2006 – Year in Review

God has done many things in the lives of our family over this past year. Some of these things we considered great blessings. Some were great challenges. Yet all came at the hand of our sovereign God who has all things under His control.

The blessing of children tops the list for our blessings this year. Our Sarah Grace was born on March 24. Also, my brother and his wife gave birth to their second son and third child, Joshua Alex on May 11. Joshua’s middle name is the same as my grandfather, Malcom Alex. Providentially he was born on “Pepaw’s” birthday. Finally, my sister and her husband arrived in Texas with their newly adopted daughter, Abbey Elena Johnson on December 24.

This year has brought us several positive changes. I took a job with Dobson Communications at the end of January. With the acceptance of this position, we made the move to Oklahoma. This opened up the change of acquiring a new home and finding a new church. The church is family integrated and holds to the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith. This is right in sync with where the Lord has been leading me in my spiritual walk. The church family is very loving and we have grown close in the short amount of time we have been together so far. This year, Vision Forum has continued to play a large part in my spiritual walk and in helping me to lead my family. For the first time this year, we have formed a family vision statement. See my very first blog entry to read its text and explanation.

I mentioned taking a new position at Dobson. For secular employment, I have really enjoyed it. It is quite a change from LifeWay, and my ultimate goal is to work for myself with my family. However, until the Lord opens up that door, He has blessed me with a good work environment. I have a supervisor, manager, and VP with whom I work very well. They value my contribution and have praised my efforts on the job probably more than any other employer for whom I have worked. I attended a Vision Forum Entrepreneurial conference with my oldest son this year and received many ideas on going into business with my family. Geoff Botkin gave a very good presentation on the forming of a 200 year plan. With his inspiration, I have done the same for my family. Way back in January I took a woodworking class where I learned three types of joints. I am just now beginning to acquire the tools I need to practice these skills. Whether this leads to a business endeavor or just a good hobby that I can do with my children, I think this will be a worthwhile effort.

There were also a few challenges this year. Standing right alongside our greatest blessing this year, the birth of Sarah, is our greatest challenge, the accident Sheri had in our van. In this wreck, Sheri broke several ribs and her sternum. It also caused her to go into labor. Sarah was born via emergency c-section. The other bright spot in this accident story is that we were able to get a new van since we had outgrown our other one anyway. See my blog entry on the Lord’s Provision in Transportation to read more about it.

Our youngest son, Paton, had hernia surgery this year. Sheri lost her grandfather. He was her last living grandparent. The girl’s had their rooms flooded this year with the bursting of a water line under their bathroom sink. For several days we had dehumidifiers going and big carpet fans. Finally, Sheri’s mom hit a deer with her car with Brittney in the front seat. What’s more is that the deer either got away or someone else picked it up before I could get back to get it.

We’ve had some good memories from this year. As I have done with the three oldest children, I began to teach Justin to read this year. He’s doing quite well, though he needs to practice a bit with the sound “an.” He reads it different than the way he speaks, so it confuses him. Also, we have begun to compete in the Jamestown 400 Vision Forum contest. We are having a blast with it and fully intend to win 400 gold coins in 2007 at the Jamestown celebration in June.

God’s blessings have abounded. I know we are right where He wants us for now. What 2007 and beyond holds for us, only He knows.

That’ll Never Work? Let’s Just See About That!

There’s a man of God today promoting a certain message of multi-generational faithfulness. He is the father of five sons and two daughters. This man’s name is Geoffrey Botkin. Geoff Botkin has not always been a prime example of a Christian father. In fact, he is a former Marxist. However, you could not tell that today based on his commitment to Christ and his resolve to lead his family according to Christian principles.

Mr. Botkin spoke at our church when we were attending Sovereign Grace Family Church in Carrollton, Texas. He also spoke at the Vision Forum Entrepreneurial Bootcamp in August 2006. In his messages, Mr. Botkin has outlined a “200-year” plan for his family. In this plan, he records family history, and plans out the future. Then he charges his sons to produce their own plans beginning at their marriage dates. Of course, these plans will overlap greatly. Yet, each plan will be unique as new families are formed, and the vision is passed to the next generation.

I have begun my own plan. My wife and I married in 1990. So, I did the easy part first, documenting what has happened since then! But I have also begun to plot out the future dates. My wife was not too crazy about seeing a planned “death date,” so I made a general rule that everyone in my chart who is currently living (or not born yet) will live to be 100 years old. If we exceed that, then Praise God! If not…well, that’s fine too. The point is that most of us will have anywhere from 80-100 years. This plan helps to see just how much (and how many) we can expect to influence in our relatively brief lifetimes. I have yet to find out Mr. Botkin’s exact columns that he used. His presentations were given so fast, it was hard to copy all the information. However, what I realized is that he has given a great inspiration. I can fill in my own details.

