Fall in Kansas

Fall in Kansas is probably my favorite season. Cool in the mornings and warm in the afternoons – perfect! Staci also loves fall and fills our home with beautiful autumn decorations and with the smells of my favorite cool weather soups and meals. With all of the things that our family loves to do in the fall, one of the traditions that we practiced in our home during October was to not celebrate Halloween.

 

One of the biggest reasons for this was the fact that when I was a teenager, I read and watched quite a few books and movies that would be considered spiritually dark. I didn’t realize that I had opened the door of my mind to ideas and images that would literally come back to haunt me. After coming to Christ as a senior in high school, I began to try to follow the advice of Paul in Philippians 4:8 which states, “Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things.”

 

My encouragement to you is to take a few moments to prayerfully think about the things that you let into your own mind, heart and home and ask yourself if these practices are true, noble, right, etc. If not, you may need to change some things. I truly believe that many Christians are innocently or ignorantly dabbling in the realm of darkness without realizing it. This is especially true of our kids as they are more vulnerable to the deceptions of Satan.

 

Paul exhorted us to live differently in Ephesians 5:8-11 when he said, “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.”

 

My hope in writing this would be to encourage all of us to go to the Lord in prayer and ask Him, as King David did, to search our hearts and thoughts – and if there is anything offensive to Him, that He would lead us in “the everlasting way” (Ps. 139:24).

 

God bless you as you enjoy this season!

David Landis, Superintendent