transcribed by Standerinfamilycourt
This has been a favorite devotional from the returned prodigal husband who remarried his covenant wife, Charlyne, then founded Rejoice Marriage Ministries with her nearly 30 years ago. The Steinkamps have sustained, prayed for and coached thousands of covenant couples, seeing a very large percentage of them through to reconciled and restored marriages. Bob graduated to heaven in December, 2010. To the best of our knowledge, this devotional has not been featured so far in Charlyne Cares, perhaps because it’s more of a commentary than a devotional. We think it’s still worth sharing.
(Rev. Steinkamp, who served as an auxiliary police officer:)
…One of the great fears of many standers is their prodigal spouse will never be obedient to God. That can be illustrated by another law enforcement device, spike strips.
Almost weekly on the new we see police pursuits. Let’s compare a prodigal on the run from God to a felon on the run from the police.
The first contact with a fleeing felon might be when a police officer pulls in behind a suspect vehicle, turns on the lights and attempts to make a stop.
Every prodigal who has left home does so while looking in the emotional rear view mirror. They want to know who has seen what they just did. An officer “lighting up” a suspect might be compared to God signaling a prodigal to stop what they are doing.
Even though it cannot be done, fleeing felons and fleeing prodigals often think they can do so without being caught. As the pursuit increases, both felons and prodigals feel they will not be caught. Watching a police chase on television from an aerial view as the subject drives without knowing where they are going is the same as many prodigals.
A major concern in a police chase is not to endanger the lives of innocent people. Fleeing prodigals, just like fleeing felons show a total disregard for the welfare of others, namely their spouse and children. God must look on the actions of us prodigals with a broken heart as we refuse to stop.
Finally someone makes a decision that the police chase must end. Some distance ahead of the pursuit, the road is cleared and spike strips are readied. A sturdy rope-type device holds multiple sharp spikes, designed to flatten the tires on the subject vehicle. The spike strip is deployed just in front of the approaching vehicle.
God also has spiritual spike strips that He allows to be deployed in front of prodigals, if other efforts to have them stopped have failed. I dare not give illustrations lest someone feel I am using their family as an example.
In police chases, we often see a vehicle driving on the rims, with all four tires flattened and even the rubber on the tire gone. Prodigals can hit the spike strips of life and then continue running on the rims in the far country.
It is not uncommon to see a police chase coming to an end with the suspect starting to run on foot, and then suddenly surrendering to authorities. We know prodigals who run and run, and then suddenly give up. In fact, that is what happened to me. My running came to an end as I surrendered to my God and came home to my stander.
What is the real deal of a stander? Someone just like you who, regardless of what today brought, is ready to put that all behind them by the shed Blood of Jesus, spend time with God, and then get up tomorrow as certain as ever that God is going to do just as He promised and restore your marriage. To God be the glory!
Real deal standers are not Christians who are perfect. They are people who can admit they are imperfect but who love and serve a God Who is always perfect. Real deal standers depend not on Bob or Charlyne, nor on this or any Ministry to keep them standing strong. They depend on God.
Dear stander, go fight the spiritual battle one more day with the weapons of God. After that, fight the next battle and the one after that, always keeping one eye on your front walk to see if your prodigal is on the way home.
Your family restored, with everyone loving and serving Jesus, prepared to be with Him for eternity, is the real deal.
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