Kingdom Heroes: Building a Strong Faith That Endures by Evans Tony

Author:Evans, Tony [Evans, Tony]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harvest House Publishers
Published: 2021-09-06T16:00:00+00:00

8

THE PATRIARCHS, MEN WHO LEFT A LEGACY

W hen the kids were young, we took them to Disneyland. They loved to watch Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, and especially Goofy on television, and we thought it would be a nice experience for them to meet those characters “in person.” It was a long drive from Texas to California, but we finally made it to the Magic Kingdom.

We were there during the peak of vacation season, so the place was packed. And after a while, Lois and I got so caught up in all of the fun and excitement that—I’ll admit it—we let down our guard. We weren’t paying attention to the kids as closely as we had when we first got there. And before we knew it, our youngest son, Jonathan, was no longer with us.

Little Jon-Jon, as we called him then (and still do on occasion today), had wandered off when we weren’t watching. We immediately started looking in the vicinity where we were, but he was nowhere to be seen. We then spanned out and searched in different directions, but we still couldn’t find him. As panic rose in our hearts, making time nearly stand still in our minds, I went to a security station to report our son was missing. The security staff set out looking as well, scanning the park for any signs of him.

In a place where there should have been nothing but joy, fun, and festivities, we found ourselves despondent and scared. The so-called Magic Kingdom hadn’t turned out to be that magical after all. It took some time before we found Jonathan, but we eventually located him in a toy store looking at all the displays. Grateful to have found him, we’d also become weary by the scare and search, thus dampening our enthusiasm for the remainder of the day.

We faced a dual problem that day in Disneyland. First, Jonathan had become distracted by the sights and sounds of the kingdom he was in. Second, we’d become distracted by the sights and sounds of the kingdom we were in. We’d all become distracted by the imagery, music, rides, and thrills in the Magic Kingdom. In fact, we’d become so focused on that kingdom that we lost our focus on what mattered most—our son. In other words, being in that very kingdom had resulted in us, as parents, losing contact with our own child.

Today, you and I are living in a world where, if we don’t intently focus on God’s kingdom, we can easily be pulled away into the lure of another kingdom. The competing kingdom of darkness to God’s kingdom of light would like nothing more than to woo both us and our families into a scenario of chaos, separation, and despair. Yes, it will use the illusion of excitement and fun to get us there, but once sucked in, we’ll discover it was all smoke and mirrors.

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