Which of the following are similar to the ways you've served Christ in your family? [check all that apply]
• Taught your kids to see God's glory in nature
• Washed the dishes without being asked
• Played a board game with your kids
• Encouraged your wife to finish her master's degree
• Attended a child's open house at school
• Worked fewer hours to be with your family
• Set an example of a godly prayer life for your children
• Held a crying child
• Swung on the tire swing with your daughter
• Told your wife why you're still in love with her
• Told your son he's got what it takes
• Coached soccer
• Let you child correct you now and then
• Fixed the vacuum cleaner
• Taught your sons to ride a bike
• Listened patiently to a complaint of your wife
• Taped your child's artwork to your office wall
• Admitted to your kids that you were wrong
• Told your children how Christ entered your life
• Cleaned up vomit
• Taught your children to love books
• Been romantic without expecting sex
• Told your daughter she's smart/beautiful
• Set standards for your kids and stuck to them
• Dealt graciously with a busybody neighbor
• Peeled carrots
• Watched movies together
Back to the Gang Theme of the Week: Selling Out Monday, May 27, 2002
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May/June 200253Back to the GangTheme of the Week: Selling Out Back to the Gang Theme of the Week: Selling Out Monday, May 27
Key Bible Verse: "Choose today whom you will serve . …But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord" (Joshua 24:15). Bonus Reading:Joshua 24:14–25
After John Johnson was released from prison, I dropped by his sister's apartment to see him. He told me what had happened the day before:
Four cars pulled up, and about 15 of my boys piled out. "We heard you quit the New Breed," they said. "You know you joined for life and nobody leaves."
I said, "So, you've all come here to kill me?"
"Not exactly," one of the boys said. "We really want to keep you in the gang. You've been a good leader. We want to give you a higher-rankin' position." To sweeten the offer, they said they'd throw in a nice ride.
"Okay," I said, "I'll be you-all's chief."
"All right!" they said, and opened the trunk of a car, brought out the beer, and said, "Let's party!"
Then I said, "But if I'm goin' to be your chief, we're goin' to do things my way." They looked at me funny and said, "What way's that?"
"We're not goin' to sell drugs or try to take someone else's turf."
"If we not gonna be gangbangin', what we gonna do?"
"We're goin' to go to school, get jobs, and go to church and study the Bible. If I'm chief, that's the way it's gonna be."
—Gordon McLean in Too Young to Die
My Response: Am I ready to "lay it on the line" for Christ?
Thought to Apply: He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. —Jim Elliot (missionary martyr, 20th century)
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