Father Knows Best....

Our family once owned a nice little place on a small lake in Minnesota. We
called it the Fun House. We would go up there in the Summer and swim and
water ski and have picnics. We were always inviting our friends and always
had a great time. In the winter we would go up there and light a fire in
the fireplace where we would warm ourselves with a cup of hot cocoa after a
day out on the frozen lake. We would snowmobile, and wind sail and ice
skate and ice fish. There was something to do for everyone of all ages all
the time. One winter we were told by my father that we were not to take the
snowmobile out on the lake until we had a couple of more hard freezes.
What? What did he mean "hard freezes"? The lake was clearly frozen and
there were maybe fifty snowmobiles out there already and it was fine. We
all whined and cried but to no avail. My father was adamant. The
snowmobile was off limits. Our friends came over and told us to come on
out. We told them that our father would not let us go on the snowmobile
because it was not cold enough. Our friends taunted us and made fun of us.
One kid went out about 20 yards and started jumping up and down and yelled,
"Oh help, help, I'm drowning. The ice flakes from my jumping on the hard
ice are choking me!" Everyone laughed and went away. Now we had a lot of
other things that we could have done on the lake. But we chose to sit and
pout and try to make my dad feel bad because he would not let us go out.
That was all about to change. The next day was Sunday and we went to church
in the near by town. We got back to the lake at about noon. We all saw the
flashing lights at the same time and we all said a prayer as we always did
when ever we saw and emergency vehicle. As we got closer we noticed the
ambulance attendants were loading someone into the back of it. As we slowly
passed it we noticed that the blanket was pulled up over the persons head.
We all gasped in horror. My father pulled the car over and told us all to
stay in the car. When he returned a few minutes later, he said nothing and
drove the car to our cottage. When inside, he told us that our friend, the
one that had jumped up and down on the ice and taunted us the day before was
dead. We were stunned. My dad told us that he knew that we thought that he
was being awful for not letting us go out on the snowmobile. He knew that
we didn't think that the ice was too thin. But the truth of the matter was
that the young man, that only the day before, had mocked our dad was now
dead. He went out on the lake alone...something you never do...and was
crossing the lake. Once in the middle the ice was way too thin and his
snowmobile broke through the ice and sank like a rock. The young man could
not pull himself out of the icy water and had died. Suddenly our father was
a genius.

How many times have you gone to do something and have gotten the feeling
that we should not do it? Or how many times have we know something was a
sin and gone and done it anyway because of the taunting of man? We came to
find out that this young man's father had told him not to take the
snowmobile out either. How sad for that father. Romans 16:19 says, "For
your obedience has become known to all. Therefore I am glad on your behalf;
but I want to be wise in what is good, and simple concerning evil."
Obedience is wisdom. Just like our earthly fathers try to protect us and
keep us from harm, so does our Heavenly Father. Learn to put pleasing and
obeying God first in your life and to put pleasing man aside. Be an example
in your obedience and hold steadfast to the things concerning obedience to
the Father. You will find your life will be much easier and an example to
those around you. People will grow to notice the wisdom that your obedience
has brought. They will turn to you for the answers because where they
disobey and fail, you will prosper and live a good life. They will ask you
why you never seem to have problems or giant pitfalls in your life. You can
then smile with confidence and tell them it is because you seek the counsel
of your Heavenly Father before doing anything and everyone should know that
Father knows best....Patti