When I was a kid, someone gave my siblings and me a blue, plastic trumpet. Thanks to World Cup Soccer, I now know that blue, plastic horn has a name- a vuvuzela. It is pretty much the most annoying musical instrument in the world which is probably why my mother only allowed us to play it outside.
Unfortunately, for… it turns out everyone…I discovered very quickly that a long blast from the vuvuzela brought all of our neighbor’s cows running to the fence which then made my mother shout through the kitchen window to “stop that nonsense” because a herd of cows in the summertime is inevitably accompanied by a swarm of flies.openphoto.net“>
That is when I came up with a brilliant (terrible, I tell you) plan. I would use my Little Red Rider BB gun to fire into the herd. It worked so much better than I expected. One shot and the cows stampeded back to the other side of the pasture.
Which signaled to us to…blow the vuvuzela and begin the entire series of events all over again. Eventually, our neighbor called my mom to complain that her kids were “running all the fat off his cows”.
I love animals. If one of my kids pulled this stunt, I would be infuriated, but back then I was just blind to the wrong I was committing. I needed some life experience, and a whole lot of correction before I was even able to understand that shooting cows with a BB gun wasn’t entertainment. It was cruelty.
Romans 3:20 tells us that the law makes us “conscious” of sin. The ancient Hebrews always saw the law, The Torah, this way. It was God’s good gift to man, teaching us how to live right with Him and our fellow human beings.
- We need to stay in God’s word. (Psalm 119:105)
- We must spend time asking God to search our hearts. (Psalm 139:23)
- We need to be serious about confession when sin is revealed. (Proverbs 28:13)
- We have to be patient with each other in our failings. (Ephesians 4:2)
After all, we are all debtors to grace and forevermore shall be…until the cows come home.
What about you? Do you ever look back at past poor choices with astonishment? Does this process cause you to seek God’s guidance concerning current “blind spots”?
Bonus: A vuvuzela video for you!
Sherri, this is one of those things that I have repressed in my memory bank. I think I deleted it because I can’t remember it. Overall you three were good kids but I can understand why the owner of the cows might have been a bit upset.