randy@crosstalk.org
www.crosstalk.org
Shalom, I'm Randy Weiss and I want to welcome you to another
strange edition of Crosstalk I am a Jewish believer in Jesus.
You may find my perspective about the Bible to be of interest. I will
turn to Scripture, but before I read to you, I need to tell you something
that you may find a little troublesome. I sure did. One of my boys got
an earring. Look, don't ask me how this happened. I don't understand
it. I did a lot of weird things growing up, but I never even thought of
putting a hole in my body to affix an item typically lost in a women's
purse. Making matters even worse, my son is no child. He's a grown
man old enough to vote Republican and hug a Democrat. You'd think
he'd be old enough to know better, but hey, I just want to be honest and
tell you a true story.
I have raised 4 grown sons who have all graduated
from Bible College and are all in ministry. But one of my young
servants of God came home from a fine denominational school all
Assembled of God with a little shiny thing stuck in his ear. Now I'm
telling you this because you may have a child who did something a little
strange a time or two. As a parent, this was a new experience for me.
want to discuss this uncomfortable little issue because you may have a
hild that has caused you to wonder if you missed a class on Child-rearing
101 or did something wrong along the way. Well, like I said, my bride
and I have raised 4 grown sons. We still have 2 children at home and
I want each of them to gain a little understanding about my view from
this message. So let me say that my 2 daughters were just wee little
girls when they sat on my lap at the mall and got their first earrings.
They cried. They hurt. I comforted them and bought them trinkets
when it was all over. Now before I say anything else, I want to go on
record and tell the world that I am more proud of my kids than any dad
you know. My children are the reason that I kvell nachas. I guess if
you're not Jewish, that might sound strange, but it loosely means I
exude joy because of my children. My grown sons have each found
and married godly, beautiful women. Our rabbi helped us have 3
fantastic Jewish weddings. The happiness our children bring to us is
undeserved. But let me just tell you something, they are not perfect and
we have had our concerns along the way. However, my son was not the
first fella to get his ear pierced. And more than a few men of God wear
more jewelry than they should. But when my son came home from Bible
College to visit wearing that goofy little earring, I wondered to myself,
“Why'd he do something so silly?” The earring thing was worse than
when the boys shaved their heads. It was worse than when he died 2/3
of a crewcut blonde and looked like the hind end of a collie dog. I
think he was going through a difficult time and it was probably good
that he was living at college because I promise you I would have made
it worse. Anyway, when he wore that earring home, it was like many
other awkward moments in parenting. My wife gave me that look.
You know the look. “Did you see what YOUR son is wearing?” Come
on now, every parent can fess up. Some days we just have that innate
need to pawn our children off on somebody else—at least their
embarrassing actions.
Families have good days and bad days. Sometimes we are real proud
and happy with our children. Other times, we wonder how we could
have messed up their little lives so bad that their bedrooms look like
they were trained by barnyard animals. Now don't get an attitude with
me and don't give me that look. Every parent alive has wondered if a
pet would have been more practical and less of a mess at one time or
another. Anyhow, this leads me to ask a much deeper question. Who
led the children of Israel out of Egypt? The Bible story with the answer
will explain the bad things that can happen when a boy wear earrings.
If you are interested in the conclusion to this story and the and the
bible story with the answer Dr. Weiss has prepared a program titled
Who Led Jews From Egypt Earring Boy
Contact Randy at http://www.crosstalk.org
Copyright 2005 by Randy Weiss, Ph.D.
