Oprah vs. Godzilla

We were driving home from church with our son and our Pastors’ son in the back seat of the truck. It’s always entertaining listening to them talk. You never know what you are going to hear. Today we heard about being in love with five girls, being in love with our pastor’s wife and marrying her, and any and all sorts of oddities.

Then we heard this conversation. I’ll call them J (our son) and Jay. Jay: Do you know who Oprah is? J: No, but I know who Godzilla is.

We started laughing. Leave it to our son to not know who Oprah is and to compare her to Godzilla. I suppose that makes sense as out of the eight years he’s been on this earth, we have only had television channels for a little over one of them. He has never seen court tv, Hannah Montana, The Simpson’s, Lost or talk shows, including Oprah.

The only time we watch regular tv is when we are in a hotel for some reason. Then, it’s a major treat. Of course those are the times he wants to see what cartoons are on.

Sometimes I get to thinking about how sheltered he is. He has no idea what brands of shoes are cool. He doesn’t know what clothes are popular. He doesn’t know the “in” thing. If a person who is immersed in the world were to ask him about any number of worldly subjects, he would have no idea what they were talking about. He is home schooled and his friends are from church. His circle of influence is largely dictated by those we allow him to have contact with. Some may say we are hindering him, keeping him from growing up and knowing what he should know. I disagree.

The past couple of weeks have been a bit stressful for me. “A bit” might be putting it mildly. Ok…so, I completely lost it Friday night after prayer while I was standing in the vestibule. I am not a public crier so this was a traumatic experience for me. My husband’s job schedule has been crazy, as has his pay, our daughter’s up coming wedding, writing and trying to figure out God’s plans has really just put me over the edge. I guess it all hit me at once and the outcome was a ball hit out of the ballpark. I was a goner.

I had fallen into an old way of thinking. I let the “old” Darlene creep back in. I started to feel anxious and I became worrisome.

Then I read this: “Deep in my heart I say, The Lord is all I need; I can depend on Him.” Lamentations 3:24

At that moment I realized what I had done. For a moment, I forgot to include God in all things. I left Him out of a few. He has always gotten us through the rough times. For some reason, I got to thinking maybe this time, the wedding and everything that needs to be done and paid for, was a little too big a job for him. While I didn’t think that last sentence outright, my actions said it loud and clear. By worrying, I was doubting Him.

As I read that verse again and again in Lamentations, I came to realize what it meant to be in this world but not of it. First of all, He is all I need. I love my husband. I love my children. I love my church and church family. I love writing. I love singing. I love traveling and having fun. I love setting and reaching goals. I love being successful. I love many things. But, if He is not in it, it is of the world. In and of themselves, without God, all these things mean nothing. With Him, they are heavenly minded and full of purpose. Without His direction, without Him being the center, the core, they lack fulfillment and joy.

As I thought on these things, I applied this line of thinking to my son, and the things I mentioned at the beginning of this post.

While we still have some areas that need working, for the most part our son is God centered. He loves worship and praying. He is tender hearted and is compassionate. He enjoys spending time with people and is respectful. He cried alligator tears for the people of Japan and Missouri. The other day, I was given the best compliment a mother can receive. Someone said to me: You did good! It didn’t matter what he did or didn’t know, what mattered was this person saw the Godly influence in everything that my son is, a young man with a purpose and a calling to serve his Lord.

Is God the center of you?