To Spank or Not to Spank

As a Christian, I have always believed in "spare the rod, spoil the child". As an adult with grown children, I look back and think maybe I wasn't as strict as I should have been, as we didn't do a lot of spanking. There is a news story with a video of a father spanking his then 16-year old daughter. It is pretty hard to watch, I admit, and part of me thinks he went overboard, but another part started to notice something. The whole time he is spanking her, he is telling her to do something, and she is still refusing to do it. That tells me a lot. That tells me that he had probably reached the end of his rope with a very rebellious child. Anyone out there have a rebellious teen? What is a parent supposed to do? What else could he have done at that point? And another thing. Who was taking the vidoe? If it was truly abuse, why did the person holding the video camera allow it to continue. And why did it come out now, after so many years? I had a neighbor one time who had a rebellious child. They spanked her (I think she was about 10 at the time), so she called CPS. From that time forward, they were afraid to discipline her at all, and the results were disastrous. The bible tells us to discipline our children. There are even a couple of stories where God held the parent responsible, because they failed to control their children. I don't like to see parents spank their kids in public, but I sure don't like to see the results of children with no discipline at all. By the way, although we can count on one hand the number of times we spanked our two, they STILL have the fear of "Mom". I guess we did OK.

Who is your Director?

Regan: “See Mom, I can have a role in the chorus, and be perfectly happy, or I can have the starring role, and be perfectly happy”
Me: “Well, it depends on who the Director is”.

See, as a performer, there are certain Directors she will have nothing to do with. They have bad reputations, they are disorganized, and they are often a little too proud of their achievements. Then, there are those that are a joy to perform for. When one of those are Directing, she could care less what the part is like.

That’s how our life should be. We have the greatest Director of all, and that is Father God. Sometimes He gives us a role in the chorus, and sometimes we get a starring role, and sometimes, we don’t get a role at all, but He is always Directing. Regan likes the “good” Directors, because she knows them, and she trusts them. How much more should we be trusting a loving Father with the role of our lives?

It’s like Shakespeare said “All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players:” We all have a “Director” of our lives. I choose the good one.

Humility or Enabling in the Workplace

Something I’ve been struggling with lately is this verse, specifically as it applies to the workplace. “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourself.” Phil 2:3 (emphasis added).

If you’ve ever worked in an office situation, you’ve seen them. The person who does the minimal amount of work, often getting behind in their duties. They sometimes seemingly expect everyone else to come rescue them from the mess they’ve gotten themselves into. Maybe you’ve even been that person.

So, here is my question. When does “consider others better than yourself” become enabling? If you are constantly having to rescue someone from their lack of work ethic, or even from a genuine inability to keep up, aren’t you doing them a disservice, as well as your company? To me, it is almost a form of dishonesty.

Don’t get me wrong, I often come to the rescue of my co-workers, and I’m glad to do it. Situations come up where maybe suddenly they have an unexpected project, and they need help in their day-to-day duties for a time, or illness or the illness of a family member has caused them to get behind. This is to be expected in an office, and everyone should work together until the situation resolves itself. This is completely different. I’m talking about the person who just won’t, or can’t, do their workload.

I wonder if this way of thinking on my part is selfish ambition or vain conceit.

It's not about you.

Suppose you are an extra in an upcoming movie. You will probably scrutinize that one scene where hundreds of people are milling around, just waiting for that two-fifths of a second when you can see the back of your head. Maybe your mom and your closest friend get excited about that two-fifths of a second with you....maybe. But no one else will realize it is you. Even if you tell them, they won't care.

Let's take it a step further. What if you rent out the theater on opening night and invite all your friends and family to come see the new movie about you? People will say, "You're an idiot! How could you think this movie is about you?

Many Christians are even more delusional than the person I've been describing. So many of us think and live like the movie of life is all about us. (From "Crazy Love", by Francis Chan)

"I find it interesting that in Acts 11, at the end of verse 26 it says, "The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch". What I find interesting is the simple thought that the Christians didn't name themselves. But rather, they were called (or named) Christians by those watching their lives. I wonder if it would be the same today. Could someone look at your life or look at my life and name me a Christian? A humbling question for sure." From Crazy Love, by Francis Chan

I love this quote. They didn't name themselves, but were named that because of the way they lived. Today, however, we DO name ourselves Christians when we accept Jesus. Then, it becomes our responsibility to live our lives in such a way that we reflect the proper attitude for a Christian. And you know what the world is watching? How we love. Not how many times we go to church, not if we obey all the rules (shoot, most don't even know what the rules are), not even how many committees and "teams" we are on at Church. Just simply, how we love.

I can't wait to read this book. That was just in the Foreword. What nuggets of truth God must have for me in the rest of the book.

Why can't she go to Church?

Anyone in the Waco area has heard all the hoopla about a new burger establishment here called "Fat Ho Burgers". Now, I haven't been there, but I've heard it's a really good burger. The only reason I haven't gone is that it is across town for me, and I hear the line stretches out the door. That's a little much for my one-hour lunch time. But, it has nothing to do with the name.

Now, I don't approve of the name. I think they did it for the shock value, and they have certainly gotten that, but they were in the news today because someone stole their sign, and that's where my anger started bubbling up.

The owner's Mom was on the news talking about the hate mail her daughter has received, and that, even though she, (the Mom) is a pastor, she is not welcome in some churches because of her daughter's busines. WHAT??????

Let me repeat that, just in case you didn't get it. Ms. Ho's Mom is not welcome in some churches because of her daughter's business?

Come on, Christians! What is the second commandment Jesus gave us? LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF! Not love your church more than people. Not love your view of holiness more than people. Not love your reputation more than people. Not love the rules more than people. Not love anything, even yourself, more than people! There is only one other thing that we are to love more than people, and that is GOD! And, God is love, so we are to love. His word even tells us that if we pretend to love others, then we are liars. And forgive me, but if we tell others they are not welcome in church because of something they did, or something their family did, we are not being loving people.

WAKE UP, CHRISTIANS!