Life Lessons

Some of you may or may not know, but Corey and I have been working with the children’s ministry at our church, Heritage Baptist in Texarkana (if you are looking for a church home, come check us out. (plug)). Well one Sunday not too long ago, the main point of the lesson was that God knows what you are doing even if nobody else does. Well I’m pretty sure it was pertaining to the decisions we make in relation to God’s plan for our lives. Specifically sin. The lesson was geared towards making the kids understand that, basically, who you really are is defined by the choices you make when nobody is around or what you do if you knew no one would ever find out. Well the lesson took on a whole new meaning for me as we were driving home from church that morning. As we pulled up to the last stop light before our neighborhood, I glanced over to the car next to us and saw a young lady knuckle deep in the mucus canal. Now, before I go any further, I do not want to sound like a hypocrite. I am man enough to admit that I have been guilty of cleansing my nasal cavity a time or two while stopped at a red light. But a simple booger removal is not the heinous act that had me so disturbed. She was so vigorously digging for gold, it was like a car wreck and I could not look away. The next moment was the defining moment of the scene and it seemed to have happened almost in slow motion. I was in such disbelief that I sat there as the light turned green and pondered whether or not I truly witnessed a grown woman not only hold the crater out in front of her face as if to admire some kind of trophy, but paused, apparently savoring the moment, and inserted her catch of the day right in her mouth. (You knew it was coming!) She then drove off with a smirk on her face as if to say, “Now that’s a good booger.” I know it’s disgusting, but I hope we can all learn something from this. And that is: sometimes there is no one around and God is the only one who will see and know what you are doing. But SOMETIMES even if no one seems to be around, someone may be watching. So don’t eat your boogers in public. Or at all for that matter. And the worse part about it is…I KNOW THE GIRL. I went to high school with her. I will never reveal her identity but I also will never be able to look at her the same. Anytime someone brings her name up, her name will forever have a negative connotation. And I CERTAINLY will not be shaking hands with her when I see her again! I didn’t know anyone over 5 still did that.

The ride home from church tends to bring about some interesting conversation. Just this last Sunday, Drew and Casey rode home with Corey. Apparently they talked about what they were thankful for during Sunday School. Corey got the typical answers: family, friends, toys, bicycle, etc. Drew did most of the talking and Casey just sat there and listened to Drew. When Corey pulled up at the house, Drew asked if he could stay outside and ride his bike while Corey got lunch ready. Corey said yes and asked Casey if she was going to play outside. She said very matter-of-factly, “No, I’m gonna stay outside and tell Drew what he is thankful for.” She obviously didn’t like his answers. Thank goodness she’s around to keep him in shape!