I have created this plan in an Excel spreadsheet. Down the left side of the spreadsheet, I have a row for each year including and between 1990 and 2190. My current column headings include “Family Members,” “Publications,” “Skills Learned,” “Businesses Established,” “Ministry Initiatives,” and “Historic Remembrances.” I will add new columns as I deem it necessary.

Under “Family Members,” I list each descendent of mine with their birth dates in the appropriate year, along with the date they turn 13, the date they marry, the date they turn 45, and the date they die. My general rule is that at this point, I am only planning descendents for those who have already been born. Otherwise it gets too confusing with a lack of names. When planning future sons and daughters, they are listed as “son #4.” Grandchildren are currently listed as “Justin’s #3” for example. 13 is significant because that formally marks the transition from childhood to adulthood. 45 is significant because I have arbitrarily set that age as the date that the Lord’s blessing of children stops. If God chooses to bless beyond that age, then “Praise God!” However, for purposes of planning, this is the arbitrary age. As I mentioned, 100 years is the “planned” lifespan of everyone.

“Publications” lists the books that each family member has or will publish. It is recorded in the year in which is happens, along with the month, as well as the author’s name, and possible title.

“Skills Learned” will detail things like learning a foreign language, learning to play a musical instrument, etc. The “accomplishment” date is the date whereby a rudimentary skill is achieved. Of course, these skills will improve with practice. But this plan will help us to keep focused.

“Businesses Established” help to encourage entrepreneurial endeavors, thereby ensuring a life of freedom for each of our descendents where they will not be dependent upon an employer for their livelihood.

“Ministry Initiatives” detail ways that the Lord is using each of us as His body doing His work on this Earth. We should always be found doing our “Father’s Business.”

Finally, I added “Historic Remembrances” to help us remember the “ancient landmarks” laid by those who went before us. In this column, I put anniversaries that we hope to attend as a family, such as the Jamestown 400 celebration next year. There will be many of these celebrations over these 200 years. Because of this column I already know that I want to visit Germany on October 31, 2017 for the celebration of the 500th anniversary of the start of the Protestant Reformation.

I’m excited about making these plans. I realize that the plan must remain flexible. Not everyone will live to be 100. Each son or daughter may not have all the children I have planned for them. The important thing is, though, that I am teaching them to desire God’s blessings in every area of their life. It is a time of training to take dominion over this Earth and subdue it. What I do expect, however, is that every single child, and every single descendent beyond them will live a life dedicated to Jesus Christ. Every one of these children will trust their fathers to lead them in the courtship process when considering marriage. There will be none lost.

In sharing some of these goals with an extended family member, he simply shook his head, and proclaimed, “That’ll never work.” One thing’s for sure, if you don’t try, then you know you won’t receive the results. But with God’s help, I believe that I can set the expectations for two centuries to come, and that my children after me will carry this same vision forward to their descendents forever.

The Lord’s Provision in Transportation

I thought I’d take the opportunity today to introduce you to our new (as of April…so “not-so-new” now) van that the Lord blessed us with.

In March, Sheri was driving our old van and was involved in a major accident. This caused her to go into labor, and she delivered our beautiful daughter by emergency c-section that night.

With the birth of our baby we were going to outgrow our old van anyway, so this took care of our predicament on how to sell it.

Though we “only” have six children, I found a 15 passenger van in Tulsa. We had moved to Oklahoma City at the end of February. It is a 2001 year model with only 10,100 original miles on it when I bought it. It has leather seating and a whopping 8.1 Liter V8. This is the same engine found in some motor homes. It’s got plenty of power, but leaves a lot to be desired in gas mileage. We get about 10 mpg.

However, this has been a huge blessing to us. I paid $8000 cash for it with money from the insurance we had on the old van, combined with our tax refund, and a couple of monetary gifts we received after our accident.

So, since we have no debt, it’s much easier to keep fuel in it. Since getting it in April it now has close to 20,000 miles on it. When the odometer rolls to 20,200 we will have put as many miles on it as it had in the initial five years it was basically setting in the original owners driveway.

We get quite a few turned heads when we are driving down the interstate, especially now that I have added two large Christian fish symbols, with six little fish following behind, on our back door.

