Catch Up With Rhonda...

Family Feud
a devotional by Rhonda Rhea

Every once in awhile we have a week when I feel like I’m living in Wedgy-ville. Daniel is the youngest of five kids. Most of his underwear has no waistband. Daniel-wedgies have become a common form of entertainment among the older Rhea kids. They used to be able to administer eyeball-popping wedgies before poor Daniel even saw them coming. But the constant wedgy-blitzes seem to be honing his reflexes more and more all the time. He’s had a great soccer season, and I really have to give some of the credit to his older sibs. I don’t think he’ll ever need to take Karate. He’s already gone way past “wax on, wax off” to “waistband on, waistband off.”

Wedgy-ville is conveniently located right next to Noogie City. Between all the wedgies, there are many headlocks waiting to be secured. Oh, the demanding schedule of a preadolescent with smaller siblings. Daniel once asked me with a grin if I thought he would be able to sue someday.

Family Sued

You might be happy to know that we always step in somewhere before the need for litigation. As persistent as the wedgy-givers can be, we parents can be even more persistent. We’re constantly working to teach all those little Rhea-lings to serve each other unselfishly. Yes, I’ve sensed a few eye-rolls now and then (though none of them would dare roll when we’re looking). But we really do see a little more selflessness every day. It’s fun watching them mature. I’d say in a dozen or so more years Daniel should have no wedgy-worries whatsoever. Of course, he’ll be in his twenties then.

I couldn’t find a specific de-wedgy-ing verse in the Bible, but Ephesians 6:7 tells us to, “Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men.” It reminds me to stay on my toes in my own service—heart and soul—and to teach my kids to serve with everything they have, too.

Family Pewed

One way I can keep up the anti-wedgy/noogie training is by making sure my kids are planted in the pews of a solidly serving, Bible-believing church each week. Our kids will learn more about service, and will see more servants in action, as we parents stay consistent in church attendance. If you’re not involved in the kind of church you and your kids need, don’t weary of searching one out. Let the church help you pour biblical truths for living into the lives and hearts of your children. It’s a great place for your teaching to be reinforced. The church was created by God’s design and he wants us to be a part of it. He spells it out for us in Hebrews 10:25: “Let’s see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out, not avoiding worshiping together as some do but spurring each other on, especially as we see the big Day approaching.” (The Message)

Romans 15:17-18 tells us that our service is something we can treasure in life—because anything good in our lives happens as a result of letting Jesus work in and through us. “Therefore I glory in Christ Jesus in my service to God. I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done.” Is there anything that tickles parents more than seeing their kids allowing the Lord to grow them up in their service for him?

As always, we need to do more than just tell our children to be servants. They need to be able to learn it by our example. We’re being good examples and we’re being obedient to the Lord when we lovingly serve. Galatians 5:13 tells us to “serve one another in love.”

Family Cued

I want my family to stay right on cue with what the Lord wants for us. I’ll mention again that when Jesus comes for us, I hope we’re all caught red-handed in selfless, loving service. He gives us some readying instructions:

“Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, like men waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him. It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. I tell you the truth, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them. It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the second or third watch of the night. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.” Luke 12:35-40

As a mother, I would say being dressed and ready would include wearing clean underwear—the kind with a waistband that’s still intact. But what does Jesus consider “all dressed up and ready to go” according to this passage? Serving! “Be dressed ready for service…” he said! The “big Day” is approaching!

Let’s help our children be ready for Jesus’ coming by dressing for service. We can stick together and become more like a “family glued.”

Excerpted from Who Put the Cat in the Fridge—Serving Up Hope and Hilarity Family Style by Rhonda Rhea, 2005 (Cook Communications Ministries), pp. 179-182.