My Father Can Be Your Father!Намуна

PLAYING HOOKY

I think I was a junior or senior in high school and old enough to know better, but my best high school friend and I decided we were going to skip school! She would spend the night and we would go through the actions of getting ready to ride the bus, which we caught a couple of blocks away. As I think back now, the plan was far less than perfect because we didn’t plan how we would spend the day off. Giving the bus plenty of time to have left for school, Ruthie and I snuck back to my bedroom to make plans, but my daddy caught us in the act.  

“The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?”  Jeremiah 17:9

Like I said in another study, my dad was cool. He didn’t raise his voice, he didn’t yell or call us names, He simply told us to get in the car. We knew he was driving us to the country school and marching us into the principal's office. Once in the office, he didn’t say we were late, He told the principal he caught us playing hooky and left. Art class was in session at the time we arrived. The principal followed us to the classroom and had us march around the class in front of the other students as he told the classmates that this is what happens to students who try to skip school. We felt foolish and he got his point across, but then he said that Mr. Simmons could further punish us. (Little did he know that Ruthie and I were the teacher’s pets, naming us Form and Freeform). I don’t remember if Mr. Simmons followed through with the principals suggested punishment, but if he did it was probably an extra assignment.  

CAN YOU RELATE?

When we allow one thing to get by us whether it is a lie, deception, or disobedience, we are making it easier to repeat the process and that is when the adversary gets a foothold into our spirits.

IT IS TIME TO REFLECT:

1. Recall something in your life you have done that was deceptive.

2. As you think about that memory, did you get caught in the act?

3. If so, how was it handled, with love, or with hatred?

4. If you didn’t get caught and didn’t get corrected, did you find yourself doing more things that you know were wrong?

5. How would you handle a child skipping school?