Worthy Life

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjPKfQ7fMoM

I Choose to Worship ~ Rend Collective

 

As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. ~ Ephesians 4:1 NIV

 

I’m so grateful God moved us here when He did. It gave our girls the opportunity to meet my grandpa, Lyle Hayes, before he passed away. When Savannah was in Kindergarten, I took her to visit my grandpa on Memorial Day. She was, then, old enough to grasp some of what Memorial Day is and why we celebrate it. While we were visiting, she asked to explore his house. My grandpa had an older home with many rooms. In the office was a war memorial display case, which housed a model plane, the same kind of bomber on which my grandpa fought. It also housed many medals and other memorial items that belonged to both my grandpa, as well as his brother, Clayton. 

 

Just about every time I went to visit Grandpa Hayes, he'd tell me stories of his time in the service, especially his training in Florida, but rarely did he talk about Clayton. Shortly after my grandpa died, we found a newspaper article about my great-uncle, Pfc. Clayton Hayes, and how he helped a mom and her son carry belongings back to their war-ravaged home in Normandy. The article was from June 3, 1944. At the end of the war, many men came home as war heroes. Unfortunately, Clayton Hayes, died as one, in September 1944, during Operation Market Garden in Holland.

 

This Memorial Day, please take a moment to remember the fallen heroes and pray for their families. Please also pray for those who are currently serving in the military. Before the day is out, take a moment and thank those you know who have served and fought to keep us safe and free. And finally, ask God to give you the strength and courage to live a life worthy of both their sacrifice, and of the Lord's calling on your life. 

 

Who do you know and want to thank on this Memorial Day? 

 

http://normandie44.canalblog.com/archives/2012/01/14/23241133.html

Article on Pfc. Clayton Hayes, and the others in his troop.

©Heather Potts 2022

Follow in Your Footsteps

God’s answer: “Because they abandoned my plain teaching. They wouldn’t listen to anything I said, refused to live the way I told them to. Instead they lived any way they wanted and took up with the Baal gods, who they thought would give them what they wanted—following the example of their parents.”  ~ Jeremiah 9:13-14 MSG

Just before Elizabeth was born, Savannah was obsessed with puppies, to the point that if she found a show with puppies, we would watch it over and over and over and over and over and over and over until we begged her to watch something else.  Beethoven became one of her favorites.  We didn’t mind her watching it until we heard her using the word “stupid.”  After realizing it came from the show, not only did we find something better for her to watch, we also had to go through the work of correcting her language.

Today’s scripture says it’s the parents’ example that caused the children’s hearts to be turned from listening to God’s Word and following in His ways.  Parents can’t be held liable for all of a child’s choices and mistakes.  But as parents, we must choose a life that exemplifies Christ, which is a product of an ever deepening relationship with Him. Children watch, listen and then do, not necessarily as they’re told, but what they’ve observed.

Joshua 24:15 says to choose for yourselves whom you will serve. Serving results from relationship, out of really knowing and understanding someone. When you have a relationship Father God, His Son Jesus, and Holy Spirit, you will want to know all you can about them, including how to serve them.

Father, help us not to just tell our children about You and Your love for them. Help us to demonstrate it through our relationship with You, reflected in our relationship with them. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

©Heather Potts 2016