Relationships Series

Ever get the feeling that you and your parents don't live in the same world or maybe even the same planet as you do? Maybe God created parents out of moon dust instead of earth dust and that's why they seem to be really out of this world. Why do you suppose that God created parents in the first place? Did He create them just to make your lives miserable? Maybe He was on vacation when parents were created and He just left it up to His angelic assistants to do it. For the next couple of weeks we are going to look at the relationships that are important to us. This week's G-TRAX is on parents. First thing I want to make absolutely clear is that this is not going to be a parent-bashing session. In fact, I want each of you to know that I think that parents are the coolest thing since sliced bread. Yes, Parents are people too and God created them just like He created you and me. In fact, uh. . . I'm not sure I should tell you this, but there is this really big secret that I'd like to share with you. Are you ready for this?

Imagine that God allowed you to take a trip to heaven and tour His palace. Somehow you were transported to heaven. There you stood at the doors to His palace. They looked pretty cool. You knocked on the door and God opened it up and said to you, "Welcome, . I have been expecting you. I understand you want a tour of my palace". You are just a little shaky, Okay, you are like really totally freaked out because you are standing in the presence of God. You try to answer Him but the words aren't coming out quite right. "Uh. . . Yeah. . . Duh. . . How. . . Uh. . Um. . are you?. . . I am f...fine. I'd lllike to take a loo...loo...look around." After you finally get those words out, He starts leading you down a long white hallway with hundreds of doors on each side. As you walk past the rooms you read the signs over the doors. "Angel Parts Room . . . Fish Parts Room . . . Shrubbery Design Room . . . Things that Have Furry Tails Design Room . . . Furry Tails Closet. . .Linens. . . Bathroom #999999999999999999999999991. You keep walking and pass a "You're Here" map, showing where you are in God's huge palace. You continue to walk and read the signs over the doors. Archangel Michael's Room . . . Lucifer's Room (now a storage closet) . . . Extra Planets Storage Room. . . Orphan Moons Room . . . Galaxy Designs that didn't work Room . . . Human-Type-People Design Room. James 3:6 says that the "tongue is a fire...It corrupts the whole body,and sets the whole course of one's life on fire". Sounds Kinda scary. Sounds like the tongue can cause a lot of bad stuff. We've all had those moments when we've said something that hurt someone we care about. Once the words are out of your mouth it's impossible to take them back. Sorta like when you open your mouth your tongue shoots out of your mouth, lands about 15 feet in front of you and slithers away like an inch worm. And no matter how hard you try to catch it you can't catch it. Just like words that you shouldn't have said

We all have experienced tense times with our sibs at one time or another. Sometimes we create tension ourselves. Sometimes we just have gone through a very bad day and we come home and blast our younger sibs. How many times have you taken out your frustrations on your sibs? How many times have you and your sibs fought? We live in the families that God has placed us in. We don’t know why God placed us in the families that He did but sometimes you wonder if He knew what He was doing because your sibs are just plain weird. They act like they are brain-dead, like someone stuck a tube in their heads and sucked out their brains. Maybe God was on vacation when He assigned you to your family. At any rate, family relationships are key to who we are and how we turn out. Sibling relationships are so hard. Sometimes you just don't want to make the effort to be nice to your bro or sis. They invade your privacy. They stick their nose into your business. They’re always hangin’ around you when you have your friends over. They stick to you like flies on fly-paper. You begin to wonder if there will ever be peace between you and your sibs. Maybe God has a cool reason for why He put you in your family and gave you the sibs that you have. Let’s see what we can learn about sibling relationships this week.