The Day of Reckoning – A Performer Faces the Music - Purity 1189
In this devotional monologue, M.t. Clark shares a personal crisis involving his adult son Brennan, who is financially broke, unemployed, and facing car repair and insurance costs after a series of setbacks triggered by the COVID‑19 pandemic and poor choices. Clark recounts Brennan’s background as a talented performer whose education and career were derailed, his recent loan to an unreliable friend, and his failure to follow up on a job lead. Using this story, Clark offers parenting counsel about the importance of truth‑telling, responsibility, and proactive problem‑solving, emphasizing that hidden issues eventually surface. He grounds his advice in Scripture, quoting Psalm 127:1‑3 and referencing a Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling, and he points listeners to Christian resources such as mtforchrist.org, the Arthur Pink Anthology, and other counseling guides. The talk concludes with a heartfelt prayer for guidance, patience, and blessings for Brennan and for listeners, reinforcing the Christian belief that God’s presence and eternal life provide hope amid life’s hardships.
Chapters
To see today's photo, go to mt4christ.org or follow me, M.t. Clark, on Facebook or Twitter. Good morning! Today's photo of the dawn of morning rising on the horizon over a city street scene comes to us from yours truly, as I was foolish and/or daring enough to capture this sunrise sky during my morning commute yesterday on Watervliet Avenue Extension in Albany, New York. Traffic was light and I was going relatively slow down this road, but don't try this at home, kids. Well, it's Friday, and speaking of roads and kids, I deviated from my normal Thursday tradition of sharing a pathway photo to encourage y'all to get on or stay on the path of Christian discipleship yesterday because I was distracted by a developing situation with one of my kids. Parents, you know how it is, right? Everything is going fine until you find out the truth that it's not going fine. Um, yeah, that your beloved children have been keeping secrets and doing something wrong, or have been doing what they are not supposed to do, or failing to do what they should have done— things that any responsible adult would do. But they are kids, and whether they are wee little ones or 20-somethings that are trying— we are trying to launch into independence, they are still kids, and they lack the wisdom and experience that we have learned through our many years of trials and errors. And not for nothing, according to some of my learning from Deeper Walk International School of Prayer Ministry, 75 to 80% of adults are operating at what is considered to be infant level or child levels of maturity. So it shouldn't be surprising that our kids can act like children and hide the truth of what they're— what they do from us to avoid being in trouble. And while kids can be surprisingly good at concealing the truth from us, because they are limited in their resources to solve problems, the consequences of their actions or inactions can blow up and expose the truth. Yesterday I asked my adult son for the rent only to learn that he is virtually penniless and, and has a really adult-sized pickle with it and is in a really adult-sized pickle with his finances. Is this a surprise? Yes and absolutely not. You see, my son Brennan is a graduate of 2020, the class of COVID and that little pandemic sort of sabotaged whatever plan that that would have developed from Brennan's future in normal times. In 2020, Brennan was going to be the star of the spring musical by being cast as Seymour in The Little Shop of Horrors. Brennan was a talented performer, is a talented performer, and not the greatest student in terms of ambition and doing his homework. While he would do amazing work preparing for his theatrical and musical performances, and is fairly intelligent, he would disregard his schoolwork and he'd put his plan— and he put his plans for college on the back burner during his senior year, figuring he would rely on some of the supportive faculty at school to help him to get to, quote unquote, some college to do something, presumably to do with performing arts. But then COVID happened. The play was canceled. And so was Brennan's motivation to do basically anything. He failed to graduate on time and had to go to summer school because he didn't like or want to do his homework. Um, and that's all COVID was. So his preference of not doing his homework resulted in failure and summer school and doing gym class in his room online to graduate. And as for college, suddenly Seymour didn't have the contact with those supportive faculty to lean on. And because of the restrictions in the fall in 2020, Brennan decided to take a gap semester or year, or I don't remember anymore. Because although, although, um, you know, Brennan did eventually go to community college and actually got back on stage in productions at HVCC, he was involved with some very dramatic and troubled friends who were into drugs and perversion. He got involved with a relationship with a female who had mental health issues and gender confusion, and surprise, surprise, it went toxic. And, and I thank the Lord and supported Brennan in taking another break from school. However, since then it's been a while. He has isolated and sat in his room, uh, refusing to pursue work to support himself. In an attempt to make my adult children responsible, I charge them rent. If they are not in school, they pay. And if it's not an unreasonable amount, but to make them somewhat responsible, I make them pay. So Brennan has been living off of his college money, and even though we have had numerous continuous conversations about he needs to get a job, he didn't do it. And yesterday, the day of reckoning came. Brennan finally admitted that he was basically out of cash, and the admission sent me into a tizzy as I tried to contain my anger and simultaneously advise him to do what he simply must do: get a job. So that's all— so that's all right, you need to get a job, so there, problem solved. Come on, parents, you know better than that. There is always more to the story. When we finally find out what our kids have been hiding from us, there is always more than what we sort of knew. I knew he wasn't going— he wasn't working, so although I was