Amish Rumspringa

So a few nights ago, I sat down to watch a show on the teen/ young adults of the Amish community. The show done by ABC followed four Amish teens in Ohio. These teens were all going through "rumspringa". As well as I understand it a teen has the option to go through this time. The teens can live at home and enjoy modern day events or technology, and according to ABC the parents will turn the other way. Other teens will move or run away from home. One boy was 18 and snuck out of his home with out saying goodbye to his mother, father, or siblings. This young man went to live in a home filled with other young males that were also on rumspringa. There was a girl who was on rumspringa and at the end of the show was not sure whether or not she would return to the Amish community. There was another guy you had speakers in his buggy and would often drive down the road with ACDC blasting. This young man said that those were those were the best days of his life. This young man decided to live in the Amish community for the rest of his life.

While I am not here to tell you all about the Amish, because I know that don't know enough. I thought it was interesting. At first I thought that it was really unfair, a parent making their child choose one way of life or be shunned for all time. A good parent would never say that if you choose to live in the secular world, you can never come home. Yet the Amish do have something right. When the shooting occurred the first thing the Amish said was " we forgive the person that did this". The Amish understand forgiveness. A father at the end of the show said of his son, if he was to confess and return to the community, the son would be accepted again.
This reminds me of our Father. The Bible says "one man cannot serve two masters". The Bible says we should be a light to this world. That we should be in the world but not of this world. The real thought I have is this: When the Lord comes back are you going to be found in Christian rumspringa or will you be able to say that you may have messed around with the rumspringa idea, but that you came back home. His forgiveness, like that found in the Amish community is great, greater even than theirs will ever be. But in order to find that forgiveness you must always repent and start walking towards home.