The right crowd

My youth was a disaster. I was always in trouble. One problem that I had was choosing to run withthe wrong crowd. Additionally I liked to hang out at all the wrong places.Don’t get me wrong, I don’t blame my friends for my misdeeds, indeed I was always the ringleader and contributed more to their delinquency than vice versa. The point is that if one runs with an ungodly crowd, ungodly things will happen. Conversely,odds are good if one runs with aGodly crowd, better things will come of it.

Satan is real and he is powerful. He has powerful tools and it is easy to get caught up in his offerings. I once read that famous evangelist Billy Graham, one of the few really famous preachers to avoid scandal throughout his life, would never enter a room alone with someone of the opposite sex.When he counseled a female, someone else was always present.Even when he went in hotel rooms, one of his aides checked the room to make sure that no female was in the room before he would enter.. He did not want to place himself under even the slightest temptation. It is hard to develop an affair if one never spends time alone with a member of the opposite sex. I have known alcoholics who wanted to quit drinking, but wanted to keep going to bars. How dumb is that?

I monitored my children’s friends closely. Indeed I ran one off of my premises and told the little punk what I would do to him if I ever caught him around my son again. It was the right thing to do. At the time my son probably resented it, but today he readily admits this kid was heading for trouble and trying to take my son with him. If you have kids, monitor who they hang with and where they spend their time. The Bible has much to say about this, but I like the passage below.

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Psalms 1:1
Blessed is the man
Who walks not in the counsel
of the ungodly,
Nor stands in the path of
sinners,
But his delight is in the law of
the Lord,
And in His law he meditates
day and night.
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How well do you know the Bible?
John the Baptist was ordered beheaded by King Herod. His head was brought in on a platter and given to a young girl who had danced for the king and his friends.Apparently the dancing so pleased the king, that after the dancing he promised to give her whatever she wanted, up to half his kingdom,in payment for herdancing for him. She asked for John the Baptist’s head on a platter. Who was she?
Mark 6:14…


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