Bittersweet Times

These next few days are bitter sweet for me as a Dad. We are packing up Chelsea and taking her off to college. Its an exciting time for her as she is moving on to new things, new experiences, new friends, and a new life. Truth be told, she needs it. We have really protected her and kept a lot of pain from coming her way. She needs to go off and do some things on her own. She needs to know what it's like to have no money and want to go shopping, to the mall, or to the movies. She needs to learn the consequences of staying up too late and then being too tired to take that test! She needs to learn that God will provide for her everything she needs and that her provision comes not from her parents as she has spent 18 years living out. Rather her provision comes from God.

It's tough for us to let her go. It would be really easy to get wrapped up in all the things that could potentially happen to her while she is out of our care. After all, there are some bad people out there! We could live a life of fear and try to talk her out of going. We could live a life of fear and do a lot of things but that just aint right. We'll miss her while she is away. We'll miss her smile and her sense of humor. We'll miss her clumsiness. We'll miss the way she calls Daddddddyyyy can you help me fix this thing. All that stuff we will surely miss. We'll miss her constant longing for Arizona Green Tea with Honey.

At the end of the day there are many things we could fear but the Bible says that "God has not given us a spirit of fear. But of power love and a sound mind." I didn't realize months ago when I started working on this weekends message that much of it was going to be for me. This weekend we are talking about living a life without fear!

God knows our struggles, he knows our insecurities, he knows our pain, and he knows our fears. It is so awesome that the creator of the universe set in motion a message that will help me overcome this weekend. I hope it does the same for you too!

Don't allow Satan to move you into living a life of fear. Life with freedom and victory in your life.