It was like two or three years ago. I was pumping gas when I heard someone saying “hello”.

I looked up to see who that was. It was the guy across me. I said to myself, “Okay, I don’t know you” after I respectfully responded back to his greeting with a quick head nod. He continued and said something to complement me in ways I didn’t feel comfortable to say “Thank you” for. But not to be rude, I smiled. Well, he continued saying something and I totally ignored him.

While I looked up to return the pump back to its place, I saw three of my kids, lining up at the back of the car watching the entire scene. Imagine the windows were open. I said to myself “Oh, LORD” but I kept my “cool”. And I went in to the car. My daughter was chuckling; and BEHOLD, my older son was upset and said “Mom, didn’t the man see your ring?” I already started praying and I quickly said “Well, some people don’t care about a ring but I’m not wearing a ring to remind people that I’m married but I’m wearing a ring to remind myself that I can’t just flirt around with anyone but my husband.”

I could see their faces in the rear view mirror. Then nobody said a thing until we got home.

Yeah, we parents try to preach and teach to our kids about life and about everything we know to be true and right, especially how they need to follow Jesus Christ. Well, being a teacher of sexual purity, I might be the “guiltiest” parent of all for over-doing that (teaching them about sexual purity), and doing it often. But that day I learned that kids actually learn a lot from our everyday life than our preaching and teaching because they “read” us as we read the Bible; they watch us 24/7; they study us; and they imitate us. That is scary, isn’t it? It is because we don’t pull it all together, ALL THE TIME.

So if we are parents, let’s continue teaching our kids but let’s pay more attention to our lifestyle than to our preaching and teaching because as they said “more is caught than taught”. Our kids watch us more than they hear us. We can fool others but our kids? Nah, we can’t fool them. They are too smart to be fooled. They know whether we are phonies or “for real”.

And if we are teachers and preachers of the Word, let’s pay more attention to our lifestyle to see if we walk the walk and talk the talk so that we save ourselves and our hearers.

The Bible says: “Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.” 1 Timothy 4:16 /// (This was originally posted on 01/20/14)

P. S. For those of you who may be new to the page, this is what is going on with Appeal for Purity (A4P) this month. As part of the A4P one year anniversary celebration (which is coming up on Oct. 31), I’m going to re-post my earlier posts throughout the month of Oct. The first person who is going to drop their nice comment on the first re-post on October 1 and the last person who is going to drop their nice comment on the last re-post on Oct 31, will receive prize from A4P as part of the celebration (the winner for Oct. 1 has already been selected and the gift has already been shipped to the winner). But in the meantime, if the Holy Spirit gives me a message to share with you all, I will go ahead and post it daily.