The Discipline of Grace (1)

It’s good to be back! Glory be to God in the highest for His faithfulness and thanks to those that kept asking for rhema blog posts.

Today,I want to begin a series with a true-life story:

The year was 1991 or thereabouts,the scene was a primary school field,the headmaster of the school was my biological father and yours sincerely was with other pupils on the field during the break time.

The school bell rang. “Break over…Break over!”,said the prefect. Pupils started running back to their various classes except few of us that were still on the school field.We heard the bells ring but we were engrossed with what we were doing.

Suddenly I heard someone whispered: “The Headmaster! The headmaster is coming”. I looked back it was my Dad dashing out of his office with his thick cane in his hands. We took to our heels of course! I had not gone up to three steps ahead when I heard him call my name: “Tope! come back here,if you dare take a step further!” While I was transfixed there, others scampered to their classes.The field was in the centre of the school so it enabled both the teachers and other students to have a good view of what was about to happen between the headmaster and his son.

Daddy grabbed my baggy shorts so that it could be well apposed to my buttocks.Then the spankings commenced: First on my buttocks then to my back and ended on my head in ascending order! I ran into my class with so many questions on my mind:

“Am I not the headmaster’s son? Why will my Dad single me out to punish me? Does he not love me again? I thought as an HM’s son I should have been pardoned and not reproved like that.

Discipline might be confusing to a child especially when the person that confesses to love you is the one disciplining you.How on earth can love and discipline coexist?

So many questions went through my mind but I came up with one conclusion: No matter how highly placed my father is,I must not misbehave.If I do,he won’t spare me! I can’t remember many of my childhood memories very well but this one stood out.It is still very fresh in my memory and I guess it was because the discipline quickly ‘killed’ a monster in me.That attitude would have quietly grown to lead me on a disastrous path if left unchecked.

While you may want to criticise my dad’s way of correcting me depending on your culture or country where you are reading this from,I put it to you that in retrospect,the spankings did well for me! Sincerely speaking I can’t remember my dad beating me again after that encounter.He must have done that anyway,but I guess those instances were not as peculiar or life changing like this one! Though painful,the experience shaped my life such that when Dad eventually retired two years afterwards and went into full time church ministry,I was with him in the mission house for more than a decade.Did I misuse the opportunity of being a Pastor’s son? No! I already knew he wouldn’t condone my excesses.

“No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening—it’s painful! But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way.”-Heb 12:11(NLT)

“It is never fun to be corrected. In fact, at the time it is always painful. But if we learn to obey by being corrected, we will do right and live at peace.”(CEV)

Do you have similar stories to tell?Are you better or bitter with those experiences? You can share them in the comment section below if you don’t mind.

This is just the tip of the iceberg.

See you soon for the 2nd part of the series.