Taking a WHUPPIN'

How many people can honestly say that they know what it is like to get their backside worn out by their Mom or Dad?  I know I can.  Don't worry Mom the statute of limitations on child abuse has run out so I can talk about this without fear of you getting locked up.  I have had my behind WHUPPED more times than I care to remember, and looking back I remember some of them quite well so I want to share.

My Mom will tell you she remembers the last time she spanked me.  I remember it too. Mostly I remember thinking that somehow I got in trouble for being really good at a game.  My best friend Michael, myself, and some other kids were playing hide and seek and me and the aforementioned Mikey decided that the best place to hide would be on the roof behind the chimney.  Great plan.  Nobody could find us.  Except for Mom that is.  I remember her yelling something about getting a certain part of my body down off the roof right this instant.  After placing the fear of God in my friends the took me inside and placed the fear of God
on my tail end.
The lesson I learned?  Mom can hear you when you are on the roof, so don't get up there is she is home.  Okay, just stay off the roof if you are under 15 years old.

The second most memorable WHUPPIN' I got was from my JR. High Vice Principal Coach Donnie Tennison.  I was involved in an altercation that was not my fault in the least, at least as I remember it.  Being that I knew my father's take on self defense and that possible suspensions were headed my way I headed to the office to take on the problem head on, before I was even told to.  When I got there I picked up the phone and called in the cavalry.  Dad to the rescue.  Surely he would explain to the administration his teachings on self defense and we would go on our merry way.  That is not exactly how it played out.

With my Dad's help plus another extenuating circumstance involving the other person in this altercation I was able to avoid getting suspended from school, which might have caused me to miss a football game.  I guess the schoolwork was important too.  As I am sitting in this office Coach Tennison tells me that I am going to have to take three licks with a paddle as my punishment.  On the front end I was not too worried about it.  Understand, my Dad is not just a big man, he is a huge man.  I had been WHUPPED by the best, or so I thought.  He pulled out a paddle that looked like a 4x4 post with a baseball bat handle on it, told me to take my wallet out of my pants and grab my ankles.  Still in my mind I was not worried.  A leather belt had to be worse than this.  WRONG!!

Now the last thing I hear before all this takes place is my loving father say something like this, no it was exactly this.  He said, "LIGHT HIM UP DONNIE".  What?
About the time I took the first lick it occurred to me that Coach Tennison jogged by my house nearly every morning.  He lived almost 3 miles from me, and his running path was at least 6 miles long.  Also I remembered him throwing around 300lbs in the gym like it was nothing when he was teaching us proper weight lifting technique.  This was a strong guy.  The second lick took my sight away and I thought my knees were gonna buckle.  With the final lick I jumped up so high my head brushed the ceiling, and then Coach immediately made me sit down on my fire hot back side in the chair.  Later in life Coach's daughter Carly, who was in my grade told me that he said that was the hardest paddling he had ever given out because given the circumstances he thought I was getting off a little easy.  Glad you saved that one for me Coach T.  I will have to ask him next time I see him if anyone else has taken my WHUPPIN' crown.

Now I have taken some other physical punishments.  I have been beaten really bad physically in bad situations, but nothing compares to this third WHUPPIN'.  I took this one at the hands of my Heavenly Father.  It was one that took several years to take hold.  God beat me within an inch of my life both spiritually and physically.  I was a modern day Jonah running away from God's plan for my life and being as Arkansas is a land locked state he was kind enough to spare me the belly of a great fish.  Understand that I tried everything to get away from God, but he would have none of it.  He put me in a place where my choice was clear over and over again until I finally chose His way.  It was the hardest lesson I have ever learned, but I will not soon forget how far He has brought me.

As we get older we understand that in most situation we take WHUPPINS because the person holding the paddle cares for us.  My Mom did not want me to crack my skull.  Coach T did not want me to get hurt fighting in school.  God knew the path for my life that was the best for me.  As I write this understand that I took a bit of a WHUPPIN' even today, but I know the person who gave it to me had my best interest at heart.  The mark of a true Christian is being able to look past the hurt that comes along with God's correction and find out what it is He is trying to correct.  He loves us so much that He will correct us in as harsh a way as is necessary.  Can we be mature enough to take correction without getting mad at God or mad at the person God used to give us the WHUPPIN'.

Proverbs 3:12
"For whom the Lord loves He corrects, Just as a father the son in whom he delights."

If God turns you over to your sin and ceases to correct, the that is where the real trouble begins.  Be encouraged today if there is a storm in your life.  Find the place in your life where God is trying to touch.
I hope you all have a fantastic week.  I know I will. The Refreshing at Zion Baptist Church begins tomorrow night.  We are praying for changed hearts and transformed lives.

In Him,
Bro. Russell