So the other night, we were at a themed party.\u00a0<\/p>\n
My wife and I had travelled in a 2nd car so my older 4 children who had gone early (to help) could stay later.\u00a0<\/p>\n
We said goodbye to our older children around 10pm, left the house and stared to walk the 1\/2km to where our car was parked. As we walked across the park, a number of silhouette figures appeared, walking towards us.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I wasn\u2019t fearful, but prepared for a number of scenarios that may happen: I would protect my wife & young children no matter what.<\/p>\n
But as the 4 people approached, I recognised the tallest one: it was one of my sons!?<\/p>\n
My initial thoughts were all negative, I mean *what on earth* was he (\/they) doing out here – away from the party and parental supervision?
This is *not* what we had envisaged when we said you could stay later! \u00a0My mind instantly assumed the worst, the reaction? Mild anger\u2026\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\u201cWhat are you doing out here\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
I was NOT prepared for the answer\u2026 (delivered as he hugged me & said goodnight):<\/p>\n
\u201cthis girl was worried, it was a long walk, so we escorted her to her car\u2026\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n
??! Why oh why does my mind sink so quickly to depravity – to the way I used to be – always imagining the worst? It wasn\u2019t even in the realm of possibilities that these young men could be out here doing good – doing what God would want them to.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Why can\u2019t it become normal to me that 4 young men, at 16-18 years old, would actually desire to honour their their parents and protect the innocence (& fear) of a young woman?\u00a0<\/p>\n
It\u2019s simple really: it is *not* normal\u2026\u00a0<\/p>\n
Human nature, left unchecked, is to pursue selfish desires, what feels good and has no regard for rules or the desires of a parent. It will also degrade to the point where a vulnerable girl becomes prey, not someone made in the image of God to be protected or served.\u00a0<\/p>\n
No matter how much teaching, training, persuasion or coercion, many will still see prey or a pay day even if they know it is wrong. Some would even argue they have no option, no ability to fight the urges. The epidemic of abuse against is wise-spread, even among those who have been taught clearly it is wrong, devastating to the victim and the punishments are harsh. (not as harsh as Ithnk they should be: I personally think that sexual assault against a minor should result in a life hard labour or death).\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mentally knowing something is wrong is *rarely* enough to evoke restraint, there needs to be a change of mind, heart and spirit. And that is something only Jesus can do.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Not religion, not programs, not counselling, not psychiatry, not drugs, not self help groups, not will power, not withdrawal, not threat of imprisonment, but an actual change of heart.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I know, because cause I used to do a *lot* of stuff my brain knew was bad, evil, wrong and damaging\u2026 but I didn\u2019t care. Sure I would try to not cross certain lines, I knew *logically* that this was bad, but when I wanted gratification, was triggered or thought I deserved it, my thoughts \/ actions were evil.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I am *so* grateful, that:\u00a0<\/p>\n
– God would be willing to forgive me (not because I deserved it or did anything \u2018good\u2019, but because Jesus paid for every sin I did , do or will)\u00a0
– He has enabled me to seek forgiveness from those who I have wronged.\u00a0
– He would be available to those I wronged, to help them heal & know their worth\u00a0
– He would somehow, by extraordinary power, completely reverse the trajectory of my wife AND THEN\u00a0
– Captivate the hearts of my children so they *want* to do what is right before God.\u00a0<\/p>\nFar more than religion, it is a change of heart produced by God\u2019s Spirit. All purchased by what jesus did on the cross NOT what you do (or any one else does!).\u00a0<\/p>\n
Amazing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
#thankYouJesus\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
So the other night, we were at a themed party.\u00a0 My wife and I had travelled in a 2nd car so my older 4 children who had gone early (to help) could stay later.\u00a0 We said goodbye to our older children around 10pm, left the house and stared to walk the 1\/2km to where our car was parked. As we walked across the park, a number of silhouette figures appeared, walking towards us.\u00a0 I wasn\u2019t fearful, but prepared for a number of scenarios that may happen: I would protect my wife & young children no matter what. But as the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2434,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[103,18,48],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-for-thought","category-parenting"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wildeden.com.au\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Thugs-at-night.jpg?fit=1188%2C1250&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pasDCW-Dh","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wildeden.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2435","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wildeden.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wildeden.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wildeden.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wildeden.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2435"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.wildeden.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2435\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2436,"href":"https:\/\/www.wildeden.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2435\/revisions\/2436"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wildeden.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wildeden.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wildeden.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wildeden.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}