David's first sermon

David, number three, is ten. He's usually pretty quiet being the middle child. He loves sports more than life itself and will spend most of his waking hours shooting hoops (even on a two-foot tall goal in a basement with seven-foot ceilings), throwing footballs at no one, and now even pretending he's in the middle of an intense lacrosse game in the backyard. This is all mostly on his own because his older brothers have other interests and his younger brothers are still too little. All that to say, he usually keeps himself occupied and doesn't really bother anyone. Usually.
Today, after church, we were in the car and he had been teasing Daniel, our six-year-old, who is pretty fun to tease because he whines loudly. David then began reading a magazine in the car that Daniel had been wanting to read and Daniel had asked to see it. Daniel asked Aaron very nicely if he could see it. Aaron told David to give the magazine to Daniel as a way to honor his little brother, whom he had been teasing earlier. David refused until Aaron, in a moment of slight anger, mumbled something about coming back there to straighten the situation out, opening the car door. David immediately relinquished control of his prize and jumped into a ten-year-old's tirade about how unfair the world is because his little brother "...ALWAYS gets what he wants!"
David's tirade went on for several minutes until Aaron interrupted, announcing that David would be writing a one-page essay when he got home. After writing it, he was required to read his essay to the rest of the family---even his older brothers.

Why We Speak Honorably and Not Foolishly
by David Martinez

"Things that people say might not be foolish, it depends on how you interpret it. I'm here to talk about how not to be foolish.
Kindness--instead of saying foolish things to hurt somebody, be kind and say nice things to encourage each other.
Love--instead of always being mean, we should love each other.
Hope--instead of being foolish and believing that whenever something majorly bad bad happens and you believe that you will lose everything, always have faith and hope and believe that God will take care of you and you will always be safe no matter what happens to you whether it is good or bad. Always have hope and believe that God will take care of you in any circumstance or situation.
Now I'd like to point out some of the foolish things I said in the car.
The first thing I would like to point out is when I said that Daniel gets whatever he wants whenever he wants it. That's not true at all. I realize how when Dad says that I have to give Daniel something, it's not because he wants to punish me, but he wants me to learn that I need to honor my younger brother and not be selfish have what I want."


At this point, David hit a writer's block and brought the essay into Aaron to see if that was enough (even though he only got to one of his foolish things that he had said in the car.) Aaron read the essay and decided that based on what was written up to that point, David had learned his lesson.
And when he read the essay to the rest of us, we all were reminded of these valuable lessons as well.
God used my son to remind me of the truths I've been preaching to him but have not been keeping in the forefront of my own mind and heart.
Thank you, David. It's a good thing Daniel got what he wanted.