Spare the Spoil. Rod the Child

I'm at a point in my life where people are asking me the same question, the one question to which I do not know the answer: "what are you doing after you graduate?" Believe me, if I knew, I'd answer. I think I'd tell people out of sheer excitement that I actually know what it is I'm doing. But, alas, God doesn't work on Jason's time, so I'm still waiting for Him to reveal what it is He wants me to do.

About a year ago, I would have told you that I was either going into full-time ministry with the Navigators or teaching. Now, I'm not too sure about either. I've found that that's what happens when you make plans and exclude God in your planning. I've been turned off to both now. I'm just not sure if ministry is where God wants me and I'm absolutely sure that the classroom is not where I want to be.

On Wednesday, I took the bus to the movie theater. I got on across the street from Tempe High School, around 3pm. I hadn't been on a bus with so many high school kids since high school. It was terrible. They were loud, obnoxious, self-centered. One girl saw my little cigars and asked to buy one from me, and I said no. She then asked if they were already rolled, which is a stupid question, because that's how they come when you buy them. She then asked what it was, and that's when I realized that she didn't want tobacco. I was happy to get off that bus.

Fast-forward to yesterday, when I was catching a bus in front of Tempe High, where the basketball team was having a car wash. These fools (which is exactly what they were) would walk into the street with there signs, talking to people in their cars, almost trying to guilt them into getting their cars washed. It's a really fantastic way to get hit by a moving vehicle for a potential $5. One kid goes up to a car and says, "Hey, sexy mama." I was very close to giving that kid a lesson in respect. However, I wanted my lesson to be something to the effect of beating the hell out of him, so I decided to just sit at the bus stop instead.

Being around high school kids makes me wish it was once again socially acceptable to rod--erm, discipline--other people's kids. They have no respect for authority, or for anyone at all. I don't think the whole "Spare the rod, spoil the child" mentality is working. We need to go back to biblical times, and take what Solomon said in Proverbs 13:24 to heart:

Whoever spares the rod hates his son,
but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him.