The Making of a Preacher's Family - Prep

Getting From Point A to Point Z

1 - Aurora had been known to try dangerous things before this. She seemed to get a thrill out of watching her parents' expression when they realized what she was doing. The Law of Diminishing Returns kept her trying bigger and bigger risks, until the day she hopped into a raft and headed towards the rapids. Matt's typical approach toward these dalliances (after the initial shock) was to "pray about it. I'm sure it's just a phase."

2 & 3 - Zenith's alarm shocked Matt into action. In a moment he was forced to face something he had been "putting off," while being urged into action by "a matter of life and death." Matt's innate nature of being Blue (aka Relational) caused him to minimize things of concern in order to maintain the status quo. However, boiling pots have a tendency to boil over, no matter how tightly the top of the pressure cooker may be screwed on.

"Issues ignored become issues exploded." This is a sad, but true, axiom of human interaction.

4. Matt will have to spend time learning his daughters' hearts.

In this initial episode, Aurora will be found alive, but barely, having been tossed from her raft onto a large rock above some swirling rapids in a hollow of the rock, that held her fast like the strong arms of God. The EMTs arrived to take her to the hospital for observation, but she regained consciousness the next morning after Matt labored through a night of intense prayer. After some more observation, Aurora was released after 72 hours to go home. She was no worse for the wear, having no brain damage, nor lasting bodily harm. Matt was convinced it was a miracle from the Lord.

Those days in the hospital gave Matt time to get to know Aurora a little better, but why she chose to live dangerously was a mystery to him.

(There are two young ladies of 15 years age, among our friends, who appear to be twin girls, who are very similar to Pansy and Aurora. Though they live miles from each other, and have never met, I think I will keep them in mind, especially as I approach the transition years in the story of ages 15-20 when the girls switch roles from Good to Bad and Bad to Good, from Loving the Lord to rejecting Him and vice versa. At the initial view, Pansy = A & Aurora = M. Names withheld to protect privacy.)

Matt often forgets that actions do not equal heart attitudes.
Matt is busy with church work. Serving the Lord is priority #1 to him.

However, this attitude forgets, that the Lord's first calling on any man's life (aka his first ministry) is the salvation and sanctification of his family members. Preachers can get out-of-balance when the vocation of ministry overshadows the lifestyle of ministry. Ministry is not primarily what we do. Ministry is who we are in relationship to God and the dearest people He has entrusted to us, first. The good actions of ministry flow out of the heart of one, who prioritizes relationships, and then actions, not actions, first, then relationships.

If Matt had stopped doing the work of the ministry long enough at the beginning of his ministry to learn the hearts of his girls, then he might not have had as much heartache when his girls were grown. On the other hand, Matt could have done everything "perfectly" (humanly-speaking,) but his girls might still have left the Christian walk at different times and for different reasons.

What do we do when a young girl, like Zenith, works her little heart to capacity in the church of her childhood because she wants to please her Daddy, but then she leaves the faith as a youth because "no matter how much I do, Daddy never seems to notice me"? From Matt's perspective, he thought Pansy was okay on the inside because she was doing all the right things on the outside. He was shocked when she turned her back on the Lord, marrying her girlfriend because she knew, that Matt preached the Bible's prohibitions against homosexuality.

How could Matt know that a child, like Aurora, was not the "lost cause," that she seemed to be as a small child, but that she would become one of his greatest allies in the ministry during his latter years? Aurora acted out as a child because she just wanted attention, and Matt was always "doing the work of the ministry." The child's greatest heart's cry seems to be, "Daddy, do you see me?" Matt didn't until the Lord brought her to him in a dramatic way.

The twins tried to get Matt's attention as children, though their methods of reaching this goal were vastly different. Matt softened over the years, seeing everyone more clearly, and especially his daughters. He thought he "had one in the bag," but he lost her for many years.
He thought "the other one" really wasn't worth his time, but she turned out to be "the diamond in the rough."

How does a parent salvage life after being shown so vividly, that he or she has lost someone precious, like a child? Is there any way to make amends? Is there any way to restore what has been lost?

Ultimately, the Lord in His Mercy will restore Matt and his girls, even if but for a few moments in this life, because all can be restored in the Presence of the Lord for Eternity if everyone is saved in this life.

Imperfect human beings often grieve about what has been lost in this life, but the Lord sees what He is making from Above. We merely see the tangled threads underneath. The Lord has us. Blessed be the Name of the Lord.