While The Wife's Away ........

My wife went out of town this weekend with some friends and that left me in charge of our three children. She left on Friday afternoon so that meant that Friday night's dinner was at Friendlies Restaurant. We had hot dogs, macaroni and cheese, a salad and some ice cream.

On Saturday morning the kids fed themselves breakfast and then we brought the twins to a birthday party. We dropped them off at the party and then Hannah and I went to Chillis for lunch. I had a buffalo chicken salad and Hannah had ribs. For dessert we split their delicious chocolate cake with ice cream. For dinner the five of us went to the Chinese food buffet. I had one of everything. The kids ate a hearty meal and then each had two bowls of ice cream. On Sunday morning the kids fed themselves breakfast again. For lunch I cooked steak out on the grill and we ate that with barbecue chips. On tap for dinner tonight? I'm gonna cook up some frozen corn dogs and we'll eat the second half of the bag of barbecue chips.

This is the nourishment that my kids get when mom's away. I would never let my family eat like this on a regular basis but when mom's away this is our way of 'letting our hair down', enjoying a little freedom and independence!

It's interesting that in the Old Testament God appointed holiday's for the children of Israel to observe. There were festivals and celebrations. Many were meant for the Hebrews to remember a historical event or God's works in the past. I believe that God created these events to help the Israelites remember and He used an effective tool: mankind's love of celebration.

The Bible records that Paul wrote to Timothy "For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude; for it is sanctified by means of the word of God and prayer. In pointing out these things to the brethren, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, constantly nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound doctrine which you have been following." (1 Timothy 4: 4 - 6)

This weekend my children did not get very good nourishment but we had fun! In this scripture Paul encourages Timothy to be nourished on the words of the faith and on sound doctrine. God's will and wisdom and truth are recorded in the Bible. We need to give ourselves a steady diet of that truth! The Bible shows us the way that we can be forgiven of our sins and be reconciled to God. It also teaches us how we can have a close relationship with Jesus.