Rants on Life, God, and Pastoring

My kids run through life with reckless abandon!  They do everything with 100% effort and never weigh the consequences of their actions.  Just this morning Adyson was reaching for a quarter and she was completely unaware that shaking the table almost caused the lamp to fall on her head.  Micah’s favorite new extreme activity is jumping off of anything that is really high.  The higher the better.  The more dangerous, the more exciting it is to him.  We have a small hill in the front of our house.  It is the hill we sled down when it snows. (See the videos category to watch an example)  That hill has been used to break in his bike, four wheeler, big wheel and scooter.  The first thing he wants to do is ride down as fast as he can.  Adyson has recently learned to climb.  We find her in the most peculiar and dangerous places because of this new obsession.  As I type this, she is sitting on top of the dog’s crate?  

My kids know that bad actions lead to bad consequences.  A common phrase after being caught is, “Please, don’t pop my bottom!”.  They have also learned that good actions lead to good consequences.  Life is all about facing the consequences to our actions.  The Bible tells of a man named David that was known as a man after God’s own heart.  He killed a giant, was named king and was blessed by God.  In 2 Sam 11 we learn that he made a big mistake!  He commited adultery and then had his mistress’s husband killed.  God forgave him, but he was told that the sword would remain in his house forever! (2 Samuel 12:10)  Even a man called to great things by God himself faced consequences for his bad choices.  His family was a mess!  The child that his mistress conceived died, his son raped his daughter, and his oldest son tried to kill him numerous times to become king.  Is God a cruel God or a just God?  Many read stories like this and want to label God as hateful and angry.  I see this as God allowing us to make our own choices and then allowing us to live with the consequences.  God will give us guidance and wisdom in making our decisions, but He does not remove the consequence.  Every choice we make will lead to a result.  There will be consequences, you get to choose how they will affect your life!