Tossing Out Trash

Our house is situated right on a relatively busy street here in town. As as a result, we see lots of cars pass by, and at high traffic times of day, they get stuck right in front of our house. Occasionally, we can not even pull out of our own driveway for awhile, but we try not to let it bother us to a great extent. The truth is, because of this traffic, we believe we got a very good deal on our house. Most people didn’t even want to look at a house in our location, and failed to see the back yard, which is what sold us on it. Never judge a book by it’s curb address...or a house by it’s cover...or something like that.

Now that spring has sprung, so have the weeds. All over my yard! I’ll see a nice green lawn at some point in May, but for now, it’s just messy. This all means, of course, that it is time to mow. Now, with this house situated on a busy street, I have a regular brush with death as I mow the part closest to the street. I am literally inches away from cars that drive by with high speed and velocity. So far, I still have all my parts, but I worry.

The other issue about having this yard near the street is that inevitably, I have to clean up trash on the grass. Everything that people throw from their windows between Kempsville Road and my house ends up in my front yard. We are the only house with a fence on one side of the front yard between us and the neighbors, and so it works as a trap for all the junk that the breeze blows our way. I have cleaned up many fast food bags and cups, candy wrappers, empty drink cans, plastic drink bottles, cigarette butts, cigar wrappers, newspaper, plastic bags, used losing lottery scratch-offs, even scarves and a sock. Don’t worry, I use gloves to clean up. Why can’t people toss money out the window?

It’s mostly irritating when I fail to see something hidden when the grass gets taller, and the next thing I know, my mower is making really odd sounds, and spitting pieces of whatever from the side shooter. (Beer bottle caps are the worst--they’re like little ninja throwing stars, ready to do some real damage!) I end up left with a really large mess, and the clean up is a pain.

I just try to clean up with a good attitude, because I am very thankful for the house. But yesterday, as I tore through a green plastic wrapper of some kind, and subsequently cleaned up the approximate 1,478 pieces that it left in the wake, I silently prayed down a curse on the person who left it to end up in our “crap trap.” If they only knew…

So THAT got me thinking: how often do we throw nasty words around with little to no concern with where they will end up or who they affect? Are there times that we let “trash” come from our lips thinking that the ones that hear it won’t mind?  Ephesians 4:29 is one of my favorite Bible verses to deal with this very idea. Paul says, “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”

The word Paul uses for “unwholesome,” or “corrupt” in some translations, was SAPROS. It is a Greek word that means rotten or putrefied. The idea is that it is offensive and immediately draws a reaction as rotten meat or a putrefied animal corpse would immediately make you gag, cover your nose, or any other colorful responses. It can also basically mean something that is no longer of any use. If you speak a word that is profane, hurtful, slanderous, gossipy, or immoral in nature, you’re using SAPROS speech. There’s no reason for any of it. It’s all rotten, and does not bring a good response.

Instead, he says, we need to be speaking things that are encouraging and supportive of others, but not just randomly--according to their needs at the time! Truth is always supportive, even if not easy to hear. Compliments are encouraging, and are usually welcome in all situations. Scripture is valuable for others at any time, and if you can’t say anything good, then silence is golden. There are so many different things that can come from our mouth that we do not have to toss that SKUBALON around. (You’ll have to look that one up.)

The other idea here is the “toss off” quality of what we say. The truth is, you never know who is standing just around the corner. You never know how thin your walls really are. You can’t guarantee that what you say won’t be heard by someone else. While the words we say should be worthwhile to the intended recipients, they should also be beneficial, or of some constructive value to anyone who is standing nearby and overhears what we say.

If you offer an encouraging word to a friend with relationship struggles, the person behind you in line at the grocery store may get a nugget of wisdom from that. If you are gently correcting your child for pitching a fit at Walmart, another parent may observe it, and be challenged to better handle their own responses to similar situations. These are the positives, but the negatives can go just as poorly as these went well. What if you claim to be a Christian at work, but your quiet gossiping about a co-worker reaches her ears while she’s getting coffee just outside your office? What if you are criticizing your wife with harsh words and your daughter is playing around the corner where you didn’t realize she was there?

