Rick Nier...Woo!

Do you know what a whipping boy is? I looked it up. It's  a person who is blamed or punished for the faults or incompetence of others.  The problem with a whipping boy is that he is whipped so often people begin to assume he deserves it. Or the boy just accepts his fate and acts into the very nature of who people believe he is.  But who is defending the whipping boy? Who is taking a second look and asking if the boy really deserves all of the ire he is receiving? Today, it’s me.    via GIPHY Social Media is the Whipping Boy  Social media is just entering its adolescent years, and like many adolescents, it is acting in some strange and unconventional ways that make people question what is going on.  Many words have been written about the dangers of social media, none the least of which would be the supposed separation from real life interactions. But it doesn’t take a highly educated look to put some things together and no...

It is our sense of individuality that pushes us to pursue our own dreams and desires, sometimes at the expense of others. I had a group of teens together for a few days. Among other things we went to meals together. But since we had both guys and girls in this group, there was waiting involved. Waiting by guys. Waiting for girls. That's when one of the guys, Warren Lampkin*, decided enough had been enough. Warren: I'm going to breakfast. Me: Don't you think we should wait for the girls? Warren: No, I'm an independent butterfly. I'd never met a guy prior to this who referred to himself this way and decided that it was a good moniker, but Warren did. And Warren walked. Fortunately for the girls, Warren doesn't walk that fast and we were all able to catch up with him. But I think his point had been sufficiently made. I suppose we all have a little independent butterfly in us. It can be good if we want to be inspiring and sing Celine Dion songs, but on second though...

To the half dozen of you that read my blog and care enough to help a brother out, I'm actually going to try and shame you for a moment. Do you remember watching the Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon? As a kid, this was one of the annual events I watched on television. This was before live streaming, or even the internet, so the fact that one thing could consume a channel for an entire weekend was quite remarkable. I recall Jerry Lewis singing and dancing and telling jokes. Every so often you'd see a bunch of numbers flip on the big board, showing how much money was coming in for a worthy cause, the Muscular Dystrophy Association. And if you stayed tuned long enough you would see the end of the telethon. This was when Jerry would stop dancing and singing. He stopped being funny hours ago. And there was a lot of sweating, as if he'd went and collected the money by himself...on foot. I feel that way right about now. I've committed to trying to raise $1600 for MDA. So far, I...

The challenge was set before me and, like any man, I could not face failure. Bragging rights for weeks would ride on this one performance. The challenge? Get all 3 of my children dressed and fed and off to school on time, without any help from mom. The alarm clock was like a starting pistol and I was off. To be honest, I am not sure the children were on my side in this. The girls kept asking questions like; does this match? and where is my jewelry at? Then my youngest daughter threw a big curve ball when she asked for piggy tails in her hair. We were moving along at a good pace. Breakfast was eaten, teeth were brushed, clothes were put on, and even a cartoon was watched. You would think this kind of victory would instill confidence within the children towards me. But then my kids saw a piece of plastic, broken off from something in our house. While no one seemed to care where it came from, my youngest daughter, again (I'm sure) working against me, asked, "Is it dangerous? Mayb...

I've been told that my young children will one day become useful to me. Cleaning rooms, washing dishes, taking care of their laundry...all these will become things they do all the time. It almost makes me want to have 3 or 4 more when I think about it. If they were organized properly, my castle could be a well-oiled, smooth-running machine. Imagine what I could accomplish once all of the mundane things are taken care of by my miniature army of pasty-white children. Perhaps this is silly, but I sometimes think the same way with our church. I imagine what would be possible if we had more people taking care of daily tasks and even others to help dream forward. What would be possible? This isn't all bad as growth is a great thing to strive forward towards, but I wonder if I sometimes cross a line that Paul warned about. "You can be sure that using people or religion or things just for what you can get out of them—the usual variations on idolatry—will get you nowhere, and certa...