We are praying that the Lord would help us add rear air conditioning to it, as the children in the back get hot in the summer. However, it is in very good condition, and after finally getting rid of the cigarette smoke smell, it has become quite an excellent family mover. (BTW - We removed the very back seat that seats 4 - that gave us a lot of storage space, and it will still hold 11 like that. If our family grows to where we need it or we want to take more friends, we can always reinstall the back seat.)

Oh, and by the way, the flames are just an “added bonus” to help my ordinarily very conservative wife learn not to be embarrassed by outside stuff. :-) I think the Lord must have a sense of humor. I and the children love the flames! We definitely don’t have a hard time finding this van in a crowded parking lot!

Which Type are You?

There are 10 types of people in this world: those who understand binary, and those who don’t.

There’s a beauty in homeschooling in that you can teach what you think is appropriate in all subject areas. Now, with something as objective as math, I generally follow the curriculum pretty closely. However, there is something lacking in our otherwise very good Saxon math books. My oldest daughter is doing eighth grade work now, and she has yet to learn number systems other than base 10.

When I was in seventh grade, I taught myself binary using an old Commodore Vic 20 instruction manual. Remember those? I believe it had 3K of memory. For comparison, the Atari 2600 game console had 5K, I believe. Anyway, one of the games that came with the used system I bought would sometimes fail right in the middle and give me a “Syntax Error.” What I discovered when this happened intrigued me. I found that as I typed keys after this program had failed that some of the keys displayed parts of the pictures from the games, rather than the expected characters (A, B, C, etc.) I wanted to learn how to do this, so I pulled out the manual and discovered that you could alter the character set for each letter by assigning several 8 bit codes to each letter. Where the bit was “turned on” the pixel was lit up. Where it was off, the pixel was off. This translated into the 1’s and 0’s that made up the number. In the first position was 2 to the 0 power, or “1.” In the second position was 2 to the 1st power, or “2.” In the third position was 2 to the 2nd power, or “4,” and so on continuing to 2 to the 7th power (which was 128). If I wanted any of these pixels lit up I just added that number to the grand total. This gave a number anywhere between 0-255. In no time at all, I was modifying my character fonts. In the process, I was learning a valuable lesson that I would later use in my college days, as well as on the job from time to time. What I didn’t have explained to me was the ease at which binary converts to hexadecimal. I didn’t manage to grasp that concept until after my college IBM 370 Assembler class.

Anyway, from time to time, I’ll go over a few lessons on binary with the children. To count to ten in binary, you count this way (starting at zero):

0, 1, 10, 11, 100, 101, 110, 111, 1000, 1001, 1010

It’s easy when you think about it. When you count in decimal, you run out of numbers after you use up 9. So, you count: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. What comes next? There’s no single digit to represent the next number in binary, so you have to use a combination of digits to represent numbers greater than 9. So, we use 1 followed by 0, or “10.” Binary is the same way, it’s just you run out of numbers much faster. In the above example where I count to ten in binary, you start: 0, 1, then oops…we don’t have another digit, so we have to start combining, though the value is only two. So, two in binary has to be represented as a combination of 1 followed by 0, or “10.” The next number, 11, is three, then oops, we have to add another column, because we’ve used up the digits again. That’s when we get 100, which is 4. And so on…I think you get the picture.

Whereas binary uses only 1’s and 0’s, hexadecimal uses 0-9, and A-F. It is base 16. Therefore, after 9, the next digit is A (having a value of ten), followed by B, and so on to F (having a value of 15). Computers only recognize binary. But hexadecimal is a great help to programmers. The quick little conversion thing is this. Four bits (binary digits) are needed to make a single hexadecimal digit. 0000 (binary) equates to 0 in hex. 1111 (binary) equates to F in hex. Two of these hexadecimal digits make up a “byte” or 8 binary digits. Therefore, programmers have an easier type representing computer commands and values using hex rather than decimal. Knowing that each hex digit converts straightforward to a binary value, it’s easy to see why hex is the preferred notation.

For some reason, Saxon Math doesn’t think this is an important concept to pass on to my children, at least not from Kindergarten through eighth grade. Well, that’s OK. I bring the topic up from time to time. When my children want to learn programming, they’ll have a head start over all those modern “wimp” programmers who’s GUI environment fills everything in automatically. In the old days, we actually had to allocate our own memory…programmers today have it easy… I’ll teach my children programming “heritage,” not just the path of ease… (this last paragraph written somewhat tongue in cheek!)