You see, the stuff you toss out there haphazardly can get caught on the winds of life, and can reach people you never intended. What is the clean up that will be necessary? Will it damage the ones that finally hear it? Will it kill your reputation? Will we lose all chance to share Christ with someone because we couldn’t exercise our self-control and choose our words more carefully? I put this in the collective, because I am equally as guilty of it as anyone, and I regret all the times it’s happened before.

Don’t let your trash end up in the yard of innocent home-owners. Choose carefully the words you put out there, so that if anyone hears it unintentionally, they can still receive it as if it were something of great value!

A Happy Driver

You can tell a lot about people by the way they drive. For example, you can tell when I’m running late, because I tend to believe that by switching lanes fifteen times, I am actually working my way closer to my destination. It shows that I am someone who needs to work on my time management. I also tend to demonstrate my tendency to “space out” when I’m driving by driving really close to the right side of the lane I’m in. I’m not really sure why that side, but it’s what I do. It shows that I should concentrate on the task at hand a bit more, and not be such a “day dreamer.”

This morning, after dropping off my youngest at his day-care provider, I was waiting to back out of her driveway into the street. I saw one more car coming, and then there was a large gap in the traffic that I was planning on hitting. However, as that particular vehicle was getting closer, they slowed down, and then I saw “the wave” letting me know I could pull out. I took the opportunity, returned “the wave” as a thank you, and went on about my business. (Interesting how one waving motion of the hand can mean so many different unspoken things. But that’s a blog for another day…)

I kept wondering if that lady knew that there was plenty of room behind her and that she didn’t really need to let me go. That’s when it occurred to me that it didn’t really matter whether or not there was space behind her. In her mind, the right thing to do was to let me go. If I was appreciative, then great. If my day was made better--awesome. If not, then it still didn’t hurt her to let me go. She decided to let me go, and she did.

Yes, I may be assuming too much about what went on in my fellow driver’s mind. BUT, since it doesn’t paint her in any negative light, I’m okay doing that. How else will I deliver the astounding truth that jumped out at me all the while this is happening?

You see, there are many times that all of us have great intentions. We decide to eat healthier. We intend to stop the late night snacks. We want to be more patient with our children. The plan is to read our Bibles more. We know that prayer works, and we hope to do it more. These are all good things. But, good intentions alone don’t get us where we need to be.

Sometimes God lays things on our hearts that He wants us to do, and we recognize these with no problem--as long as they are things we consider to be “big” things. Time to change jobs? We listen hard for God. Financial troubles? We are more willing to try new principles for our money. Children having trouble? We pray hard that God will take them away. Just kidding--at least about the taking them away part.

But what about the little things? What if we’re leaving the grocery store, and as we walk through the door, there’s an elderly person coming out behind us, but we’d have to wait an additional five seconds to hold the door? Sometimes God says to wait, but our selfishness tells us we need to hurry. How about while we’re out and about somewhere, and we see that the person walking towards us looks very unhappy? We often follow our natural inclination to keep our eyes forward and away from them, while we ignore that still small voice whispering that we should make eye contact and simply smile.

I have one place where I struggle so very often. It’s here in town, and it’s the place on Independence Blvd. (for those in the know) where the I-264 traffic is merging with the right lane heading towards Baxter road. I never know if I should slow down and let someone in and risk getting plowed in the back by an over-eager driver, or just keep moving and let the lights behind us provide the natural holes for cars to enter.  The truth is, if I plan far enough in advance, I can start slowing down early enough to be safe AND to provide room for several cars to merge. I believe this is the right and courteous thing to do. Yes, it’s a little thing that may go completely unnoticed by the merging drivers, and could be a big inconvenience for three-and-a-half seconds for the cars behind me.

But here’s the deal: as silly as it sounds to some people, I have felt a bit convicted about making that plan every time and letting one or two people merge. Like I said before, you can tell a lot about the way a person drives, and I want people to be able to tell I’m a friendly driver. Friendly is one aspect of love, and if I want to truly follow God love my neighbor as myself (Leviticus 19:18, Matthew 22:39), then I need to be willing to extend to others the same courtesies that I would appreciate.

