Chapter 7
A Families
Relation to a Fallen World
Part I
(Introduction)
You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater
is He
who is in you than he who is in the world. I John 4: 4
As advanced as the
21st Century is in so many ways it still creates great hardship
for most parents trying to raise their children in an atmosphere of morality
and Godliness. Amidst the progress made in areas like education,
technology, medicine, and food production, we are still overflowing with
unparallel hatred, greed sexual grossness, drug and alcohol addiction, man
worship, prejudice, and occult practices. And sad to say, this is but a
short list of sins and wrong doings, hardly a comprehensive or complete
one. (Galatians 5:19-21; Matthew 24: 4-8, 11)
Therefore a fifth
and final relationship in Preparing Your Children for the Future
focuses on your family’s response to a world influenced by Satan and your
responsibility to win it away from him. Three chapters, including this one
are devoted to this, under the heading general heading, A Families
Relation to a Fallen World.
Before leaving this
introductory chapter, I end with a personal story that describes the degree
Satan will go to destroy a person’s faith in God. But it also reveals God’s
forward thinking and extent He will go to in helping those who put their
trust in Him. Several points of the story are carried over to the next two
chapters which center on combating Satan’s influence and presenting the
Gospel to a fallen world under his control.
The story is also
unforgettable enough to serve as the Teachable Moment for this chapter.
When your children are old enough read it to them and get their thoughts?
Camp
Assurance
In 1972, I received
my first official full time ministry position. I was hired as a Youth
Pastor for a church in
Seattle, Washington. I was newly married, and both
my wife and I were very excited to begin our lives doing youth ministry
together. We
had both grown up in Southern California, so our move to Washington was new
for both of us. It suited us well though, because we both wanted to see
life in other parts of the country, especially the beautiful Northwest.
As the
new Youth Pastor, I had many hopes, dreams, and expectations as many do when
they first enter the ministry. All
I could see during that first year were the positives ahead in serving one
of God’s churches.
Over the 40 years of ministry I learned the other
side too, which included issues over doctrine, music, worship, preaching
style, evangelism and of course battles between pastors, church members, and
leaders.
But for this brief
time, God protected me from all of this by first giving me a wonderful older
pastor to serve with.
Reverend Brown was a
pastor in his late 50’s when I met him, as old as I am now.
From the outset he was very kind, encouraging,
and protective. Knowing what was ahead he took me under his wing right
away spending time getting to know me and making my first months smooth.
Years later, I learned that he defended me on
many occasions with different church members. Some did not like the youth,
but Reverend Brown did, and told me so many times. Some comments he
repeated to me several times were: “Kent,
I believe in you and love what you are doing with our youth.” “I am so
thrilled to see so many young people coming to know the Lord, thank you for
your dedication.”
In addition to
memorable remarks like these, I will never forget the support Reverend Brown
gave me during one of the biggest trials of my ministry. It was a situation
that occurred at Camp
Assurance,
a spring weekend retreat for the college high school age one week and the
junior high the next. The
college and high school camp went great; no problems, lives were impacted,
God was honored, and kids came home strengthen in their faith. But this
second
Camp
Assurance with the junior high was
another story. The junior high group was a challenging group to work with,
and in anticipation of this I took 20 extra counselors, many of them from
the college group.
Camp
Assurance was in
Central Washington,
a beautiful campground, but located near a concrete canal filled with
rushing water just off the property.
It had a very strong current, and was dangerous
if fallen into. There
were ropes stretched across the canal about every 200 yards so that if
anyone slipped in, they could get out by grabbing the ropes.
There were “Keep Away” warning signs all along
the canal. As I learned later those ropes were useless in saving anyone’s
life, because over time they had grown too slippery to grasp.
During the first
night at camp I explained the danger of the canal to the junior high kids,
and told them we would send any of them home if they got near the canal.
I was very emphatic, especially with some of
the more challenging boys. After the singing, skit, and message, everyone
headed to their rooms with their counselors. During this time devotions
were read, and one more review of the rules was emphasized, especially in
respect to the canal restrictions. As I walked by each room everything
seemed in control and surprisingly quiet. I was relieved; my concerns about
this group seemed unwarranted.
But early next morning, screams rang out from a
distance. I was already up working on a message for the next evening, so I
was the first to hear these cries for help.
With great anguish, I ran quickly toward their direction, which quickly
turned into yells. As I ran, I realized I was sprinting in the direction
of the canal. It only took me only a few minutes to get there, and when I
did, I saw one boy crying along the canal bank and another soaking wet from
just getting out.
But a third boy who was with them was nowhere to be
seen.
These boys, Bobby, John, and Mike obviously had not heeded the warnings
given in our meeting, and even turned a deaf ear to their counselor, an
elder at our church. As I was questioning Bobby and John sitting on the
bank of the canal, a few other counselors arrived to help. Bobby and John
continued to explain they were merely throwing rocks and pine cones into the
canal for fun, until Mike slipped and fell in. John immediately jumped in to
help him, but quickly got out when the water’s current began taking him down
stream. Bobby stayed on shore and helped John get out. They both saw Mike
grab for one of the ropes stretching across the canal, but could not hold
on. As he vanished down stream Bobby and John began to yell for help, until
I showed up.
