Surround yourself with good!

Yesterday I heard some sad news.  About someone I didn’t even know.  But is it still terribly sad. A young man, probably no more than ten years older than me is laying in a hospice house right now in Greenville.  His elderly father sits beside him, faithful until the end, with tears streaming down his face.  Not the Christmas tale I expected to hear yesterday, full of hope and happy endings.  But this is true life.

I do not know him, but his family and my family have been friends for decades.  He was raised by devout Christian parents who believe in Proverbs 22:6, to “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.”  And that is exactly what they seemed to do.  But this child chose to go his own way.  More the way of the prodigal son, with a lifestyle filled with drugs and worldly living.  Now, don’t get me wrong: I believe in Proverbs 22:6 as well.  And I have no idea and make no judgments about his soul, because that is not mine to judge.  But, there are a couple of observations about this scenario and I believe are worth pursuing:

1.  Parents can raise multiple children in what appears like the exact same way and they always seem to come out a little differently.  I hear remarks all of the time like:  “How could that kid act like that.  He’s been raised by good parents!!”  We can never forget that each of us has a free will, and many parents have raised children to live godly and clean lives only to see those children chose another path.  That is not a reflection on the parents or their lack of parental skill … that is merely proof that we each have the ability to chose our own path.

2.  And I guess this is something I wish I could say to every kid I know (Lord knows I’ve said it to my two children like a broken record for years):  BE CAREFUL OF THE PEOPLE WITH WHICH YOU SURROUND YOURSELF!!  In other words, the FRIENDS YOU CHOOSE!!  Because they will shape YOU as much or more than you shape them!!  And if you surround yourself with people who are living ungodly lives and doing destructive things, you will too.

So, the best thing you can do for your future is surround yourself with GOOD PEOPLE who have the same kinds of goals in life that you do!!  Because, if you don’t do this, you’ll pay more of a price than you ever intended to pay.  If you believe in Jesus Christ, the best thing you can do is surround yourself with friends that believe in Him and honor Him with their lives, too!

Test me and see if this is not true!!