More than once in my life, my day has been lifted by someone smiling at me, holding a door for me, or simply slowing down to let me back my car safely onto the street. Just like little things can become big things in a negative way, they can have equal impact in a positive way. Many, many times it doesn’t even cost us anything but mere seconds, or slight muscle contraction in our cheeks to make a difference for someone else. But even if it did--would we be willing? (John 15:13. Check it out.)

What kind of “driver” are you? Even when you’re not in the car, what can people tell about you by the way you handle the little things in life?

Treasures in Old Boxes

Every once in a while, I like to pull old boxes out in the garage, just to see what’s in them. This week I pulled out a box with some old pictures from when our twins were just about a year old. I can’t believe how much has changed, and how fast it did! In another box next to it, I busted it open and found some old concert programs from people I went to see in college and the first few years I was out of school. Exactly NONE of the hairstyles would fly anymore. Also crammed in the same box were a handful of VHS tapes of movies that I liked in the past. For those that don’t know--a VHS tape is a designation given to a thin plastic rectangular “box” that actually contains a roll of very thin film, which is used for making an analog copy of video. It must be used inside of a Video Cassette Recorder, or VCR. Some people still have them, but they don’t get used very much anymore.

Though none of them are terribly ancient, these would all be considered old items by one standard or another. But, the fun of them is still there, and I definitely traveled along memory lane as I flipped through all the stuff. While I obviously don’t need the things I found, I certainly see the value of each of them, even if it is sentimental.

Old things are not always bad. Depending on the model of it, and antique car almost always has a cool factor that a hybrid Prius can’t match, no matter which celebrity is driving one. Vintage guitars have a tone that only comes from a hand-crafted instrument that won’t be heard in a machine-generated, assembly line guitar.

Last week, while I was working, I heard someone playing the piano in the choir room here at church, which is separated from my office by a mere door. They were playing a hymn that I know because I grew up singing it in church as a child, and then as a teenager. It brought back memories of old hymns that mean a lot to me.

I’m a big fan of new, modern music in churches. I think it is a “language” by which some people are able to focus on God and worship. Only a fool would think that it is the only way to worship God, however, and I am not a great fool, so I can clearly not choose the close-minded option in front of me. Instead, I prefer to recognize the value of all hymns and songs based on the content of the words, not the tune or the style. It just so happens that two modern versions of “old hymns” have been brought to mind lately, and both have words that have clobbered me.

Forbid it, Lord, That I should boast
Save in the death of Christ my God.
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to His blood.
From “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross”

How many times am I pulled away from my commitment to Christ by things that are insignificant and unimportant? (The way vain would have been used at the time this was written.) Why am I so quick to point out my temporary accomplishments, when it is the death of Jesus that gives me permanent life in Him? These are the things that I need to sacrifice and put to death, as Paul talks about in Colossians 3. They also tie in nicely with another modernized hymn we sang in church recently:

Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it
Prone to Leave the God I love
Here’s my heart, Lord, Take and Seal it
Seal it for thy courts above.
From “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing”

After what I felt to be a particularly good Bible Study recently, I caught myself silently patting myself on the back about how well I presented the information, as if I really had anything to do with how God used His own Word to move through a Bible Study time that is supposed to be about Him. This passage jumped to mind, as if God were using a language I understand (music) to really get my attention about something that needed fixing.

I am prone to wander from bringing glory to God and pointing to my temporary accomplishments. I tend to boast in things OTHER than the death of Christ that brings me hope for my eternal salvation with Him. Why do I do these things? I know that “...Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved,” (Acts 4:12) and yet I still want to draw attention to me so many times.

Jesus said that to follow Him means to daily die to myself. (Luke 9:23) That means that I must sacrifice all of my pride and accomplishments, and put the glory on Jesus Christ. It also means that I must trust Christ to seal and guard my heart against the things that have the potential to pull me away. I truly do want to serve and honor God with my life, but if I’m not careful, I will be pulled away and become self-serving. But, if I abide in Christ, and He in me, then through Him, I can accomplish all things HE would have me do, and all for His glory, that others may know Him.