After listening to
the boy’s accounts with great anxiety, I immediately sent the counselors and
the two boys back to camp to call for Mountain rescue. As they took off,
two other counselors arrived and joined me as I began to run down the side
of the canal to catch up with Mike. I felt it would not take long before we
caught him, I was a pretty fast runner and so were the two counselors with
me.
After about 2 miles
of running we came to a split in the canal. One to the right and the other
to the left which disappeared into a large funnel, like one you would go
down at a water park. We went there first, but no Mike. We knelt down,
caught our breath and then ran back to the split, where we continued down
that part of the canal. We ran another 4-5 miles and before it disappeared
into another huge funnel. No sight of Mike again!
We were
perplexed at this point, as well as exhausted.
By now one of the
Mountain Rescue Teams showed up in a helicopter. When we explained our run
down the canal, the leader of the team told us that each of those funnels we
saw went underground and reappeared in a large river just beyond our view.
He told us he would circle back to see if Mike had gotten out of the canal
on his own. We continued to walk another mile down toward the river below,
but no Mike to be seen.
With the Mountain
Rescue on scene, we headed back to camp, retracing our steps along the
way. We frequently yelled out his name, hoping he would hear us. Deep down
I believe each of us thought when we got back, Mike would be there with an
incredible story to share. When we arrived, other squads of the mountain
rescuers were there using our camp as a staging area. Helicopters were
coming and going and my heart sank as they did!
Of course I had to
now inform the church, call the parents, and keep the camp going.
Needless to say, I was a bit overwhelmed until Reverend Brown stepped in
to help shoulder the burden. He got the prayer chain going back in
Seattle,
instructed an elder at the camp not to leave my side, and went over and met
with the parents.
Later on during the
day as helicopters flew back and forth over our heads, I decided to gather
the counselors to pray for Mike, as well as his family who were on their way
up to camp. Even at this juncture, we still held out for Mike’s return.
Not long after our prayers, Mike’s parents arrived; the camp was not far
from
Seattle. They were somewhat distraught as you can imagine, but amazingly
ready to accept the outcome whatever it might be.
Reverend Brown had apparently counseled them
well, he did not hesitate to tell them what was hoped and prayed for, but
what could be. Don, the elder mentioned earlier, was actually the first on
the scene to meet them as they arrived. When I saw them I rushed over to
express my sorrow and regret as best I could. I then told them the entire
camp had been praying for them and Mike all day, and that the Mountain
Rescue Teams were doing all they could to locate Mike.
As the late
afternoon passed into the evening, the search was officially called off.
There was no Mike to be found anywhere. The Mountain Recue Team said they
would continue the search in the morning and encouraged the parents to
return home. Reluctantly with great anguish Mike’s parents tearfully made
their way back to Seattle.
That evening after
dinner our entire group gathered together for a time of prayer and
teaching. Of course Mike and his family was the center of our prayers, but
God and His love for him was the theme of my teaching. I can’t remember all
that I said, but when I was finished, just about every young person in that
room either received Christ for the first time, or committed their lives to
follow Him no matter what that meant.
In the morning, the
rescue attempts resumed, but Mike could not be found. As our group readied
itself to leave camp for home, it was quite unsettling to leave him behind.
On the way home many of us continued to pray for Mike, and others made it a
point to console his parents when they got home.
It was two weeks
before we heard from the Mountain Recue Team again; they called to say that
they found his body. It had been located by some campers who saw it
washed up on shore some twenty miles from the camp. The Rescue Team
surmised that Mike most likely had drowned after going through one of the
funnels. Mike had probably died within an hour of falling into the canal.
Reverend Brown’s message at the Mike’s funeral was
comforting and true to Scripture, as I remember. He talked about a number of
things: God’s love for Mike, the world which can draw any of us to disaster,
and the Lord’s responsibility and control over all events no matter how
disastrous or difficult. We all there listened intently, for if Mike
could be taken so could any of us.
Over the next few years most of our youth group
accomplished many great things for God.
They regularly read their Bibles, prayed
often, served others, lived reputable lives at school, and won many of their
friends to the Lord. Even today many still minister with the same
zeal they did over 40 years ago, I know we still get together for reunions
every few years.
In respect to
Reverend Brown, I continued to serve as his youth minister until I left for
seminary a few years later. No matter where the Lord took me, we always
stayed in close contact until he died. But at least before the Lord took
him, I had the opportunity to see him one last time. I flew up to Seattle
after I heard he had a severe heart attack, and probably would not make
it. When I got to the hospital, there were strict orders that no one
accept a family member was allowed to see him. I could not comply with
such, so I snuck through the back corridors of the hospital until I found
his room. Upon entering, I found him sitting up in bed and surprisingly
quite alert. As I started to apologize for breaking the rules, he quickly
interrupted and said, “Kent!
I am so glad to see you. You know you are like a son to me, you warm by
heart being here.” We talked
for several minutes, and then prayed together. When I left I felt more
ministered to than what I tried to do for him, but that was always the way
it was with Reverend Brown, you could not out encourage him. He will be
one of the first I want to see when I get to heaven, one of the first.
