Choose Life

Bill Keller wrote a devotional today that I recommend to
you for your consideration.  It has food for thought.  He
has given me permission to copy his e-mails, and I'm sure
he would be happy if you would share this with people you
know as well.

Despair can affect anyone.  God wants the best for you.
Let him into your life so your despair can be lifted!

Parents, help your children heal their hidden pain.

I would like personally thank Jesus for healing my ailing
right shoulder that has been very painful for 18 months.
I was scheduled to go the doctor on Monday, but on Sunday,
June 4, I listened to two healing services . . . and
during the prayer for healing in the second one my pain,
stiffness and loss of movement all disappeared.

Thank you, Jesus!

Since then, I had a dream in which I finally realized
how I had hurt my shoulder . . . so now I won't repeat
that mistake.

Thank you, Jesus!

Please read on.

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL   MONDAY JUNE 19, 2006
(John 8:44, 10:10)

***PARENTS AND YOUNG ADULTS!  SIX MONTHS AGO, JAMES
DUNGY, SON OF INDIANAPOLIS COLTS HEAD FOOTBALL COACH
TONY DUNGY, TRAGICALLY TOOK HIS LIFE.  THIS DEVOTIONAL
TODAY IS ONE OF THE MOST CRITICAL I HAVE EVER WRITTEN
IN DEALING WITH THE REAL LIVES OUR YOUNG ADULTS ARE
LIVING EACH DAY, AND HOW PARENTS CAN HELP THEM THROUGH
THOSE DIFFICULT TEEN YEARS.  THIS IS A DEVOTIONAL
FAMILIES SHOULD READ AND DISCUSS TOGETHER.  ALSO, PLEASE
FORWARD IT TO EVERY PARENT AND YOUNG ADULT YOU KNOW.
IT COULD SAVE SOMEONE'S LIFE!

This email comes from:   bloody_vampiric_mistress@

"there is no problem with myspace look mine up at
  it is a place for people of all ages to meet
friends so what people use profile to express themselves
just because were all not perfect like you want us to be
so what no ones perfect and you know what there is
nothing wrong with what kind of music we listen to or
what religion we have everyone is an individual in there
own way everyone is expressive in there own way and who
in the hell are you to judge others for there
individuality you are nothing your life is meaningless
you are nothing but a worthless peace of shi#  and i hope
you die a slow and painful death you nasty bastar*"


The tragic death of James Dungy and the teen internet
site MySpace.  I was already finishing a Devotional I had
been working on for months on the teen internet site
MySpace.com, when the tragic news came last December that
James Dungy, the 18-year-old son of Indianapolis Colts'
Head Football Coach Tony Dungy was found dead of an
apparent suicide.  As the details of his death began to
emerge, it was learned that James had overdosed on
prescription medication just a few months earlier.
Another critical detail that came to light was the content
of James' personal webpage on the popular teen internet
site MySpace.com.  Today, I want to speak directly to
young adults about how precious this life is, and to
parents about how critical it is to know what is really
in your child's heart and head.

Let me speak first to the young adults.  Please, listen
to what I am telling you today.  Your life is a gift
from God.  It is special.  It is precious.  You only get
one.  That is why I warn you all the time about the
things out there that can damage, even destroy your one
and only life.  Things like alcohol, drugs, and sex.  Never
forget that satan's mission is to kill, steal, and destroy
(John 10:10), and that means YOU!  Satan is not some
Disney cartoon character, some loveable class clown.  He is
the enemy of your soul and wants you destroyed and DEAD!

Satan masterfully uses the media to feed his lies to the
masses 24/7/365 through music, TV, radio, movies,
advertising, and the Internet.  Never forget that Jesus
exposed him for who he really is, a LIAR (John 8:44).
He tells you the same lies he told Adam and Eve in the
Garden of Eden.  "God really didn't mean that," God doesn't
want you to have fun," "it won't hurt you, "and on and on
his lies go.  He is often called the "tempter."  Satan
also plays on your youth and the fact you simply don't have
enough life experiences to comprehend how dangerous some of
the things you do really are.  Not ONE adult in their 40s
or 50s would honestly tell you they would make the same
choices they did at 16 if they had known then what they
know now!

Here is the bottom line.  Satan is a liar and wants you
DEAD.  God is Truth and wants you to LIVE.  This is
really simple.  Satan's goal is to destroy you and kill
you.  God wants to bless you and have a relationship with
you for all eternity.  If you ever think of killing
yourself, those thoughts are from satan, NOT God.  Satan
will lie to you and tell you that you are better off
dead, that your life has no meaning, that nobody cares
about you or loves you.  ALL LIES!  The Truth is God
wants you to have life, and life more abundantly.  The
Truth is that your life has meaning and purpose.  The
Truth is that there are people who care about you and
love you.  The Truth is that God loves you and cares
about you more than you will ever know!!!

Parents, let me speak to you for a moment.  The greatest
need your child has is for you to love them and nurture
them.  You do that by praying for your child every day,
by raising your child in the admonition of the Lord and
in the Truth of His Word.  You do that by protecting your
child from the evils of this world.  You do that by
providing for your child's needs.  You do that by having
a RELATIONSHIP with your child, and that only happens
through open and honest communication.  The greatest need
I see daily in the relationship of parents and their
children is more open and honest communication.  There is
no substitute for taking the time to sit down and
COMMUNICATE with your child.  The younger they are when
you start really communicating with them, the better that
communication is as they get older.

OK parents, now I am going to give you perhaps the
greatest information I ever will other than what is in
the Bible.  I assure you, unknown to 90% of the parents
reading this today is a teen internet site called MySpace
( www.myspace.com ).  It is a website designed
predominantly for young adults to go and create their
own custom webpage.  There is a basic template that they
fill in with pictures, with information on their likes
and dislikes, with their blog ( a modern day "dear diary")
that others can read and respond to, in addition to links
to their friend's MySpace pages.  I assure you that 70%
of the kids between 14-20 who are on the computer have a
MySpace.  Of course, there are other comparable sites,
but by far MySpace is the most popular of all in this
genre of websites.

