West Cocoa Chat

I know in the past I have pontificated on the current age of “Accountability” that we currently find ourselves in with respect to Education. At current here in the Sunshine State we hold children as young as 7 years old, accountable for their standardized test scores. A 3^rd Grader must past the FCAT (Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test) in both Reading and Math to be promoted to the 4^th grade, irresponsive of their performance throughout that year.

“Accountability” here in Florida is on the cuspate on venturing as far down the educational ladder as Kindergarten. There is a movement afoot to use what is called the “Dibbles Testing” as part of the “school grade formula” for Elementary Schools.

In the past few weeks our church has been renovating our “office wing.” In the hustle and bustle of cleaning out files, preparing rooms for paint, and the like, we’ve come across old minutes from Elder’s Meetings, some of which date back 30 and 40 years old. In reading some of these minutes from my “ancestral Shepherds,” 2 things came to mind:

1. To some extent certain subjects (finances and motivating people) were repeated quite often. The mention of this is certainly not an affirmation of anything positive.

2. Most of the Meeting Documents contained extensive, blow by blow, word by word commentaries. “Brother so and so said this and Brother so and so said that.” Much more detailed than the current minutes we currently record of our meetings.

As I thought about “number 2” the conclusion I came to was the “word by word” commentary was necessary to hold folks accountable. Each word seemed to be measured so that it would stand up in a court of law should some legal action be needed.

We seemed to be (southern colloquial phrase coming) “ate up” with holding folks “accountable” in our society.

As I thought about my standing before God my thoughts turned to the “blood of the lamb.” I’m thankful that a Holy God, a righteous God is also a loving God. I’m thankful that when God looks at us, he doesn’t think of our “accountability” but rather he sees justification for those of us whose sins are covered by the blood of the lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ.

We are loved by a “second chance God.”

Have a good weekend family.

^{Romans 5:6}You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. ⁸But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. ⁹Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him!

// posted by cwinwc @ 7:32 PM