not happy with this admission, I can't say I was surprised. I just thought he would have wised up before he got near the end of his cash. Surely, uh, that's what a responsible adult would do. But I know he is not that. He is not a responsible adult. Why would I think he was? Anyway, now that the cat was out of the bag on his money being gone, we got more truth. To make matters worse, Brendan's car just failed inspection, and in order to pass, and pass, an expensive repair is required. Of course, expense repair, an expensive repair. Is required. And these days, if you fail to get your, your car inspected in a timely fashion, the DMV will pull your registration. So we couldn't just ignore it like a kid. Um, I think you could have got, you know, back in the day you get away with that for a while, but, uh, not anymore. It's all computerized, so they make you, make you, make you register, you know, make you get inspected, otherwise they pull your registration. And then you're, you know, then you're driving an unregistered car, breaking the law, etc., etc. So Brendan's problem of having, having to get a job to support himself has also become my problem because I love my son and I have the means to bail him out, to help him from making matters worse. So Brendan has applied for jobs, will be calling to follow up on his applications to try to get hired immediately. And will be getting his car repaired and inspected today. And I'll be paying the bill and making Baron accountable for his rent and the cost of the repair after he gets start— after he starts getting paid. It was a mini disaster that disrupted my morning and caused me to mail in the blog yesterday. Thank you, Lauren Ross-Killey from mindfulofchrist.net, because I shared your encouraging words from Wednesday to share on my blog Thursday. By Thursday evening, Brennan and I had talked and worked out the game plan to solve this issue and set him on the road to finally do what he should have done for months, if not a year ago, a year or more ago. Um, in our conversation, Brennan also admitted to loaning someone who is known for their irresponsibility $2,500 in the last year. They're actually— that person is actually scheduled to come into money relatively soon, and I encourage Brennan to be proactive in collecting that debt because because he needs it, and this person probably won't have the ability to pay him back for long. Whether or not Brennan gets his money back remains to be seen, but I am hoping that he will learn not to loan people money in the future. He's in no position to do so, and if he considered the inevitability of his future state, he would have possibly avoided the possibility of not being paid back. Oh, and there's more. Brennan's car insurance is due next month. That's always a big bill, so there's that. But we are hopeful that he'll be working and he will get this loan money back to help him pay GEICO. That's yet to be seen too. But as bad as all that may be, at least now Brennan's secrets are out in the open and he can start to fix things by doing what is right. You'll love this too. Uh, apparently Brennan isn't completely stupid and he actually applied for a job back in September at Cracker Barrel in East Greenbush. He applied online, and according to Brennan, he put his preferred method of contact as "email only." Well, the management at Cracker Barrel apparently honored his preference and sent him an email that told him to "call us." But Brennan is somewhat of a walking contradiction. Although he can perform on stage for multitudes, he is somewhat socially awkward, and he didn't want to make a phone call. So he didn't. He could have possibly been hired and working since September, but because he— they wanted him to call them, he sabotaged himself and didn't follow up. Unbelievable, right? Well, if you have a millennial child, you might know just how believable that is. Anyway, Brennan is at a point now where he has to get over his preference and ask for help and accept the help that someone is gracious enough to give it. So, if you have a secret, come out of the dark. Tell your family and your friends what you are going through. Stop hiding or running from your problems and throw yourself under the bus by just telling the truth and start working toward fixing things. The Lord has blessed us with abilities and relationships that can help us, but if we don't use them or prefer not to, we will suffer. So keep walking and talking with God. With him by your side, you can overcome just about anything. And even if you can't, he will comfort and guide you to accept and endure what you can't fix. Today's Bible verses come to us from the Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling by John G. Crews. This morning's meditation verses come from the section on children, uh, and today's verses are Psalm 127:1-3. 3 through 5. From the NIV, the word of God says, children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one's youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They will not be put to shame when they contend with their opponents in court. Today's verses fall under the first point of our Counseling Reference Guides resource section on children. 1. Children belong first to God and are His gift to us. Today's verses are a reminder of what a blessing our kids can be. This is too funny, Lord. I don't set these things up, but God does. The section on— of scripture comes to us on the heels of this disaster with my son. You can't make this stuff up. But seriously, kids are a blessing. They teach us how to love someone sacrificially and selflessly. Kids teach us to be patient, compassionate, and kind. So teach your children well and thank God for them, because as we, as we teach them, we can learn more about ourselves and more about what a good Father we have in God. And that's the end of that commentary. Um, yeah, children are a blessing. It's just so funny. Um, they are. Um, anyway, as always, we invite you to go to mtforchrist.org where we always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assisted our brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk. Today we continue sharing from the Arthur Pink Anthology by A.W. Pink, and, uh, we're on the second track, uh, which is Another Gospel, and we're sharing part 2 of 5 from that track. So if you want to learn about another