Ron Hutchcraft Ministries - Avoiding An Avalanche At Your House - #8204

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Download MP3 (right click to save)

It has been a crazy winter a lot of places—some very cold, cold, lots of snow and some unusually warm days thrown in. That could be one reason we keep hearing about people who've been killed by a sudden avalanche. The authorities are taking some steps to do what they can to prevent avalanches. They get this cannon that they fire and they shoot it into vulnerable accumulations of snow. They're actually trying to start an avalanche! The theory is that when you do a small avalanche, you can avoid a big one.

I’m Ron Hutchcraft, and that’s not a bad idea for avoiding relationship avalanches. Look, it's Valentine's season in the U. S. It’s a good time to talk marriage for a minute. Every married guy knows this experience: his wife says, "Honey, can we talk?" He's busy, he keeps postponing it. Finally, many days—maybe weeks later, he's finally got time for her, and he gets this avalanche of issues and feelings that have been building up the whole time he's been too busy to listen. He’s going, "Help! Why didn't you tell me all this before?" She wanted to, but you had more important things to do.

God tells us that it's best to stop and deal with things when they're small rather than doing it after they've built up to something almost unmanageable. For example, "Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold" (Ephesians 4:26 , 27). How does the devil get a foothold in a relationship? By us letting things build up instead of dealing with them right away. That’s why God says, "Be slow to speak, quick to listen" (James 1:19 ). It’s a whole lot better to deal with a few snowballs than an avalanche.

We’ve got some more spiritual encouragement and practical stuff at our website. I hope you’ll check it out it out today. It’s ALifeThatMatters.org.

This radio program references: Ephesians 4:26-27 ; James 1:19