer to our Bible for our convictions and world- view, but instead to follow the opinions of leaders we look up to. In these days of "Christian Mass Media", Celebrity Ministers are likely to draw our attention and our allegiance. It is a dangerous thing to set up Gurus within the Body of Christ who are beyond criticism. "Touch not the Lord's anointed!" we are told when the Guru's doctrine or behavior is questioned, which is a reference to 1 Samuel 24 and 26. In those references, David was referring to not KILLING Saul. He was not forbidding CRITICISM of Saul. In fact, David himself rebukes Saul publicly. In these last days we cannot afford to follow human leaders as if they were Gurus; whether they be Rick Warren, Dr. Dobson, Bill Gothard, Pat Robertson, or Billy Graham, or leaders who jump on a media bandwagon, or musicians, or Emergent Church leaders, or politicians. We are to be disciples of Jesus, and him alone.

    
    Our only hope to not be deceived in these last days is to "abide in the vine"; to surrender our hearts moment by moment to the Holy Spirit; to be Acts 17 "Bereans" and filter everything through the written Word of God; and to be lovers of the Truth.

    "Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness."  2 Thessalonians 2:9-12

    This is a lot to consider, Brook, but please take this to the Lord in prayer and seek your answers in His word.  Mom and I love you so much!


Love Dad

Life can be Simple

Life is simple if you really think about it.  Nothing complicated and definitely many reasons to keep it simple. Look at a wise guy’s take on life, “Everything is meaningless under the sun...”  He goes on to say, “If the Lord is not in it...”  So I would surmise that in all his wisdom, he found the truth.  There was not anything he did not see, partake of, experience, evaluate, investigate, etc.., and yet he found no meaning in it all.  Why?  

Today we fill our lives and relationships with stuff – the common theme on our facebook is testing how the world sees us-what about how He sees us?  We are into shopping, money and concerns, games, trips, in and out of relationships – life!  Only when we live so inwardly do our outward circumstances become so messed up and complicated.  Simplicity is found only in the Father through Jesus and entrusting Him with our lives.  It’s a safe place, a simple place and all else becomes meaningless under the sun.

Nash Family Praise

Praise the Lord, all that we are,

all that we do, all that we will be.

Praise His holy name.

Praise the Lord Oh our souls,

forget not the benefits he has

given to our family.

The Lord has fed us through times of trouble,

the Lord has housed us and clothed us in times of need,

the Lord has given us work to bring in our provisions.

Praise be to God.

Praise the Lord for blessing us with 6 children,

praise Him for friends and spiritual support.

May our hearts be filled with peace and joy,

may we use our talents to glorify Him.

Praise be to God.

May we use the knowledge we’ve been blessed with,

to pursue opportunities God has placed before our feet,

may God use our talents, abilities, and gifts to accomplish

His perfect will.

God has blessed us with freedom in a country that has no equal,

where we can praise Him without persecution.

He inspires us to shine our light in a dark world.

Praise be to God.

Praise the Lord for our salvation.

Praise Him for His great mercy,

for sinners like us.

May our family praise His holy name.

The influence that older children have on their siblings

Recently, I had cause to pause and consider both the good and bad influences that my eldest two sons have had on their younger brothers and sisters.

            I would not consider that Kristi and I have been completely successful at setting boundaries for our children, but we did pray long and hard on the subject and when they came along, we set down boundaries that mirrored our convictions.  Of course, some of the rules set early on, were adjusted or abandoned over time, becoming prime examples of what not to do in raising children.  As we are seeing our youngest child growing up and learning from his mistakes, the boundaries we set years ago are still relevant and working successfully.

            Our two oldest boys, Braden and Brooklin, for the most part adhered to our wishes over the years.  Kristi and I both know we are blessed beyond measure with most of the choices they have made.  But, they both chose to break one of our rules over what kinds of books or movies they could read or watch.  We had laid down guidelines years ago, that we would not allow our children to see movies that portrayed witchcraft in a good light.  Gray areas that we had to consider where movies such as the Wizard of Oz and Lord of the Rings; which we allowed because these told classic stories about good and evil and did not teach the details of witchcraft.  Then a movie and book series came along that taught witchcraft and surprisingly, it was accepted by most of our Christian friends.  We had to re-evaluate this rule and our decision was not suppose to be a difficult one to make (because it violated all of the criteria that we had discussed years ago).  But, now it was tough.  It became a difficult decision to make, because most of the families we looked up to in regards to how they raised their kids, were reading and watching this series.  The set in stone rule finally won the day, so we reminded the older boys that the Harry Potter books and movies were off limits. 

Both Braden and Brooklin proceeded to break the rule.  At the time, they both thought the ban on Harry Potter was silly and Brooklin even was incredulous that we would not allow him to read the first book.  Equipped with fresh debate skills (Thank you Mock Trial), he presented his argument, “Why not?  All the parents of my friends allowed them to read Harry Potter!”  When we discovered that the boys had disobeyed us, there were consequences given out and lessons learned thru tough love, but the deed was done. 

We thought the issue was resolved and the younger kids all understood the rule, so we put it to rest for a couple years.  We learned recently, that our two daughters just down loaded the first and second Harry Potter movies and a couple of the books, because they justified that it would be ok to do so, “because Braden and Brooklin watched and read them.” Consequences have been given out, and our daughters are experiencing tough love.

The point that I am trying to make, is not that all parents should ban Harry Potter from their children, but that the boundaries you set for your children need to be consistent and derived from your God given convictions.  They need to be set in stone; so much so that time and life’s weather will not erode them.  And finally, that when older children make poor choices, be vigilant to ensure that the younger siblings don’t go down the same path.  As parents we tend to believe that when one child disobeys us, the others will see how foolish it was and learn from their siblings’ mistakes.  In hindsight, I would use the analogy that when one child chooses to mess with a black hole, his siblings are more inclined to take a peek and be drawn into it, too. 

As always, we pray for our children every day.  That they will be wise and not make decisions based on what other people do, but make them based on scripture and prayer.