We celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles in Colorado this fall. It was the first time my children had ever seen real mountains. I could hardly wait for them to see the Rockies. And I couldn’t help thinking of the times I’d been in Colorado as a kid. We drove down the western side of the Rockies on our way to the Feast in Tucson, Arizona in 1978. Coming back, we crossed the Great Divide over Wolf Creek Pass because it was one of the few passes that was still open that late in the year. We kids were excited about going over Wolf Creek Pass because my dad really liked C.W. McCall’s “Wolf Creek Pass,” and we had heard it over and over on the 8-track in the car.
As we drove out to Colorado this fall, I kept remembering bits and pieces of the song. Specifically, I remembered the section: “Earl, I’m not the type to complain; but the time has come for me to explain that if you don’t apply some brake real soon, they’re gonna have to pick us up with a stick and a spoon.”
It’s funny how many times that line has popped into my mind over the years: if you don’t apply some brake real soon, they’re gonna have to pick us up with a stick and a spoon. I have a mental video of an 18-wheeler careening down the highway so fast that even the runaway ramps wouldn’t be enough to stop the disaster in the making.
It’s a good mental image - because it reminds me to stop things before they get out of hand. Things like arguments between the children. Things like burning leaves. Things like heating oil for frying doughnuts. Things like riding horses.
Arguments between the kids tend to escalate. One kid says something. Another responds. Pretty soon, there’s a push. Then a shove. Then a hit. Then all out war. I haven’t let squabbles escalate for a very long time because two of my kids are bigger than I am now; I wouldn’t be able to stop the war!
When we’re burning leaves, we always have the hose nearby. I certainly don’t want to set the whole forest on fire because the fire got away from me.
I remember cooking doughnuts once when I was a teenager. I was home alone - planning a surprise for my family when they returned. I heated the oil, but as it started smoking, I got scared. I decided I needed to get that oil cooled off quickly before it caught on fire. Putting the pan of hot oil under the kitchen faucet wasn’t the brightest idea I’ve ever had. The resulting explosion of oil left little burn spots all over my hands, neck and face. But I knew I didn’t want the oil so hot that it would catch on fire. What a disaster that would have been! Sometimes the solution to stopping the runaway situation isn’t the best solution either! I should’ve considered just taking it off the burner and letting it cool down by itself.
Then there’s riding horseback. Sometimes on frosty mornings, the horses are pretty frisky. They feel good and want to run. I’ve been on the back of a horse who got the bit between his teeth and there was nothing I could do to stop him. Just like a fire burning out of control, that horse had his head and he was going . . . straight back to the barn. He was ready for some oats and there was nothing I could do about it.
I can’t help thinking about the spiritual application: there are some avalanches it would be better not to start. 1 Corinthians 15:33 says, “Bad company corrupts good character.” If I hang out with people who don’t love God, they can start me on a path away from God as well. Proverbs 13:20 says it this way: “He who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm.” I think about the people around me, who influence me. Which of them encourage me and exhort me to seek God and and a closer relationship with Him?
Similarly, the tongue, James 3:6 says, “corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.” It only takes a thoughtless comment to start a whole chain of events that can never be reversed. Feelings are hurt. Choices are made. Consequences ensue. No amount of regret can produce a magic eraser to make the words disappear as if they’d never been. There are rarely “do-overs” in real life.
It would behoove me to think carefully about my choices - both in actions and words - and the potential outcomes. There are many opportunities to crash and burn in this life, and those crashes can leave a huge field of disaster from which little can be salvaged. Proverbs 22:3 says, “A prudent man sees danger and takes refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it.”
We all have mountains to climb and valleys to traverse. Our goal is to travel with God, seeking His guidance and direction. Otherwise, there are going to be some runaway disasters. In those cases, perhaps there’ll be just enough, as C.W. McCall says, to be picked up “with a stick and a spoon.”
As we drove out to Colorado this fall, I kept remembering bits and pieces of the song. Specifically, I remembered the section: “Earl, I’m not the type to complain; but the time has come for me to explain that if you don’t apply some brake real soon, they’re gonna have to pick us up with a stick and a spoon.”
It’s funny how many times that line has popped into my mind over the years: if you don’t apply some brake real soon, they’re gonna have to pick us up with a stick and a spoon. I have a mental video of an 18-wheeler careening down the highway so fast that even the runaway ramps wouldn’t be enough to stop the disaster in the making.
It’s a good mental image - because it reminds me to stop things before they get out of hand. Things like arguments between the children. Things like burning leaves. Things like heating oil for frying doughnuts. Things like riding horses.
Arguments between the kids tend to escalate. One kid says something. Another responds. Pretty soon, there’s a push. Then a shove. Then a hit. Then all out war. I haven’t let squabbles escalate for a very long time because two of my kids are bigger than I am now; I wouldn’t be able to stop the war!
When we’re burning leaves, we always have the hose nearby. I certainly don’t want to set the whole forest on fire because the fire got away from me.
I remember cooking doughnuts once when I was a teenager. I was home alone - planning a surprise for my family when they returned. I heated the oil, but as it started smoking, I got scared. I decided I needed to get that oil cooled off quickly before it caught on fire. Putting the pan of hot oil under the kitchen faucet wasn’t the brightest idea I’ve ever had. The resulting explosion of oil left little burn spots all over my hands, neck and face. But I knew I didn’t want the oil so hot that it would catch on fire. What a disaster that would have been! Sometimes the solution to stopping the runaway situation isn’t the best solution either! I should’ve considered just taking it off the burner and letting it cool down by itself.
Then there’s riding horseback. Sometimes on frosty mornings, the horses are pretty frisky. They feel good and want to run. I’ve been on the back of a horse who got the bit between his teeth and there was nothing I could do to stop him. Just like a fire burning out of control, that horse had his head and he was going . . . straight back to the barn. He was ready for some oats and there was nothing I could do about it.
I can’t help thinking about the spiritual application: there are some avalanches it would be better not to start. 1 Corinthians 15:33 says, “Bad company corrupts good character.” If I hang out with people who don’t love God, they can start me on a path away from God as well. Proverbs 13:20 says it this way: “He who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm.” I think about the people around me, who influence me. Which of them encourage me and exhort me to seek God and and a closer relationship with Him?
Similarly, the tongue, James 3:6 says, “corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.” It only takes a thoughtless comment to start a whole chain of events that can never be reversed. Feelings are hurt. Choices are made. Consequences ensue. No amount of regret can produce a magic eraser to make the words disappear as if they’d never been. There are rarely “do-overs” in real life.
It would behoove me to think carefully about my choices - both in actions and words - and the potential outcomes. There are many opportunities to crash and burn in this life, and those crashes can leave a huge field of disaster from which little can be salvaged. Proverbs 22:3 says, “A prudent man sees danger and takes refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it.”
We all have mountains to climb and valleys to traverse. Our goal is to travel with God, seeking His guidance and direction. Otherwise, there are going to be some runaway disasters. In those cases, perhaps there’ll be just enough, as C.W. McCall says, to be picked up “with a stick and a spoon.”
RSS Feed