Let me make sure you understand what I am telling you.
If your child has a MySpace, you will find out more about
your child, what is really going on in their heart and
head than you ever dreamed you would know.  This is their
personal signature, who they are, and in many cases a
side of them that you never knew existed.  By following
the links to their friend's MySpace, you will also get a
keen insight into who they really are and what is in
their hearts and heads as well.

I would encourage every parent with a child between 14-20
that is on the computer at all to ask your child if they
have a MySpace or something comparable, and that you want
to read their page.  Be prepared for your child to lie that
they don't have one.  Be prepared that if they do, they
will probably put up a huge fight about letting you read
it.  Be prepared that if you do read it, what you will
find out.  Based on what is on your child's MySpace, you
have the perfect opportunity to really start openly and
honestly communicating with your child, since again, what
you will read is in most cases their innermost thoughts
and what is in their heart.

For privacy reasons, I chose not to reveal the MySpace
page of the sad young girl who wrote that email I shared
with you at the beginning.  However, having viewed her
MySpace, it was VERY chilling.  Glorification of death,
of promiscuous sex, a page that reeked of satan and utter
rebellion to God and his Word.  I am fairly certain that
this girl's parents have never read her MySpace, though
they need to since she is very troubled and is in for a
difficult and rough life unless she turns her life around
and to the Lord.  In most cases I deal with, young adults
like this troubled girl don't have anyone in their life
who really cares about them and they grow up in homes
void of God and His love and Truth.  They are simply
looking for attention in their rebellion.  Pray for her,
since she needs to come to know the love of Jesus Christ
in her heart and life.

I would be shocked if Coach Dungy or his wife had any
knowledge of James' MySpace.  It was full of thug and
gangster themes, glorifying smoking pot, adulation of
thug rappers like Tupac and Snoop Dogg.  No doubt some of
it may have been a "front," or simply an effort to be
someone he really wasn't.  Many young adults will use
this type of site to portray themselves as someone they
fantasize about being.  But there is still much truth to
be gained about a person from what is on these sites.

James Dungy's MySpace was disturbing enough to know that
something wrong was going on in this young man's heart
and life.  The scary thing is that this is a young man
who was raised by two loving, nurturing, and Godly
parents.  He was afforded all of the possible blessings
life could offer a young person.  He was raised in the
church!  Yet despite all he had going for him, James had
some serious issues going on in his life.  His very last
post on his blog talked about not having "ne one to talk
to."

Parents, listen to me carefully.  YOU ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE
FOR THE CHOICES YOUR CHILD MAKES.  God gave them the same
free will He has given you and each person.  That is why
raising your child in the admonition of the Lord,  in His
Word, is so critical.  So you can hopefully start shaping
at a young age those choices your child will make later
in their life.  James Dungy was 18, living on his own in
a campus apartment.  Coach Tony Dungy and his wife are
NOT responsible for his choice to take his life.  It was
his choice, and his choice alone.  If you had a child take
their life, YOU ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CHOICE YOUR
CHILD MADE!  You can only do your best, and at some point,
leave them to the Lord and pray for them.

I love you and care about you so much.  The death of
James Dungy is a sad reminder of how busy satan is in
trying to destroy the lives of our children.  It is also
another reminder of how raising your children is the
greatest ministry that a mother and father will ever
have in this life.  Young adults need to understand that
life is not a game, it is a precious gift from God and
this one life we each have will be over sooner than we
think.  The key is to fulfill our Divine purpose of
serving and glorifying God with our life and living it
each day for Him.  Parents need to do the best job they
can at laying a foundation of faith in their child's
life, and doing their best to openly and honestly
communicate with their child.

For any young adult reading this today that has had
thoughts of killing yourself, STOP AND LISTEN TO ME.
That message to kill yourself is coming from the lips of
satan who wants you dead.  NOTHING IN YOUR LIFE IS WORTH
KILLING YOURSELF OVER.  You are not alone!  God loves
you very much.  If you feel there is nobody to listen to
you, email me!  I am here for you.  My email address is
bkeller@liveprayer.com .  Everything you say is 100%
confidential.  I will do my best to help you.  Killing
yourself is NEVER the answer.  There is always hope and
God will always provide an answer.  I am praying for you.

For you parents, again I can only encourage you to do
your best to instill God's Truth in your children
starting when they are in the womb.  The more you openly
and honestly communicate with your child, the better your
relationship will be and your child will never feel like
they have nobody to talk to.  The greatest gift you will
ever give your child is YOURSELF!  Don't ever get so busy
with your own life that you neglect your child.  This is
a wicked, sinful, and evil world that we live in.  Your
child needs you to help guide them and protect them from
the traps satan has layed to destroy, even kill them.  I
am praying for you as God gives you His wisdom and
strength each day in raising your children.

In His love and service,
Your friend and brother in Christ,
Bill Keller

***If I can help you in any way you can contact me
through my personal email at bkeller@liveprayer.com

***ARE YOU 100% CERTAIN WHERE YOU WILL SPEND
ETERNITY?  The fact is you will die one day.  At
that moment, you will either spend eternity with
the Lord or be cast into everlasting darkness
forever separated from God your creator.  To know
for certain you will be forever with Jesus, go to:
http://www.liveprayer.com/bdy_salvatn.html

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(C) Copyright 2006, Bill Keller Ministries.
All rights reserved

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May God bless you as you learn from this message!

Donald W. Mitchell, Your Dream Concierge

Copyright 2006 Donald W. Mitchell