Speaker: Richard "Little Bear" Wheeler
Everything you do leaves a mark on your children.
When a man who carved a lion out of a rock was asked "how did you get a lion out of that rock?" he answered "I chipped away everything that was not a lion."
The rock of course would be screaming out STOOOOPPPPP! NOOOOOOO!!! if it could.
We are all chipped away/chipped on as God refines us.
CHARACTER! Integrity vs. Reputation
if I am the best at something, in the end, what does it matter? (reputation
Integrity is internal ... reputation is external
Integrity is what you believe ... reputation is what you live
Integrity is your face ... reputation is your photograph (not sure what that meant, should have taken better notes)
Integrity is what God knows about you ... reputation is what people think of you.
Stainglass....
Integrity is beauty seen light within ... reputation is beauty seen light from out
In the Bible:
Balaam - lacks character
Jezebel lacks character
Delilah lacks character
Absolom
saul
Ecc 10:1
Once you lose character, you cannot gain it back.
Training, discipline and God's word - how to get character
it comes through prayer, fasting, discipline ...
blameless, upright, fears God, turns from evil - JOB
Reading good books; discerning movies - this is good ... that is bad; repenting yourself in front of the children.
How can you give to your children what you have not overcome??
He shared a VERY powerful story about how he used to be a liar. He grew up learning to lie. And he had to overcome it. He had prayed and prayed and then the Lord put him in a situation where they were late for church. He was speeding and a cop pulled him over.
When the officer approached him and asked him if he knew why he had been pulled over, Little Bear answered "Yes I was speeding and I would like my ticket."
The officer, astounded, put his hand on his gun and told Little Bear to get out of the car. While Little Bear did promptly. With his hand still on his gun, the officer told Little Bear to move to the back of the car and then over to the side of the road ... which Little Bear did (please understand Little Bear told this so much better and funnier than I am). The officer then went on to say that Little Bear's license plate sticker was expired. Little Bear apologized saying that he did not realize since all his stickers are at different months and he would get it taken care of.
The police officer then realized that his driver's license had a different address on it than the one he said he lived at. Little Bear explained that his birthday was coming up when he was supposed to renew his license and he was just going to get the address changed at that time as they were currently building their house and had only been living in it for three months.
The officer then told him to stay there and went and talked to Little Bear's wife. He came back and said "you lied to me." Little Bear said "No, officer, I did not lie to you. Everything I told you has been the truth." The officer and Little Bear went back and forth "you lied to me" ... "no I did not." Finally, Little Bear said "Officer, how did I lie to you?" The officer replied that his wife said they had been in the house for 5 months not three.
Little Bear said "Officer, I am under a lot of stress right now and said the first number that came into my head, as we have not been there very long, but I promise you, with God as my witness I have not lied to you. I want you to give me every ticket you can think of. Give me the ticket for speeding, for the license plate and for the driver's license .. I want them all."
The officer laughed and said "I'm not gonna give you any ticket."
The Lord tested Little Bear that day, and a few times more, but Little Bear had been set free from a lying spirit.
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