As a teenager, I amassed a whole list of things that my mother said that I swore I would NEVER say to MY children. You know, things like, "You're not leaving the house in THAT outfit!" or "Wipe that look off your face!" or "Just wait until your father gets home!" At the top of that list was one that reeked of the sort of adult hypocrisy teens love to latch onto. I can't recall the exact occasion, or what teenage behavior had elicited these words, but I can still hear Momma's voice, with its deep Charleston accent, proclaiming, "Don't do as I DO, do as I say!"
Read full transcript...Last summer I took our church youth group on a mission trip to Gatlinburg, TN. While walking around downtown one day, we were handed one of those evangelistic gospel tracts by an energetic and smiling husband and wife duo. It was entitled "Be Holy" and had a glowing Jesus in the foreground and a fiery devil in the background, who was apparently ready to devour those who weren't planning to "Be Holy." The path to holy was laid out on the inside. There was a nice graphic for me and you on one side and on the other side of the page was the crown of holiness. There were several stops along the way, including being baptized in this specific church, not just any old baptism would do. One of the youth, Nick, sensed I wasn't a big fan of this particular pamphlet.
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