The control of parents has been a secret desire of all normal, clear thinking teenagers.  To feel confident and relaxed in the presence of your parents is indeed a noble goal.  If these are your desires, secret ambitions and personal goals, you must take the step and do the deed that drives the stake through the heart of the devil, Dracula.
   Never lie to your parents.  You spell it N E V E R.  Add another word to it for safe keeping N E V E R,  E V E R lie to your parents.  There’s no hope for the liar – ever!  You say, “I have and I do lie to my parents.”  Join the crowd.  Even the best of kids cheat in school and lie to their parents sometimes, at least the majority do.
   There is no hope for the liar.  If you lied last year or last month or yesterday or in the last five minutes, ALL LIES MUST BE SHUT DOWN – PERMANENTLY!
   I am a son (my father died in 1961), a father, grandfather and great-grand-father, and truly believe I am speaking for the vast majority of all parents when I say there is nothing you can do to me (despair, mental anguish, brutality) that is worse than lying.  There is no hope for the liar, son or daughter.  There is no true past or bright future, or even present relationship that can be built and maintained based on the LIE.
   The liar is a cheat and the cheat is a thief.  They are all hands in the same pocket.  Get one and you get them all. Kill one and you kill them all.  This is strictly a matter of life and death to any and all relationships.  None can survive when these three walk in your shadow.
   Jesus said, “You are of your father, the devil, and the lusts of your father you will do.  He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him.  When he speaks a lie, he is speaking of his own, for he is a liar and the father of it” (John 8:44).
   Most any wrong can be righted, but not the lie.  The liar denies himself for he is a liar.  It makes little difference who gets blamed or punished as long as the liar escapes.  It will sooner or later become a habit to lie and if pursued one becomes a consummate liar.  That day comes when right and wrong, truth and error, reality or fiction cannot be understood.
   Thank God it is not too late for you – STOP!  Change your mind, alter your direction and repent before it is too late.  Say to yourself, “I have lied to my parents but never again”.  Chisel that truth into your brain.  Make it a bench mark in your mind and call Mom and Dad together and tell them what you have determined.
   Before that meeting a most serious step must be taken.  Find a strong piece of wood, (like a wedge -I recommend oak).  Sharpen it on one in and find a good place to make the kill.  On one side of the wedge write the date and time of day.  Get on you knees, just beside the front door steps, and place the wedge in the soft part of the soil there.  Now make your vow to God.  A vow is just a most solemn promise.  Speak softly, God will hear you.  As you drive the stake through the heart of Satan, the Devil, that old demon, “Dracula”, speak the following vow.  “I WILL NEVER, EVER LIE TO MY PARENTS AGAIN AS LONG AS I LIVE ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH, SO HELP ME GOD, I VOW IT”.  Drive that stake with hammer blows till all is swallowed up in earth except the writing you made.  Now, each time you climb those steps, just look aside and remember the day when you killed the liar and the lie.
   Now it’s time to meet with your parents.  Stand tall and straight.  Look them squarely in the eye and confess the truth.  “Mom, Dad, I have been lying to you and I have made a solemn vow to God that I will never ever lie to you again as long as I live on the earth.  I did not take the vow lightly.  My last lie has been spoken and no more.  Will you forgive me, please and allow me to take any punishment you design for me, and let me begin this day walking in the truth?”
   No, you’re not home yet, but you have certainly turned things around.  You have made a fresh start and the driven stake will remind you each day when ‘life began to be good again’.
   A life without lies.  No more cheating in class, lying to the teacher.  No more ‘cutting corners’ or class-time.  Just a good life again and more freedom will be yours.  A healthy trust will be formed at home and grades will improve as you confidently stand by ‘your word’.  Convictions will help you stand and character will be spelled in the word responsibility.
   You’ve driven the stake into the heart of your gravest enemy.  What a marvelous truth and great victory!