I thank God for the hymn writers through all the ages, and in all styles. So often, and for many people, their words can so often be the way the Holy Spirit gets our attention and challenges us to more effectively live our lives for Christ.

Broken Eggs

In our house, we eat eggs for Breakfast quite often. I know some people disapprove, and say they’re not so good for you, but they provide a relatively easy option to get some protein into the family, which is good for us, so we’ll go ahead and make the choices for our family, and leave your family to you. Deal? Good.

I say relatively easy, because for as long as I’ve been making my own eggs in one or more of it’s many different available varieties, I have had trouble with eggs. Not digestively, or anything like that. It’s a physical problem. I physically have difficulty with that stinking shell on the outside. If I’m scrambling or frying eggs, or even using them in a recipe, I have the worst time breaking eggs without getting the albumen (that’s the clear part that turns white when you cook it--for the uninitiated) all over my fingers. I keep the trash can close so I don’t drip all over the floor, and some days it’s only a little bit, but inevitably, I’m getting gooey stuff on my fingers.

Unless, of course, I’m boiling the eggs. Then, it becomes a battle with the shell and the little membrane that lies under said shell around the now solidified albumen (See above note). I have done all the tricks I can find in Reader’s Digest, Cook Books, Magazines, websites, and even watching the occasional food show on TV. Unfortunately, I always have one that ends up looking like Humpty Dumpty after a hard-night of partying. It’s just all messed up. The egg is no longer smooth, but has pieces that have been pulled away by the shell, and sometimes even just leaving a large crater in the surface. I am no stranger to making a highly emotionally-motivated decision that the egg is no longer worth it, and with great, uh, gusto, I “place” it in the very bottom of the trash can through the first fifteen layers of trash with the impact sound reverberating through the crawl space under my house.

Isn’t it interesting how people are kind of like eggs? Even though we put up our outer shell that protects us from some level of impact, if we’re hit in just the right place, or encounter something that provides enough resistance, we crack, and our lives can end up a big gooey mess. (Okay, so I used the word “gooey” two--now three times in one entry. It’s just fun to type.) Some people have been through hot water in life, think they are more resilient, and have a stronger layer of protection around them. They are just trying to fool themselves, because they can be broken by different things in life. Those that feel like they were broken, but managed to pull it all together themselves will eventually discover that their lives are just scrambled and scarred. No matter the situation, we eventually feel like all the king’s horses and all the king’s men will never get us back together again.

The good news is, we don’t have to rely on human or equestrian “fixers.” We have a God who specializes in bringing about restoration and transformation. If we’ve never turned our hearts to Jesus, we can, and in doing so, be redeemed AND made new from the sticky mess that once defined us. Even those who are followers of Christ have times where they fall and are broken. Fallen eggs get broken--and we are all fallen people. (Romans 3:23) 

The King Himself can pick up the pieces of our lives, and not simply “put us back together again,” but He will recreate us into something new. (2 Corinthians 5:17) We can have new life, and be defined not by the shells we put up, but by the heart within us that is full of the Holy Spirit, and belongs to God. It would be easy to think of all the ways that eggs can be fixed, or used together with other ingredients to make something wonderful, and that certainly would fit the illustration. But, I prefer to think outside that box, and remember that even though ten eggs in a row may look very much alike at one point, once they are broken reveal Swans, Turtles, Chameleons, Eagles, and quite the variety of different animals. In each of those, the egg must be cracked and broken to reveal the true beauty of what God has created. In the same way, until we let our King put us together in HIS way, we can never become all that we were made to be.

I know that brokenness hurts. I’ve been there, and I’m sure I’ll be there again. What my experience has taught me is that in all these things, we are not separated from God (Romans 8:38-39). Instead, it provides us with an opportunity to turn to Jesus, and allow Him to work through the pain to make us stronger than we ever were before, and revealing who we can be in Him.