Who is watching you?

FAITH:

Psalms 101:2
I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. O when wilt thou come unto me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart.

The other day we were busy working and realized it had been several minutes since we had heard anything from our little girl. That’s almost never a good sign with an alert two-year old running around the house. After a quick search we realized that she was in the bathroom with the door closed, a big no-no. We came in only to find that she had placed all of her bath toys in, sad to say, a forgotten-to-be-flushed toilet, last of which was her favorite stuffed Barney doll from a gift from a good friend. That was an enjoyable clean-up. Needless to say, a little discipline was in order.

Why do we have to discipline our children? I mean really, who likes doing that? The truth is though, that if we don’t discipline our kids, they will never learn to obey us. And if they never learn to obey us, how will they ever learn to obey the Lord? In teaching them to obey authority, we are actually teaching them to obey the Lord.

But here’s the kicker. If we aren’t obeying the Lord like we should, no discipline will ever be effective enough on our children. Are we following after the Lord wholeheartedly all the time? Are we setting a good example? I wish we could say we have a squeaky clean record. What we have is a huge responsibility. And we have innocent eyes always watching, just waiting for the next opportunity to show the world what they’ve learned. The sad reality is that our kids don’t do what we tell them to do, they do what we do.

Young eyes are always watching, regardless of whether they are young physically or young spiritually. And we have a responsibility before the Lord to be a good example to them. Let’s ask the Lord to cleanse us and mature us so that we can be lights to our children, our brothers and sisters and all the world around us.

FRIENDS:

Father, help us to be the Godly examples that our children and others need to see. Please help us to admit our shortcomings and our imperfections and to leave them at the foot of the cross. Thank You for loving us at our worst. In Jesus' name, Amen.

DAILY BIBLE CHALLENGE
20. LUKE 23:50-56; HEBREWS 11:17-31; PROVERBS 28:1-14; ISAIAH 51-53
21. LUKE 24:1-12; HEBREWS 11:32-40; PROVERBS 28:15-28; ISAIAH 54-55

FOOD:
Some time ago I posted a recipe for an apple dumpling and got some comments on how gross it sounded. While I was rambling around the internet the other day I came across this recipe blog with pictures. I am including the link for the nay-sayers, so you may see how truly wonderful they are. Please take the time to look at them and while you are there, look around a little.
http://www.ourbestbites.com/2009/09/easy-and-amazing-apple-dumplings.html

Here are some very helpful hints on cleaning things....

To clean tea stains from glass or plastic pitchers, use either white or apple cider vinegar. Pour a little in the bottom of the pitcher or teapot and then use a paper towel to clean the inside and around the spout. You can also use baking soda to clean the coffee stains out of coffee cups. It has a slight abrasive action.

For cleaning a fiberglass hot tub reach for 20 Mule Team Borax and a dampened gentle scrubber sponge. You will be amazed. It takes off stains that can't be removed with cleaners that are actually made for hot tubs. It is highly recommend for cleaning difficult stains on fiberglass.

You can use original blue Dawn dish washing soap to remove soap scum from the shower. If you have lots of buildup another product to use is Soilove! Replace the top of the Soilove bottle with a top from an old Windex bottle. Then spray the glass shower doors at night and let them sit until morning. Also Greased Lightening will cut through the soap scum buildup in showers and tubs.

Oil-based paint is difficult to remove, especially if you don't have mineral spirits and soap and water won't work at all. Try WD-40 spray lubricant. Sprayed it on your hands and arms and let it soak for 30 to 60 seconds. With minimal scrubbing and an old cloth, it will take the paint right off. It also does not dry out the skin like mineral spirits and turpentine usually do. A final washing with soap and water will rinse the WD-40 off.

FUN:

While riding the bus, my mother noticed a young man, who was holding onto the same pole as her, staring at her. Eventually, he said, "Excuse me. This is my stop."

Since she wasn't blocking his way, she was confused. "Well," she said, "go ahead."

"And this is my pole," he said.

My mother was completely perplexed until the young man added, "I just bought it at the hardware store to hold up my shower curtain."

And with that, he picked up his pole and carried it off the bus.