Not wanting a possible melt-down...

to ensue, I turned the car around on Sunday morning a block and half away from home. Yep, I turned the car around and drove back home. You should have seen the looks from the back seat. Finally one brave person said "Why are we going home?"

Just to clue you in on the morning, it was smooth. Everyone had to take showers and get dressed. They all ate a little something and we were out the door in plenty of time to stop and fill up with gas, and make it to Bible class by 9:30am. It all went off without a hitch. But, once we were in the car one child was unhappy that another was sitting in the middle row. We have an SUV with three rows. So the two darlins' kibitzed back and forth for a block and half. One said "My brothers are ruining my life." That was it! Over the last several weeks I've heard these negative comments creeping back into their vocabulary, and I was going to stop it. I didn't have a clue how, but I was going to stop it.

As we pulled into the driveway another brave soul said "Aren't we going to church?" "Nope, we aren't going. It's a waste of our time. I can use the time wisely to do laundry, dishes, vacuuming, cooking, wrapping. Going to church is a huge waste of our time." I didn't have to see their faces to know what they looked like, but I snuck a peek through my stoic eyes. They were shocked, but not quit as shocked when I said "Besides, we're going to hell anyway." I'm not sure what shocked them most, was it the phrase or the fact that I said h-e-l-l? Most likely it was both.

As we got out of the car I said "Go to your rooms." I went to the kitchen and began cleaning. I wasn't sure what to do, I just knew I was angry because of the negative vocabulary. After several minutes Luke came down and asked for something to eat. He could tell I was crying so he went upstairs to rally the troops. All, but one of them (guess who?) came down with tears rolling down their faces. "Can we please go to church?" Zack asked. "NO, going to church is a waste of our time. As Christians the purpose of going to church is to worship God because we've learned that he loves us, despite our sin, and from that knowledge we should be changed and take that love and share it with our family and friends. We aren't allowing God's love to change us. I know families who don't worship God and are nicer to each other than we are."

Long story short they begged to go to church, we had bible class at home and then went on for worship service. During the bible lesson I made them look at one another and say "Go to hell." Not one of them would do it. I explained that by saying nasty things like "I hate my brother,My brothers are ruining my life, or my brothers are stupid," is like saying "I want you to go to hell." They got the point and their vocabulary is weighed before they let it come out of their mouth. Well, today they are watching their vocabulary, tomorrow is another day.

Thank you Lord, when I didn't know what to do you showed me!