My Big Mouth - AKA Why I Got Beat Up

WARNING: Some of you may be offended by this blog – I’m sorry ahead of time if this rubs you the wrong way, but please know I do not think I am wrong about anything I’m saying and I am not trying to get into any kind of discussion or debate – Just telling a story..

So its Wednesday which means I get to go to “staff meeting” at work (pretty much like chapel at a Christian College) and then the family head to church tonight for Youth Group and the kids go to AWANA (where kids memorize verses from the bible and play games).

So today I get a whole lot of people in some form talking about something from the Bible.  This lead to a discussion at work about meaning of verses especially related to kids and learning verses. 

There’s a difference in memorizing something and understanding it.

A great example is Taylor learning 1 John 3:16 – If you don’t know it, it’s short:

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son.  That whoever believes in him will not perish, but have eternal life.

Taylor has known this verse for several years and knew that what it means is that if you believe in God you will live forever with him in heaven.  As we were practicing it on the way to school the other day something clicked in her head…if she believes in God and gets to live forever with him in heaven, what happens if you DON’T believe?  This is why I’m writing today.

I’m not going to get all theological or anything – I’m actually just going to tell you a story about the first time I got “beat up”.

This is the story as I recall – I was like 5 so forgive me if in the last 20 years the details changed in my head:

In Kindergarten I didn’t have many close friends.  I picked a few and stuck with them.  I also was very vocal since I KNEW I was always right and I KNEW everything I believed MUST be true (you know like every other 5 year old in the world – the ME monsters).

As I talking to some kid somehow I started talking about God and how you had to believe in him to go to heaven.  This other kid had a different idea to which I said “well if you don’t believe in God then you’re going to Hell”

This kid did not like my response and showed his disapproval with a fist or two.

So back to Taylor.  As I tried explaining to her what happens if you do not believe in God I kept thinking in the back of my mind – this kid is a lot like me…I’m pretty sure she’ll be coming home with a black eye in the near future.