Let me start by saying two things: I love you; I am sorry for hurting you.
My desire for you has been and will always be that you reach your potential in Christ. I do not know what that potential is. As a (human) parent we can visualize and sometimes try to effect our own visions upon our children. The battle a parent has is to trust that the Lord will work things out in the life of their child.
Now, to be specific, I would like to see the following things in your life. Anything greater than these would be mere icing on the cake. Note that none of these items can be quantified in monetary terms or career goals.
As to spirituality, the current society is pretty much devoid of it. In its place, materialism, sensuality and paganism have taken over. We are all affected by our environment to a lesser or greater extent.
As to success in general, traditional measures of success have been replaced by fake measures. Traditional measures of success involved character, integrity, honesty, and most importantly, devotion to God, family and country. The fake measures are self-importance, sensual pleasures, financial gain and pagan worship.
I guess that last one needs some explanation. Pagan worship relates to worshipping the creation rather than the creator. Historically, all civilizations have worshipped something. In the absence of divine revelation, people worship nature in one form or another. Amazingly, our current civilization has rejected divine revelation and returned to paganism! We see it in the denial of Christ as Lord in our public venues. We see it in the elevation of environmental issues in our national agenda. Our society doesn't realize that it has returned to pagan child-sacrifice practices. We justify it in terms of 'a woman's right to choose'. We justify it in terms of saving lives through the use of embryonic tissue.
Kindness, sweetness. I know that the current society is heavy toward bravado. However, people who are truly great are kind and have a sweet spirit about them. To go against the grain of society the Holy Spirit must be in control.
Let me say this about music. God created music just as He did all things. However, just as Lucifer has perverted as many of God's beautiful creations as he can, so he has done with music. The way to tell what is good music (from God) from bad music (from Satan) is simple. Good music brings out the best in you. Bad music brings out the worst in you. Good music causes you to aspire to be more than you are - it brightens your outlook - it encourages you. Bad music causes you to deflate - it darkens your outlook - it discourages you. Just as sexual perverts derive pleasure from twisted sex, it is equally possible to derive 'pleasure' from bad music. However, that pleasure is only sensory and is spiritually devastating.
Moderation is good. Excess is bad. The only place where moderation is not the way to go is in Love. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.
We live in a beautiful, dangerous world. The only way to walk through it successfully is to do so holding the hand on Him who loves you and gave himself for you. Follow Jesus .
Know that I love you and am praying for you always!
Love, dad.
June 19, 2007