It’s a parents dream to be their kid’s friend, to get along with them and talk about anything. Sometimes parents try so hard to be a friend that they forget to give the kid some loving correction or discipline because they know their kid won’t like being disciplined. They let their kids just do anything they want in exchange for their kid to think they are “cool parents”.

One time I was on a film shoot with a child actor and his mother. This kid would just walk all over his mother, he knew she had no backbone and you can tell. He would hit on the girls on set, tell disgusting jokes and do whatever he wanted. His mother kept saying “Billy” after he would drop some F-bombs in front of a bunch of girls. That’s all she would say is “Billy” in a “I don’t really approve of this behavior” sort of way. Basically she didn’t want to look like a bad parent in front of the film crew, but she also didn’t want her kid not to approve of her parenting. So I guess she found a spine-less medium.

(For the record, I thank God and my parents for every spanking and/or disciplinary action I received, even the ones I was wrongfully accused of)

I think we all have had to deal with the Billy’s later in their life. We know how some, maybe even most, but certainly not all, can and have turned out. My point is that this whole “trying to be a cool parent” thing usually backfires later on.

We all need discipline, without knowing it, we crave it. I wish I had the discipline to wake up on time, read books more and exercise more. Discipline is one of the most lacking yet important things in our life. If they sold it in a can, I would buy a lot, probably too much because I lack discipline.

There were times I was so mad at my parents for disciplining me, I would threaten suicide or running away. They held their ground and I am glad they did. They loved me and were making me the person I am becoming today. They were my parents and they made sure I knew that. But now I consider them my friends, I call them sometimes more than once a week and just talk about whatever.

Either way, I was thinking how much I treat God like Billy treats his mom. Hopefully it’s just me. But recently I have been thinking how much God loves me and forgetting that the God of the Bible still gets angry.

I think sometimes our love for someone is what makes us angry with them. If I saw someone totally ignoring correction and advice from destruction, I would get angry that they aren’t taking heed any warnings. There was a guy at the bottom of Mount St. Helens and he refused to move when everyone said it was going to blow up. I am sure the marshalls got frustrated at him, because they were trying to save him and knew what was coming.

I used to sin and think of God loving me despite that, but I think it’s healthier to think of Him angry that I am choosing to do these things because of His love for me. Saying “COMO’N ISAAC I HAVE SO MUCH MORE FOR YOU!!”.

I think we try to see Jesus as our ‘homeboy’ and not our Lord. We think he is looking for friends and not servants. We think he needs us and we don’t need him. We are doing him a favor.

It’s cliché because it’s true; God doesn’t need us. We need Him and we can never experience the fullness of Him unless we see him as our Lord first and friend later. We need to realize that Jesus is Lord, submit to him, obey him and follow him, we will soon start to call him ‘friend’.

your friend,