CP 194 Boys doing dumb things
CP 194 Boys doing dumb things…
Many dumb things were done in my childhood. One of my
brothers, and a friend, both aged 15, swam across the Murrumbidgee River
at Oura. No problem? We were camping, it was after dark and it was during the
August school holidays. Night temperatures frequently dropped below zero at
that time of the year. The pair were on their way to the Wagga Drive-in 10kms
away on the east side of the river! They got there, half-frozen, and did manage
to see half a movie by the grace of a patron who let them sit in his car. On
the way back to our tent they got lost in the fog. When they located the river
they couldn’t work out whether to turn left or right. Eventually, fully frozen,
they managed to swim back across the river at 1.30am.
The above-mentioned friend used to lay down in the
middle of the Old Narrandera Road?
Could that be a problem? Well, yes, especially if it was at pub closing time on
an unlit section of road. Why do it? For kicks. An inebriated drinker would
(hopefully) stop to check on the ‘body’ which would suddenly ‘resurrect’ with a
laugh and then race off into the darkness. ‘He’ was never amused.
Another (grown-up) brother went fishing on the river
with friends. Wasn’t much happening so they decided to try their luck, Crocodile
Dundee style, with a stick of gelignite. Did you know that gelignite floats if
the deadweight accidentally slips off? And do you have any idea how fast people
can row a boat when ‘live’ gelignite floats to the surface?
One of my really dumb things was to jump into the
deep-end of the Wagga City Baths with a plastic bag over my head. “I wanted to
see what would happen.” That’s what I told the alert life-guard who saved my
life. I’ve written elsewhere about the idiocy of trying to do ‘the ton’ as a 1
month P-Plater. Walking down Darlinghurst
Rd at 2.30am wasn’t clever either. And I can tell
you there is zero joy in store if you set out to drink as much whisky as you
can for ego’s sake. For some reason I’ve been thinking of these things lately.
Every last episode of stupidity could have ended with a fatality if not serious injury. Then out of
the blue this morning I remembered another one. Once again it involved the
river. Until this morning, I had never considered the danger in which I placed
myself.
Just downstream from home there’s an island where we
often played. Usually it was hide and seek. There were all sorts of nooks and
crannies in which to hide. You could almost disappear in among the reeds
provided you kept perfectly still. One day I found the perfect hiding place. It
was inside a hollowed-out eucalypt which was lying on its side in the river beside
the island. The tree was at least 1 metre wide and it had a tiny hole in its
side, just above water level, which birds might have found attractive if it was
upright. Once inside, I could watch the searcher but he could not see me. There
was a minor catch though. To get to the hidey-hole I had to enter that hollow
space by going underwater! This morning, for the first time it dawned on me
that if anything had ever happened to me inside that log I might well never
have been found.
Why am I telling you these? Well for one thing it
underlines that life is fragile and we can do dumb things which can end a life
quickly. For another, all of us can grow in awareness of protection and therefore
also grow in thankfulness for life. It is true that life is a gift, but
sometimes survival is a gift as well. Thirdly, such near-misses can help us
develop a sense of being kept safe for a purpose, especially Kingdom purposes.
And there is something else. It has to do with growing in faith.
All of us, sometimes wilfully, and sometimes without
thinking, will have placed ourselves in situations which are spiritually dangerous
for us and which cause deep grief for the Spirit of God. At the time we hardly
consider the implications. Think of permissions you have given yourself, and
subsequent actions, to do with anger, greed, lust, unclean relationships,
jealousy, hatred, ambition, bitterness, immorality, dabbling in the occult, scorn
for life, scorn for authority, dishonesty, drunkenness, laziness… Some of these
things (and their accompanying guilt/shame) will only return to consciousness
years later. However there is a liberating truth. The forgiveness for them has
been in place from the moment of faith in Jesus Christ, whether it came at the
time of our baptism or through the heard Gospel.
King David might well shudder that “You have set our
secret sins in the light of your presence.” (Psalm 90:8). He also knew another
truth: “There is forgiveness with you that you may be feared.” (Psalm 130:4)
The Apostles, like Paul, knew the best truth of all: “There is therefore, now,
no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 8:1) So there!
Whether your particular sins arose out of dumb foolishness or deliberate
wickedness, hold fast to Jesus the Christ, for because of him, because of Good
Friday, the Father in Heaven declares that, “I will forgive their wickedness,
and will remember their sins no more.” (Hebrews 8:12)
May your week be blessed. Fred
posted by PastorFredVeerhuis at 11:41 AM
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