Whip Me Mama

L-R me, Uncle Frank, (brother) Mark
1961

"Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid." (Proverbs 12:1)

When I was five, my brother, Mark, stood near the waterfalls in the woods of our neighborhood on Lookout Mountain, throwing rocks over the ledge. Unbeknownst to him, the neighbor boys and I were sneaking along the bluff below to pop up and surprise him. All was well until Mark chunked a fist-sized stone toward the valley and...

BONK! 

The rock conked me right on top of the head, leaving a one-inch gash. I started bawling like Mama Cat (a black and orange stray that had shown up at our house one Halloween night in a rainstorm). Mark scrambled down the hill, picked me up, carried me all the way to the backyard,  dropped me by the back door, and ran inside yelling, “Whip me, Mama! Whip me!”

In the meantime, our older brother, Rocky, heard all the commotion and opened the door to a blood-soaked me. Then, he started yelling, “Mama! Mama! Come here, quick!”

That afternoon was one of the few times in my childhood that I can remember Mama calling for reinforcements. Daddy sped home to stay with my distraught brothers, Mama drove me to Dr. Igou’s office for stitches, and Freddy and Steve tiptoed up the road to their Grandmother Eberhart’s house in the neighborhood looking as white as ghosts. She said they both sat down on the couch and didn’t say a word.

Hebrews, chapter 12 tells us do not take lightly the discipline of the LORD, nor faint when He reproves us, because the Lord, our heavenly Father, disciplines those He loves. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who are trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.

Lord Jesus, here we are. Train us up in the way we should go!