Have you ever thought about all the ways that this applies to our lives? Or even truly what it means? 

 The kids and I do a daily devotional each day (hmmm? daily devotional every day - to quote LarryBoy "Isn't that redundant?")  that is aside from our Bible/Comprehension class (I will post on this class in the near future!) that is simply a daily reading where we go verse by verse, chapter by chapter. Instead of digging into the meat of the Word like we do in our Bible class we just let it flow down over us at devotion time.  Sometimes though God will give me a different verse to use for the day that is relevant to a situation amongst the kids that needs to be addressed. And this is exactly what happened the other day when this verse popped up in my head as we began.  I had recently allowed the kids to view a movie (our local theatre has a free saturday matinee) that was against my better judgement.  I always get online ahead of time to check with the Christian movie reviewers to see whether it is appropriate or not, and this was no exception.  I always go straight to the negative reviews to see why they did not like it and then make my decision based on that.  Well according to the reviews this was a cute kids movie  that leaves you with a warm fuzzy when you leave (there were only a few reviews but these are supposed to be from a Christian parent's perspective right?!)  Well to say the least the movie was awful and the whole theme was that these absolutely bratty kids should get to do whatever they want and wreak all kinds of havoc without having those mean and pesky airport security guards stop them.  Well my kids fell for this hook ,line and sinker! They came out of that movie thinking it was hilarious and that those security guards were awful to try to capture those kids. I kept waiting for there to be a moral lesson somewhere- never happened! They laughed and talked about it and I explained to them that I did not share their enthusiasm and I told them all the reasons why. I think they still thought that it was no big deal because it was just a movie right?  They would not do those things right?

Well after a few more related incidents where the kids found something that was very wrong funny, God gave me this verse to discuss with them.  As you already know if you have read my others entries here, I am big into reaching my child's heart and when God gave me this verse a lightbulb went on for me. Aha- this was exactly how to handle the problem!  So we sat down for our devotional and I asked them what it means to delight in what is evil (they already knew this verse because we made a t-chart in bible class earlier in the year comparing what love is and what it is not).  They looked puzzled so we discussed the meaning. Once they understood, I asked them if they had ever done this? They of course did not see how they could ever delight in evil.  Well I then reviewed the whole theme of the movie we had watched and asked them whether they had delighted in the evil in the movie. Now it was their turn for a lightbulb moment! They couldn't believe how easily they had taken the kids side in this movie.  We started discussing other movies and shows that they had seen or that I had loved as a kid and the awful themes of them (The Little Mermaid is such a prime example).

Well the happy ending is.... my kids have made a decision to only place before them what will encourage them in their walk with the Lord! There is such joy in teaching a child to govern him/herself.  Reaching their hearts through God's Word is the key. They need to learn to make wise decisions for themselves (govern themselves) so that when you are not there they will still make the right decision because they choose to.  When we force kids to obey us because we said so, then we are teaching them to be governed by somebody else.

Oh and by the way the movie is called 'Unaccompanied Minors' (the title alone says it all doesn't it?!)