So, of the 10 types of people, which type are you? I’ll give you a hint, there’s only two!

Cancer and Children

On December 4, 2006, I described a situation that greatly illustrated my theology before and after the Lord led me according to the Doctrines of Grace. Now, just last Thursday I found out that a friend of mine has a three year old son who has been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer all over his body. My friend already has convictions concerning the Sovereignty of God. If anything could test your faith, it would be something this devastating happening to your own baby. This man strongly believes that children are a blessing. The Lord has blessed him with 13 children so far.

Because I have not sought his permission to write this blog about his family, I will not publish his name. However, please keep this family lifted up in prayer before our Father. Pray for God’s mercy in healing this young boy. Pray earnestly for God’s will to be done. Finally, pray, not out of “giving up,” but out of due respect to the King of the Universe, that this family will accept whatever outcome our Sovereign Lord decides in this case.

If you live in the state of Oklahoma and would like to donate blood on his behalf, please contact me and I’ll make the arrangements. If you would like to donate funds to help with their expenses, I’ll send you more information when you contact me directly as well.

Thank you for your prayer and support. Let’s have the faith that God can heal him, and that God does still heal in this modern age. Let’s have the submission to pray “Your will be done. For your ways are higher than our ways, and Your thoughts are higher than our thoughts.”

Blessings…
Mike

Deer and Collisions

Just a couple of weeks ago, my mother-in-law hit a deer on her way back to our house after going to the store for a few things. This really tore her little Honda up pretty badly, doing about $4700 worth of damage. She was only traveling about 25 mph. Then earlier this week a friend of mine from church was traveling at 60 mph on a highway when a deer ran out in front of him. He was driving his van with his wife and six children in the vehicle. His damage was over $6800. What is the deal with these deer?! For many years I have wanted to hunt. I may just have a chance out here in Oklahoma. To date, I’ve not had a good place to hunt.

Something needs to be done, though, to relieve this obvious overcrowding of the deer population. When I hear of two people close to me, within a span of two weeks hitting deer, I can only guess that the same problem could very well happen to me. There’s not much I can do to prepare my Mustang for such an encounter, but I am seriously considering buying a heavy duty tubular steel bumper for our van. I can’t afford to lose it. In my opinion, they need to eliminate restrictions on hunting deer. Let hunters take all they want, at least for a time. Doing this would help public safety. We thank God that neither my mother-in-law nor my friend’s family from church were hurt seriously (though my friend’s wife and daughter are a little sore). I seriously doubt that removing limits from hunters would result in deer extinction. If the species actually begins to be threatened, then reinstate the limits. But for now, these deer would be much less of a public threat if they were stored in someone’s freezer.

Pearl Harbor Day

December 7, 1941, a day that will live in infamy lives on in the hearts and minds of an ever shrinking population in America. When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, they awakened a giant. This was the last constitutionally declared war the United States has entered. Wars are not to be entered via executive order.

Article I. Section 8 of the United States Constitution declares in part:

The Congress shall have Power To…declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;

My grandfather fought the Japanese in this war while serving in the U.S. Navy. Unlike so many others of his peers, the Lord providentially caused him to come home unharmed. If my grandfather had died in WWII, my father would not have been born in 1946, I would not have been born in 1968, and my children would not be here today. Yet, my grandfather did not cower back when his country needed him. He had a just cause for which to fight, and he had a constitutionally declared war in which to participate.

My grandfather’s Navy was a Navy that honored the one true God. In the 1940’s this country still upheld Christian principles. Now, we have “chaplains” that represent a plethora of false religions. My grandfather’s military was made up of valiant men who knew it was their duty to defend their wives and children back home. Our current military is made up of men and women who die on foreign battlefields in “wars” that have never been declared by Congress. We should hold our heads in shame that as a nation we would ever allow women to be carried home in body bags. If there are any female service members reading this, please don’t be offended. I mean you no disrespect. However, your presence on the battlefield is a constant reminder that there is a feminized man back home somewhere letting a woman spill her blood for him in his place. The U.S. military is now made up of a contingent of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” sodomites who continue to press their politically correct agenda.

The Allied forces may have won World War II. However, in our modern day the enemy is making great strides in this once great country without even firing a shot. The next time someone calls you a sexist for advocating a male only military, or the next time someone calls you a bigot for insisting that our military only support heterosexuality, you should recognize these voices as the voice of an enemy set on weakening our defenses. Unfortunately, by taking a look around, it looks like their poison has just about penetrated all of our society.

