News this morning included a report of a 6-year old girl being arrested and taken into custody in handcuffs because she was throwing a temper tantrum in the school Principal’s office, including throwing furniture that struck the Principal in the leg.

Now, they’ve enacted laws prohibiting corporal punishment (paddling) in schools because it teaches violent behavior. I wonder how this little girl learned to act out to get her own way? Was this modeled in the home; she surely didn’t learn it at school? Listeners were expressing outrage that the girl was taken out in handcuffs. What is the alternative?

How do you think that situation should have been handled? What would have happened to you if you acted out that way when you were in school? Are schools getting better at dealing with this behavior or worse? Who is responsible for the 6-year old girl’s behavior? I’m interested in your feedback.

Tags: children, discipline, punishment, sin

Anita called me yesterday to complain that there was a terrible banging going on outside the house. I was between appointments so I ran home to check on it. A strip of aluminum fascia had blown loose and was being whipped in the wind making a ferocious racket.

The damage had already been done and it was bent beyond repair. We’re re-roofing our house this summer and we can have it replaced at that time. In the meanwhile, I’ll have to do a temporary fix-it job on Friday morning that will have to suffice until then.

There are some things in life we just can’t repair. Like divorce, bankruptcy, and death. But we can replace damaged things with a whole new beginning. My life became a new beginning back in January of 1972 when I received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. I couldn’t repair the damage, but I could replace the old with the new. And I’ve been growing ever since.

Tags: beginnings, damage, sin

We’ve had a cat problem at our house. There are two strays that keep coming into our garage and eating cat food for our two cats. We wouldn’t have such a problem feeding them, but they spray all over everything to mark their territory. Our garage stinks, my workbench stinks…they even get up on our cars and spray, so when we turn on the blower, our cars both stink! So we decided to feed our cats all they want once a day, then we shut the doors and keep them shut (our cats inside).

This morning Anita heard a cat outside wailing away, trying to get attention. We ignored it. A little later I noticed the two strays wandering off away from the house, looking quite dejected. I was glad they wandered off, but got to thinking.

Is there a lesson in all that about how we, as a church, treat stinky people trying to get into our church? People who are sinners bring their baggage in with them, and inevitably try to mark “their territory” on the inside. So is the answer to lock them out and not let stinky people become insiders, or is the answer for us to tolerate their stink for awhile and help them get cleaned up by being washed in the blood of the Lamb? I guess that becomes our personal decision, doesn’t it?

Tags: mercy, sin, stink

I preached the Thursday church service at Betz’s Nursing Home this week. Afterwards, I always work my way through the crowd, shaking hands with as many residents as possible before I leave. Although many of these people are a little weak in the memory department, I always treat them with the utmost respect because I think they’ve earned that. Some of them have made this world a better place for the rest of us in days gone by.

This past week a lady was waiting to see me. She used to attend church here and I have befriended her over the years. She was noticeably agitated and worried. She said to me, “I used to be a Christian.” I replied, “Used to be?”

She said, “But I began to swear. I cussed and swore.” And she began to sob.

Not many people believe that swearing will keep a person out of heaven, but she was distraught thinking that her bad language had cause her to lose her salvation. I knew that she was speaking from emotions rather than her head, so logic wasn’t going to change her feelings of condemnation.

So I reminded her of what Jesus did on the cross for her. I asked if she wanted to be forgiven and she immediately grabbed my hand and bowed her head. I led her in a prayer asking the Lord to forgive her bad language and help her to feel forgiven and whole in His presence.

After I said amen, she immediately got a smile on her face and the anxiety left her. Satan had stolen her peace, but God restored it. We can all expect Satan to attempt to steal our peace, but Jesus is our peace (Ephesians 2:14).

Tags: condemnation, forgiveness, sin

Madame Marie Curie holds her place in history as a pioneer in the study of radioactivity. In 1903, she was the first woman to win the Nobel Prize, capturing the honor in physics. Then, in 1911, she received a second Nobel Prize, this one in chemistry.

Such a wonderful contribution did not come without tremendous sacrifice. Madame Curie died of leukemia caused by prolonged exposure to radioactive materials. Even today, after 100 years, scholars who wish to read her hand-written journals and lab papers must wear protective clothing because these archives are still radioactive.

No one today would approach radioactive material without the proper protection. Radiation is something like sin. It seems harmless on initial contact, but it poisons the body and begins a slow death process. No one should approach sin without proper protection: the full armor of God (Ephesians 6:11).

Tags: sin, warning

Most of you know I am passionate about genealogy. I was spending some time Monday reconstructing an early family from Lebanon County, Pennsylvania. One early census recorded this man, Abraham Zug (pronounced Zook), as a ‘Preacher’. So I went on through the census records to learn more and he was always listed as a Farmer.

Later in life I found him living with an adult son, who was listed as a ‘Minister of the Gospel’. So I went deeper yet, studying the Lebanon County History and found they were both part of the Church of the Brethren branch known as the Dunkers. The Dunkers, of course, believed in water baptism by immersion, thus the moniker. They were also apparently pretty legalistic.

It seems the Dunker church in Lebanon County was founded by two men, Abraham Zug and one other. It seems the other man fell into sin, whatever that was. At first he confessed to the sin, but then denied it. Since he denied the sin, the church refused to allow him to attend. He was excommunicated and it rocked that local church to the core. I wonder if there was more to the story than meets the eye. A little politics in the old church?

How difficult we sometimes make it for sinners to come to Christ and find grace for their lives. Are you making it simple or difficult for those on the journey?

Tags: forgiveness, sin