What Drives Me Bananas
Every so often I will have those moments in my life that I'll just shake my head and wonder, "What are we thinking?" Let me take a moment just to share with you those things that make me go bananas.
1. Parents who fail to get their teens to Youth Group.
After 14 years of youth ministry, I discovered a powerful truth while working with teens and here it is: If a parent drove their son or daughter to youth group, they arrived. How's that for truth? It's true! ONE HUNDRED percent of the time the kid made it to youth group if their parent was behind the wheel. What makes me go bananas are Christian parents who fail to make youth group just as important (I would argue - more important)than school. Okay...I could go on forever.
2. Failure to protect Sundays for the family.
Every study that I have ever read indicates that a family that worships together on a regular basis develops a healthier lifestyle and spiritual depth than a family that is inconsistent in their worship. While growing up we had a plaque on the kitchen wall that read, "The family that prays together stays together." In many ways, it is true. Again, I go bananas when I see someone struggling with their spiritual walk and yet they fail to meet God in church. Hebrews 10:25 says that we are not to "neglect" meeting together. There's a reason for this. Out of site, out of mind.
3. Busy schedules.
There's a wise saying and it goes like this: If the devil can't make you bad, he will keep you busy. Most of us pride ourselves on being busy. We like that feeling of having our daytimer tell us that we are important - irreplaceable. But the truth is this - the longer our RPMs operate in the red zone, the less effective we are in just about every area of our life. This is especially true in our spirtual life. Rick Warren, author of the Purpose Driven Life, once stated, "If you have to work more than 45 hours a week you are probably less productive as you think." The key is to try to build a safe margin into your life so that you can say "no" to good things in order to say "yes" to far greater things.
