Oh, the middle school years! How awful! I was awful. My friends were awful. We made the teachers (most of them) awful. When my daughter finished the 5th grade, I told her, "I am sorry, honey. You are going to be miserable for the next 3 years!" Nothing like some encouragement to get your child going, huh? However, she is proving me wrong. She is having a good time...at least most of the time.
There was a rite of passage that we had to endure in middle school. It was the Great Chair Pulling Movement. Now I have always been one to try not to "agg" things on. I figured what comes around will go around. Don't be pranking! However, as innocent as I am, I still fell victim to the Great Chair Pulling Movement. You know what it is... a perfectly timed yank of someone's chair out from under them right as they are about to sit down. It will make a 7th grade class explode into laughter, clapping, finger pointing, and high-five-ing! 19.8% of middle school blushing comes from chair pulling and, always remember, 98.3% of statistics are made up on the spot. They make chairs hooked to desks (all in one units) now because of the hardship of chair pulling in previous generations. If you ever thought, you were safe, you were sure to fall victim...especially if your mouth was as big as mine.
That is somewhat the message I got from the apostle Paul today. If you think you are too big, too great, or too perfect for it to happen to you, be careful, you are not. Paul was not speaking of chair pulling but of sin. You are not above it. If you think you are, it will be like a middle school chair is pulled out from under you, when you mess up. Be careful. Paul put it this way in I Corinthians 10:12-13- Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. 13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. (www.lifejournal.cc) Always look behind you...around you...within you. Please walk carefully with the Lord and know that you are not alone. He is right there with you. The devil would love to pull the chair out from under you spiritually. You don't have to fall. God has provided a way out.
Let's stop "sitting down" where we haven't already looked and if one does get the chair pulled out from under him/her, let's not laugh, clap, high-five, whisper, gossip, or rumor about him. Let's help her up! Hope to see you in church today!
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