Okay, so I realize I may have been long winded, I tend to do that, in my last blog post.  (Here’s the part where you chime in with, ‘no kidding!’)

So I feel like I need to copy the last part (and add on to it) here so you will be sure to read it…  It won’t make sense unless you have read  Part 1 like half way through.  If you read all the way though, you don;t need this one… all that explaining to make this point which I believe is super important – especially in today’s society.

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We were having lunch with a friend yesterday.  He and my daughter Lucy were talking about the mission field.  He was mentioning that we grew up on stories like “Through Gates of Splendor”, the story of Jim and Elisabeth Elliott who were some of the first missionaries in Ecuador.  How the missionary men were all killed by the tribes.  And how the wives of these men came back and raised their children there because it was all about spreading God’s kingdom, and not about what had been done to them.  And how, because of that, the tribes became Christians and God’s word is still spreading to this day in the jungles of Ecuador.

When did you ever teach your child about counting the cost?  About following through with what God has for you no matter what?

My cousin posted this blog this morning on FB.  It’s called “Raising Persecution-Ready Kids“.  (You can read it by clicking on the title).  So, basically twice in two days, God has driven this point home to me.    THIS is why I needed to write this today.  Why I basically was pushed into writing this post.  Because folks, we need to stop the fairy tale thinking of our kids.  Why we need to be vocal ourselves about Jesus no matter what.

If you look at the state of our entire world today, you can see it coming.  You can feel the persecution happening.  It happens in the Middle East by the beheading and just today the shooting of a busload of Christians.  You can see it here in America by the bakery that went out of business for not providing a wedding cake to a gay couple.  Yes, you can debate that one; should they or shouldn’t they… but it all comes down to the point that we are losing our very rights to believe and act as Christians.

We need to pull our heads out of the sand and start living from places of victory… ala Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world!  We need to strap on our warrior boots like Lisa Whittle’s book tells us.  It’s time to start looking up because things in the world are starting to change and not at a snail’s pace, but faster and faster as if a huge storm is coming.  And we definitely need to start preparing our children.

God forbid we or our kids have to do this very thing.  But we need to be prepared.  We need to be intentional in preparing our kids.  So start today.  Tell your kids a story that has an ending with God’s kingdom coming out the winner.  One I can remember in recent history is the story of Rachel Scott who had written stuff about sharing in Christ’s sufferings only a few days before she was murdered at Columbine HS in the massacre.  She was asked if she was a Christian and she looked down the barrel of the gun at the person holding it and replied yes. Would you have that kind of courage?  Would your children have that deep seeded courage?

I pray we take heed.  When God repeats Himself, it’s not without reason.  It’s important.  So start today!

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And so here I am with God pushing me again for a third day… like I said earlier, if God says something twice or, as in this case, three times, you’d better listen up!  I feel such an urgency about this.  That’s why I’ve blogged about it twice plus this add on.

I see kids and families in other countries having to say, “Yes, I am a Christian” and know what’s coming next.  Just like Rachel Scott here in the United States.  So we’d better start teaching our kids that other people aren’t perfect.  Life is not a fairy tale.  And that Jesus promised to be with you through the storm.

Again, start today!