How does this happen?

4:12 p.m. Today's project was to take our grandsons to church, have a fun afternoon while helping them to be responsible, stick to their word, and understand consequences, both good and not-so-good!

We set a teenager-appropriate agreement for step-by-step cooperation and obdience--good behavior and attitudes lead to fun events; whining, arguing, blameshifting and disobedience cause elimination of fun events. Our other goal was to severely limit time on the computer, and encourage them to use the wrist radios we bought them--in other words, go outside!

The boys' parents are strict; their good grades and dependability show it. But Steve and I are strict in different ways. We have no problem with a 12 year old and a 14 year old going together to the electronics section of a store while we're in a nearby aisle, but they have to ask us if they may. "The devil's in the details," the saying goes. Family standards vary, and that's fine, as long as the adults are in charge! Steve was raised in a very autocratic, inflexible home; my parents allowed more discussion and allowed my sister and me to do some of our own problem solving. But we both got swats if we outright disobeyed. So we had a generally smooth discipline plan for our children, and they are contributing Christian citizens today.

When we arrived home with the boys, they had bought goodies and snacks with their WalMart gift card, and a card for a medieval sword fight game, one which we approved of. But first, Adrian and Xavier had to eat lunch, and change into play clothes for some gardening. Oh, the groans, but they got ready, and helped their grandpa unload three large bags of potting soil to lay down another row in the garden.

We did allow them to bring out an MP3 attached to my iHome speaker for their choice of music. All went well with raking the soil and weeding out the clumps of grass that have popped up in the irrigation rows, until Xavier accidentally pulled out 10 of my baby scallions--not weeding exactly where I had directed him to. Grandma was NOT a happy camper, but I'll find a use for them somehow, in their immature state. Kind of like my grandsons!

Next activity was walking with Steve and the dogs, so we all put on our walking shoes, took camera, cellphones and the ubiquitous MP3 players and headed up toward Canyon Crest. What do we see as we round the corner? A huge green bundle! Looked like a duffel bag, and, Law & Order fan that I am, I yelled out, "Is there a body in there?" (Just trying to be helpful!)

The dogs sniffed it, but Steve kept them walking. On closer inspection, it was a huge, torn-up mattress, with sharp coils and boards jutting out. Nasty! Who does these things? And how many people did it take to lay that mattress across the sidewalk? Truly, I've never seen this kind of dumping in our neighborhood in 22 years. These are most uncivil times.

Naturally, I called the City of Riverside, and emailed them a note with the above picture attached. It's relatively small crimes like this, if not attended to, that lower a community's quality of life and lead to ever-increasingly severe infractions. I hope this nasty item will be removed tomorrow!

There is scriptural support for caring for what you have been given, applicable to the children in your care, personal finances, property, or the streets you live and drive on. This is the concept of stewardship. Jesus asked, in reference to a parable concerning servants caring for their master's good during his absence, in Luke 12:42-43 (NLT), "A faithful, sensible servant is one to whom the master can give the responsibility of managing his other household servants and feeding them. If the master returns and finds that the servant has done a good job, there will be a reward."

Practically speaking, we need to do a good job with our grandsons before we return them to their parents. We need to take responsiblity for our actions and property lest we be hauled into civil court, or worse, criminal court!

But we have a greater stewardship still. All men have One to whom we must answer for even our thoughts, and that's our heavenly Father! Hebrews 4:13 reminds us that "all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do." No person has a mind that is pure, harmless and without evil intentions, so how can we keep ourselves from an eternity of perdition?

Jesus Christ took all of every person's evil thoughts and actions upon Himself when He sacrificed Himself on the cross. Believing in His substitutionary death for my sins, and asking the Father for forgiveness in Jesus' name, because of His sacrifice in 1980, cleansed me and made me fit to live forever with Him in heaven. And the daily sins I commit I can freely confess and ask for forgiveness, learning and growing, repenting and becoming more like my Lord.

We are stewards of what God has graciously put in our care. I pray that I may be found faithful!