May God bless the USA and bring us back to our glory days of yesteryear when the name of Jesus Christ alone was proclaimed in the halls of Congress, in the Oval Office, and on the battlefield, and when men stood honorably and bravely ready to defend their families against foreign invaders.

Class of 1987 - CHHS

On June 9, 2007 the Cedar Hill High School Class of 1987 will celebrate its twenty year reunion. Has it really been twenty years? As senior class president I have taken on the duty of organizing this event every ten years. It seems like only yesterday I was involved in organizing the ten year reunion. Time is certainly flying. I suppose we should start planning the thirty year reunion on June 10, 2007, for if the next ten years goes by faster than this past ten years, then we’ll barely have time to blink.

It’s amazing when attending these things the wide variation of how people have either changed or stayed the same. Some of the people I knew and spoke with frequently when in high school changed so drastically I barely recognized them at the ten year reunion. I can only imagine what the twenty year will be like. On the other hand, some of them look just like they did on graduation day. Of course, I don’t think I look that much different, until I start looking at my old pictures!

If you are a 1987 graduate of Cedar Hill High School in Cedar Hill, Texas, please drop me an email at mike@mikesoutherland.com. We are currently trying to get in touch with as many classmates as possible. I’d also like to contact some of our former teachers. A few made it to the ten year reunion. We would be honored to have you join us for the twenty year celebration. Mr. Bill Thomas, if you are reading this, please drop me a note. You were definitely one of my favorite teachers for computer programming and calculus.

Matt Herring, if you run across this blog, send me a note. You didn’t make it to the ten year reunion. I’d really like to get back in touch with you after twenty years.

We should have a good time. The event will be held at the Iron Cactus in Dallas. We have a planning committee that is organizing all the details as I write this. We’ll send out the pricing information as soon as possible, after the meal has been selected, etc. My understanding is that the Iron Cactus is a bit more relaxed than City Place, where we held the ten year reunion.

I’m looking forward to seeing all of you there. Please send me an email if you are a classmate. I’d love to hear from you, and I’ll fill you in on all the details we have already.

-Mike

Mid-Life Crisis?

I’m no expert on what exactly constitutes “Mid-Life Crisis.” But from what I can tell, this phenomenon did not manifest itself until the 20th century. In my limited understanding of all things psychological, I think men typically experience this when their children have left home, but they don’t have grand children yet. It’s sort of a time when you’re too old to be young and too young to be old. From what I’ve heard, some guys turn to drinking. Others go out and buy a brand new sports car. Unfortunately, some may even practice adultery. Yet, what should this time in life constitute for a Christian man?

I was thinking about that today, as today is my 38th birthday. The way I see it, God did not intend for men to have a “bored” time of life when they are not actively involved in the lives of the next generation. After work today I will go home to my six children ranging in age from 13 down to 8 months. If things go the way they usually do, I’ll have a large collection of homemade cards wishing me a Happy Birthday. I love it. If the Lord continues to bless us the way He has so far, I will still be actively parenting my younger children when the first of the grandchildren start to come. In my case there will be no “gap” between the last child leaving home and the first grandchildren making their arrival. In fact, there could possibly be a very close age difference between my youngest child, and my oldest grandchild. (Maybe even a grandchild who’s older than my youngest child? That would be fun!)

Life is too short, and time is too important to waste it on material pursuits. I have so much I want to impart unto my children and my grandchildren. I have so much I want to learn so that I can, in turn, impart that into their lives as well. The time passes so quickly. It seems like only yesterday when I was a child in my parents’ home. Then it seems like yesterday when my wife and I married, and again when our oldest child was born.

I think in my case, I’ll skip my “mid-life” and simultaneously fill the roles of young daddy and wise grandfather. May the Lord grant me this desire, and may I bring Him glory in the pursuit.

The Sovereignty of God

Over the last 3 years or so, my doctrine has changed radically. Though I have named the name of Christ since I was five years old, I’ve had a major shift in vision during this brief last three years. Maybe I should back up a bit to tell the story.

