A Slap In The Face.....

Sometimes ideas creep up on me and other times they slap me in the face!  I’m still feeling the effects of the slap so here we go!

 

A couple of weeks ago at the Brumley Sing I picked up a copy of the new Brian Free and Assurance project.  I have enjoyed their music over the years and the new project is no exception.  I have driven my family crazy listening to it. 

 

There are several songs that I love on the project, but one kept hitting me as I would listen.  It is called “Guard Your Heart”.  The message is simple, but it is one of those things that I very much take for granted.

 

I tend to be one who sometimes has to be run over with a message to get it, but that was not the case a couple of years ago.  It has been every on television program, on the web, in print.  The economy is bad!  This is the message that I was seeing everywhere I looked and I knew that was going to get worse.  So we had a family meeting in the Gaches house and did the proverbial circling of the wagons.  (Hey, I come from the west)

 

We adjusted the thermostat, became more responsible with our laundry, cut down on shower times, (two teenagers, need I say more) started shutting the lights off in the room when we left, planned our trips to town to save fuel, made grocery lists so we would buy the right things with out wasting money on frivolous purchases, etc, etc.

 

This is a practice that we have continued for the last 2 or 3 years, and it has really paid off.  But yesterday I received an e-mail with the story of a father asking his daughter to make sure the doors to their home were locked.  The daughter looked at the father and said “that’s your job”.  It struck me as really funny because that is exactly what my daughter Kylie and my wife Tamra tell me.

 

They see the father or husband as a protector, and I can’t say that I disagree with them.  I do feel an incredible responsibility to protect and provide for my family.  I place a great deal of value in my family and I want to protect them from any harm that could possibly come.  This is where my brain made a hard right!

 

I would imagine that most of you are trying to figure out what any of this has to do with the song.  Well, let me try to explain my thought process. (This could get scary) My approach to a struggling economy was to do everything I could to protect my family, but what was it that I was truly protecting?  Our wallet!  We have changed our way of living for the last 2 or 3 years so that we can be more financially stable.

 

I’ll be the first to say that there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.  In fact, I am proud of the way my family has reacted to the situation.  But we did all that to simply make sure our finances were ok, and that was not the most frightening thing that I have seen in the last 3 years.  I have watched the enemy literally destroy 4 of my friend’s lives over the past 3 years.

 

It should come as no surprise because 1 Peter 5:8 says Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour, and he is really good at his job!  Tamra and I have talked about the way the enemy attacked in each situation.  It was always something that seemed so small, and then over time it became a devastating tool that was used by Satan to destroy.

 

I began to think, have I done enough to protect my family from these attacks?  I was so vigilant in my approach to guarding our finances, and my family is worth more than any amount of money there is.  So am I being as vigilant in protecting them from the attacks of the enemy? 

 

The lyric in the first half of the chorus of the song says:

 

                        Guard your heart, guard your heart

                        Lock the door and hide the key

                        From the enemy

 

I realized yesterday that I need to work harder to protect the things that I value the most, and that shouldn’t stop with my immediate family.  I have determined to be more faithful in praying for my friends as well.  I refuse to give up any more to the devils tricks!  The truth is that I am the spiritual head of my house and I need to make sure the house is secure! 

 

My prayer is that each of you will join me in praying for our families and friends.  Let’s stand together and watch as God foils the plans of the enemy.

 

Until next time…..