Parenting 101

Dr. Philip Ney, MD

Skit 7

Mabel: Hi Jake!
Jake: How are you doing Mabel?

Mabel: Well, we have come to the end of this journey together. It has been quite interesting. I
wonder if people have found it helpful.

Jake: Well, we gave it a good shot Mabel. It is now up to them. They’ve got the principles and, by God’s help they can put them into practice. I am pretty sure if they do they will find it will work.

Mabel: That’s the problem Jake. When people have difficulty putting into practice what they believe, they are more inclined to criticize the source of belief than they are to examine themselves.

Jake: Well, it seems to me these people have done pretty well, but there is one thing that we have failed to mention.

Mabel: What’s that Jake?

Jake: Well Mabel, you know what it says in the scripture. It is a difficult bit of scripture as far as I am concerned, but since Jesus said it, it has go to be right. (Luke 14:26) “If you want to be my follower, you must love me more than your father or your mother or your wife or children, brothers or sisters, yes, more than your own life. Otherwise you cannot be my disciple. You cannot be my disciple if you do not carry your own cross and follow me.”

Mabel: Gosh Jake, that is pretty harsh. I thought families were supposed to come first.

Jake: No, Jesus first, family second and then church third.
Mabel: Jake you mean to say it should not be focus on the family?

Jake: Naw Mabel. It’s not focus on the family, it is focus of the family. Focus of the family on Jesus and then everything in the family goes right.

Mabel: Somebody ought to tell Dr. John Dobson.

Jake: I did. I told him and I wrote to him. Well, not actually me, but my old Professor friend, I told him, James, the focus is not right. It has to be focus on Jesus, not focus on the family. Actually, sometimes I think it is too much focus on the Dobson family.

Mabel: How did he take it?

Jake: He wasn’t impressed. Mind you, he was nice enough and gave me a chance to talk on his show. Actually, not me, but my old professor friend. But I still think he is wrong. No amount of focusing on the family is going to make them healthy. It is when they have their mind and heart focused on Jesus and serving their neighbour as themselves, that things go right.

Mabel: Yeah, the trouble is the parents get taken up with some church committee or function and
the kids are left out.

Jake: Mabel I’m not talking about that. I am talking about tackling one of the big evils in this world as a family. It can be done you know.

Mabel: You are probably right Jake. Where should we start?

Jake: Well the biggest evil that kills and injures more people than anything by far is abortion. I think we should do what we can as a family to stop abortion.

Mabel: Yeah, I agree with you Jake, but how can we go about that?
Jake: Well the least we can do is turn up on the Life Chain. Stand shoulder to shoulder, kids and parents, with all the others down there, letting the world know how terrible it is that they kill innocent babies.

Mabel: But they laugh and jeer. I drove by once. I admired the people, but I sure wouldn’t want to be in their shoes with all the mean and nasty comments going on.

Jake: Yeah, but the Bible also says, “Yes, and everyone who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution” (2 Timothy 3:12).

Mabel: But Jake that was only in Paul’s time. That doesn’t apply now. People are much more tolerant.

Jake: I don’t think so Mabel. We are living in a post-Christian society. I suspect if we stuck our heads up a little, we would find just as many people taking pot shots at us as Paul did.
Mabel: I guess you’re right Jake. Do you think we can do it though? What will the kids say?

Jake: My old professor friend says he tried it and it is good for the family. It brings it together, provides a good example of courage and purpose.

Mabel: I guess kids nowadays need that kind of example Jake.