In 2002, my sister-in-law who had Down Syndrome was diagnosed with cancer. I believe it was liver cancer, though I’m not sure. She went downhill fast, with about six months elapsing between the initial diagnosis and her death. At this point in my Christian walk, we were involved in a charismatic church. As I am wont to do, I also read numerous resources associated with our stated beliefs. I listened to other charismatic preachers. I say that to say that I may not have gotten this mindset completely from our church at the time, but I was at least influenced in this way of thinking by this theology. I am not disparaging these teachers, though I no longer agree with them. To clarify, my understanding of this teaching was that God has provided for all our healing. Satan is committed to bringing sickness on us all. Therefore, all we needed to do to get our healing is to have faith, reach out, and “take” it. Christ has already provided for healing on the cross, according to Isaiah 53:5. Well, here I was watching my sister-in-law die a death stretched out over 6 months, and all I could see were my in-laws preparing for the worst. This devastated me because I had known Lori since she was 7 years old. She was 21 at this time. She had been like a little sister to me. In my way of thinking, the devil was attacking her and we needed to stand strong and “claim” her healing. I said some things that I later regretted, because in my theological system all I saw was a “lack of faith” exhibited by her family.

2002 was a hard year. In addition to her sister, my wife also lost her grandmother, and I lost a grandmother as well. I didn’t blame God in all this. But I also didn’t see His hand at work in it either.

Meanwhile, my children were growing older. I could see that my daughter was quickly approaching youth group age at our church. Through at least one source, and I believe several sources, I found the ministry of Vision Forum. They have some excellent teachings on the hazards of the “Christian” youth culture. I began to listen to tapes and read books on parenting according to Christian principles. We were blessed in that a majority of our church homeschooled. Yet, when it came to worship, the whole church seemed to love the age segregated model.

To make a long story short, I had some other friends in Nashville who I met with at least weekly to do ministry at a local Planned Parenthood facility. I rarely “did ministry” with others from my church (though we did do a bit of street evangelism periodically). It was difficult to ever get any of them to join me at the abortuary for a time of prayer and passing out of literature. God was leading all of us (my friends and I) in a direction of Reformed Theology. We didn’t all approach it in the same manner. Yet, all of us were shown the truths of the Doctrines of Grace. I listened to an audiobook entitled The Sovereignty of God by A.W. Pink. I secured a printed copy and passed it on to the associate pastor at our church. He read through part of it and quickly dismissed it. I also began to realize that the senior pastor consistently preached an Arminian message, though he never called it that.

Through a series of events we ended up attending Reformed Baptist Church of Nashville for several months during the transition year of 2005 before our short move to Dallas, followed by our permanent move to Oklahoma.

The short of it is that I have come to realize the greatness of the Sovereignty of God. There is nothing that happens outside His control. When my sister-in-law passed away in 2002, it wasn’t that Satan “won this battle” as I had thought previously. Rather, God, in His Providence, and for purposes which I don’t understand “took her home.” God did it Himself, whether directly, or by using Satan as His puppet. It doesn’t matter. Satan can not thwart God’s will. This realization has shook me to the core and shaken up many of the old ideas that I once believed.

God reigns supreme. His Word is 100% accurate and true. He can be trusted to fulfill His promises, but He has never promised we would never have to endure sickness. That is a charismatic misinterpretation of the scriptures.

It all begins to make sense when you consider that if it is always God’s will for us to be healed, and we aren’t healed, then God failed. God never fails. Therefore we know that His will is always accomplished. Who are we to feebly attempt to thwart His will?

Likewise, God is sovereign over the salvation of man. For those who advocate a “free will” as the determining factor in salvation, they greatly exaggerate the importance of man in this decision. The scripture says we are dead in sin. Dead men do not respond to the Gospel. It is only when our spirit is resurrected by God Himself that we ever respond to His call.

I can now approach life with a brand new attitude. I need not fear death, for I know that I will not die until the day God has appointed for me to die. What’s more is that if God has appointed me to die on a particular day, there is nothing I can do to stop it. When I or my family is sick, I pray for the grace of God that they are healed. Yet, if they are healed, God gets the glory, not me for reaching out and “taking” it. If they are not healed, but get over it gradually, then I accept that as God’s will. If they are healed through the hands of doctors, then I can accept God’s sovereign will in that area too.

God is sovereign over the blessing of children. Who is man to deliberately try and stop God’s blessing of children? Sure, God can override man’s feeble attempts and give a child in spite of birth control. However, how much better it is when we freely surrender this area of our lives to His control as well, knowing that He is a much better judge of knowing the number of children we should raise.

I challenge you to acknowledge God’s sovereignty in every area of your life. Live your life according to the scriptures. Share the Gospel with those you come in contact with. Pray for your sick loved ones. Pray for your unsaved loved ones. Having obeyed His commands, leave the results to God. For He controls it all anyway. He is much better at bringing His results to pass than we are.