03.28.03

Today’s devotional was written by Walker Moore who is president of AweStar Ministries in Tulsa, P. O. Box 470265, Tulsa 74147. You may contact Walker at walker@awestar.org or 800.293.7827. Visit their website at www.awestar.org. (Permission given by Walker Moore for use of the devotional.)

How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word. With my whole heart I have sought You; Oh, let me not wander from Your commandments! Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You. - Psalm 119:9-11.

One of the most vivid memories I have of my childhood is our many family vacations. Now you notice I didn’t say “fond” memories, but “vivid.”

My parents judged how good a vacation was based upon the “roughing it” factor. For instance, the farther we got away from civilization, the higher it was ranked on the “roughing it” scale. If you woke up in the morning and your water bucket was frozen, that gave you extra points. You always got extra points for bears and life threatening animals crawling around outside your tent. And if you spent the night holding your tent down during a class five hurricane, that vacation was an automatic winner.

Then the rest of the year, my dad reminded us how great our last vacation was. “Remember that night we had a torrential downpour?” (How could I ever forget? I thought the four horses of the apocalypse had come, and the only thing separating me between life and death was a piece of canvas bought on sale at Sears and Roebuck.)

Then, dad mumbled something about the “good old days.” Yet, each year we headed out trying to see if we could out do the year before and once more stand face-to-face with death and come home to brag about it.

We took a lot of pictures of our vacations, and on the back of the pictures, my parents wrote “Somewhere in Colorado” or “Somewhere in Wyoming” or sometimes just “somewhere.” Since our family was lost most of the time, (and being lost also gave you extra points on the “roughing it” scale) we couldn’t give you many details about where we had been, except we do know it was “somewhere.”

As an adult, I tried to remember where in the world we went on vacation. So when I asked my parents, the answer always began with “somewhere in…,” and they named one of the 50 states or a major city in that state.

But “somewhere” in our family wasn’t limited to vacations. “Somewhere” also had to do with Bible references. “Somewhere in the Bible, it tells us” they would say, “you shouldn’t hit your little brother” “Where in the Bible?” I asked. “Somewhere in John!” Growing up there were lots of “somewhere” in the Gospel of John. (Most of the “somewheres” were in the New Testament. I don’t ever remember my parents saying that something was found “somewhere” in Zephaniah.)

“Somewhere in the Bible, it also says to clean your plate and make your bed and wash behind your ears.” Now, I’m not sure where, but it says it somewhere.

As a child, you just accept the “somewhere.” As you get older, you begin to question the “somewhere,” and begin to know that “somewhere” is not good enough for you. You don’t want your eternity based on “somewhere,” but upon the reality and knowledge of the Scriptures. Maybe that is why the Bible says “somewhere” in the Psalms that “Thy word have I hid in my heart that I may not sin against God.” (The “somewhere” is Psalm 119:11)

Not that I have thy word “somewhere.” God says I am to have it in my heart. As parents, we need to give our children a place where they can go to verify the truth. “Somewhere” might make a nice vacation place, but the problem with “somewhere” is you can’t ever find your way back. Give your child a place where they can return to, whether it be a vacation or the Word of God.