Where's The Line?

Where’s the line???

My son was called a

 F…f#$@%^&*    N....$%^&*(#

 yesterday.

I’m so proud of how he handled it.  He didn’t let it go, but he didn’t punch the kid in the face.  He just turned around and gave the kid the opportunity to rephrase his greeting. 

When is it bad enough to cause a scene or call attention?

 I’m just wondering…where is the line?

I was asking the Lord for wisdom this morning because I don’t know how to navigate these situations.  It gives me a sick feeling in my gut and I don’t know what to do, and frankly I want to hide and hide my family.

I want to ignore it and diminish it, so I don’t have to feel it or deal with it.

I want to hide and protect and pretend.

People tell me this isn’t that bad and we have come a long way……ok great…where is the line?

Where do we just say enough, this has crossed the line, and now I have to speak up, or make a stand?

Everyone has a different line I guess….what is ok and what is not ok.

At what point do we say, this is not ok on my watch, even though it isn’t “US” what if it is someone else?  Who will we stick up for?  How bad does it have to get? 

Our kids are watching, our kids all heard the story and are looking to us for our response.

Here’s the line in our family….you get called a name and you do everything in your power to exhibit self- control….you hear your brother called a name and you better unleash every tackle and take down move you have ever learned in your gazillion hours of practice.

I pray there is such a close brotherly love between those that we love, that nobody gets away with being ugly to our loved ones. 

  I pray it offends us 10 times worse to see a brother or a sister treated unfairly as when it happens to us. 

Many think name calling is just name calling…..but I’m asking,

“Where’s the line?”

Hebrews 13:1-3 (NLT)

13 Keep on loving each other as brothers and sisters. Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it!³ Remember those in prison, as if you were there yourself. Remember also those being mistreated, as if you felt their pain in your own bodies.

I want to button down the hatches even further and try to limit, even MORE, the exposure and the situations where there is opportunity for crap like this, but what does this do?

I have read the stories of people  in history singing in church, and when the trains with Jewish prisoners stacked in the cars and headed to concentration camps would go by, the people would just sing louder, so they didn’t have to hear what was going on outside.

I want to go into protection mode and just sing a little louder, not because my kids can’t handle name calling, but because it goes so much deeper and wider than name calling, and what does it look like the next time someone wants to express their hateful heart?

 When do we stop singing and pay attention to what is going on that we don’t want to know about, or know what to do about?

So, I’m here to tell you….even in our little protected and wonderful community, this is real and there is a problem, and even though people don’t like how others are trying to draw attention to the problem, it is worth asking ourselves……

WHERE’S THE LINE FOR ME?

  WHEN AND WHERE AND WHO IS WORTH MAKING A STAND OR TAKING A KNEE TO SAY I BELIEVE THERE IS A PROBLEM AND I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO, BUT I WANT YOU TO KNOW IT’S NOT OK WITH ME.

When our son told us the story of what happened and we said how sorry we were that people are such jerks, he said it was ok.

 It’s not ok.

 God forgive us for everything we have done, or not done, to make you think it is ok.

 It's not ok.