SCHOOLS ARE OPEN Time to Learn Young people of every age are tested.  Satan does not wait till you are a seasoned Christian.  He tests the vulnerable and the immature and the naive.  He tests them when their self-image may be weak with drugs, tobacco, alcohol,  and sex.  Satan lies and says these are signs of maturity and adulthood.  Multitudes of ill- equipped youth fail in these testing areas of life every day.  These often think they don’t want or need any counsel from teachers or parents or God.  These often rejoice in their ignorant, rebellious, and self-destructive behavior. For the young adult who also needs the regularity of the “pop test” every time the church family meets, the tests are      different.  Will you in your marriage be faithful?  Will you be able to be reliable, responsible, and dependable?   Satan again tends to puff us up with macho or feminine pride thinking we don’t need any help.  Do you really know what it is or care what it is that you mate needs and is looking for?  Will you let anyone help you, or will you choose to be like many of your peers and simply bull headedly stonewall life’s situations?  Men, do you know what it is to be a servant leader in your home?  Wives, do you understand how important your support is to making your mate and children great? Now, I hope you have been taking all the “pop tests” you can, because now life really gets complicated.  If you have to play “catch up,” things can get real “hairy.”  I am talking about children.  I am talking about starting a family.  I am talking about being more than just a man or a woman.--more than just being a husband or a wife.  I am talking about being a mother and a father.  How will you deal with the tension and stress of all these changes?  If you are IN Christ, you will simply make the necessary adjustments and move on in your rich abundant life.  God continues to be there for you when parents or mates may fail or disappoint you. You still can be strong.  Somebody needs to be strong.   Let it be you! When the children leave the nest, we still need our family assemblies and classes.  We need to redefine our roles as we support our children and our children’s children in a different way.  We are drawing closer to graduation.  We know with certainty that judgment and heaven are getting nearer.  We get in a reflective mode from time to time.   Where have we been?  What have we done?  What is our legacy in our children and our grandchildren?   All of life is like school.  We have regular pop tests on Sundays at 10:00 and 11:00 A.M. and as 6:00 P.M. and on Wednesdays at 7:00 P.M.  We are thankful for these easy learning times as they equip us for the real tests we have in life every day and every hour.   Oh, I almost forgot— HOMEWORK.  That is such a nasty word to the   childish and immature, but it is so very necessary to be ready for those coming tests.  In Christ we need more than just the pop tests of our classes and assemblies.  We need to make time to listen to our Master Teacher as He wants to speak to us from His inspired word the Bible.  Not only does he want to speak to us, but He also wants us to speak to Him.  How is your prayer life?  To have a great relationship with our mate in life,  we need to communicate both in listening and in speaking.  The same is true with our God.  We must listen to Him from the Bible and speak to Him in prayer.  Life is indeed rich when we choose to value and enhance relationships.  I know that means work.  That is okay.  Remember, you and yours are worth it as you, too, are created in the image of God with unlimited potential for good. TEST QUESTIONS: 1.  Does absenting yourself from other Christians make you a better person? 2.  Does absenting yourself from faithful family members who attend all the services make you closer to them? 3.  Does purposeful absenting of yourself from the fellowship of the saints draw you closer to God or the devil? 4.  Are the elders and preacher encouraged when you choose to drift into indifference? 5.  Does absenting yourself from the congregation strengthen your hand as a parent and role-model to your children? 6.  Please explain the meaning of Hebrews 10:24-26. 7.  Are you equipped better with the full counsel of God to experience the unfair  things this life brings to us all by forsaking the  assembling? 8.  Can you think of a better way to send mixed messages to God regarding your  love for Him than by being complacent regarding teaching opportunities? 9.  God gives you a license to be indifferent if the preaching and teaching don’t meet your expectations? 10.  Does the term “faithfulness” have anything to do with one’s presence where two or three are gathered in His name? Testing time is coming!  Are you ready?   Or will you then “curse God and die?”  (Job 2:9)