gospel, see what A.W. Pink has to say about it, you can start with yesterday's blog and then continue with today's blog to get parts 1 As always, we share these resources to encourage Christians in their walk to get on the path of Christian discipleship because life's hard enough. We need all the help we can get. And when we walk and talk with God and follow what he has to say, we at least know we're doing— we're trying to do what's right. And the best thing is we're not alone in that. The Lord is with us and he'll guide us into all truth, and he'll guide us— it might take a while to find all truth, But he'll guide us into it, and he'll help us to fix what's broken and to, you know, try to heal and try to save that which is lost. Anyway, it is Friday, and I'm looking forward to seeing my wife Tammy Lynn at the end of the workday. So whatever problems or concerns, you know, face me, we always look forward to the challenges of getting over them and enjoying the good things in our lives that God has us that we might take for granted when we run into problems. So always practice gratitude. I'm thankful for my son. He had some sketchy friends in college, but he didn't get involved with drugs. I don't know about the sex stuff. Well, I'm pretty sure he had sex, but it wasn't with a boy, so that's good as far as I know. You know, basically he's a pretty level-headed kid. He's just sort of, you know, like most of us as kids, we don't know what to do with our future and we don't like the options that are out there. We prefer just to be young, rich, and famous, you know, just naturally. But unfortunately that doesn't happen and we have to work. And I've set an example as someone who's willing to work and And, you know, now Brennan has to follow that example. He's not a dumb kid. He just does dumb things like most of us do. And luckily, you know, the Lord loves him, and he put his faith in Jesus a long time ago. And whether or not he's, you know, that was a true confession and he's truly with the Lord or not, I don't know. But I love him, and we'll encourage him to go in the way he should go. Like, uh, all my kids, my daughter Haley, and all my stepkids, uh, from two marriages. So whether or not they follow the Lord, that's what I point to. And that's what I do with the blog here. It's like, hey guys, God is real. You can have a real relationship with him. You need to start talking to him and start following what his word says and what he will put in your spirit after you put put your faith in Jesus. This is not, you know, I, I, I get triggered because many, many people in the body of Christ don't know this. And that's why we do a blog, to let you know that God's alive and well and he's speaking to you. He wants to guide you, and he needs you to get out of the dark and start to follow him in his light. And so we, we share things like our teachings on Victory Over the Darkness The Bondage Breaker and Freedom in Christ. Why? So you can know who you are, who you are in Christ, and relate to God relationally, to have that relationship. You know, that's how it comes, guys. We, we see what God has done for us in our salvation, and then we love him, um, and, you know, start to talk to him and start to seek to do his will on earth and do things according to his way because we love him. And when we develop that love relationship with the Lord, it just spills out on everyone else. You know, we, we get overcome over what God has forgiven us of and the power he gives us to do what's right and change our course from something that's broken to something that's great. Um, you know, um, so yeah, so we, we do that, and we encourage you to keep on walking and talking with God because he's got good things for you. And, or like I said, even if he doesn't have good things for you, he'll be with you and help you endure through all the pain and suffering that we're going to face on this earth. You know, it's not all, it's not all, you know, good news. You know, some of us are going to get sick and die. Well, guess what? That's probably all of us. Um, you know, we all pass off this mortal coil, but we don't have to be in despair because we have life everlasting in Christ. And, um, you know, He's going to guide us every step of the way so we can endure the pain and, uh, until we see Him face to face. So let's, let's do that. Let's follow Him and let's, uh, let's rejoice, because although we may die, we will live forever in His kingdom. And that, that living starts now. So let's live it up. Anyway, let's pray. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom, Lord. Thank you for the truth coming to light in my children's lives. And Lord, thank you for, you know, that it wasn't worse. As bad as it was, it wasn't as bad as it could be. And we thank you for the things that didn't happen and things he didn't fall into. We just pray for you to help us in the days ahead to take the path that's right. And Lord, we pray for blessings for Brendan to find work sooner rather than later and to start to be responsible with his life. And help me to be patient and kind as I seek to encourage him and to lead him in the way he should go. And as for leading, Lord, we need you to lead us today. And we pray for any of our friends who are listening or, well, reading today's message. We just pray for you to come alongside them and their prayer requests, their relationships, and to, uh, to help them. Uh, you know, they need help, I'm sure, because I need help. And that's what I'm asking for today. Lord, we know you're sovereign, so you're in control of absolutely everything, and we want you to go before us today and give us a decent day, or the strength to endure a hard day, whatever it is. We gladly accept it because you made it, and we can't see what— we can't wait to see what happens. But we do pray for you to go before, um, before us. We are asking for your blessings and protection as we go through our day. And Lord, we just pray for you to open our eyes to the things you want us to see and lead our steps in the way we should go, because all we want to do is represent you in your kingdom, Lord. We're not perfect people, but we know your perfect love and And, uh, we just thank you, we praise you, we love you, Lord. And we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.
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