Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Crazy Love - Dave's Deep Thoughts


Here's Pastor Dave McDowell's weekly devotional that he sends out to members of his church. Dave is my brother and serves as the Music Minister at Stewartstown UMC in PA.
Valentines check list

Chocolates............check
.
Flowers............check

Dinner Out.............check

Mushy Card............check

Rat Poison............say what?

Let's chalk this one up to
you learn something new everyday.

I was traveling
in the area of my
family's get-a-way cottage.

We were having a rodent problem
and so I stopped in at a local store
to pick up some rat poison.

This was in small town, USA
so it was one of only a few businesses in town.
It quickly became apparent that the cashier's counter
was a hot spot for local information & gossip.

I couldn't find the poison and so I asked
the cashier where it might be located.

Oddly enough,
another man perched at the counter
answered instead.

"Oh, it's in aisle 7.
Make sure you get the good stuff."
Say what?
.
I went and found the brand
that I have used for years
fully content that this was "the good stuff."

I brought it to the counter
and the man said,
"Yup, that's the good stuff."

I was content to let the conversation
end with that curious comment.
After all, you never know where a conversation
about rat poison might go.
I was about to find out.

But the man, who looked to be about 100 years old continued.

"Yup, I've been using that stuff for years.
Good stuff"

I took the bait (pun intended)
and replied,
'So you have a rodent problem?"
"Nope," he said.

Now, this old geezer had my curiosity.
I decided to proceed, but with great apprehension.......

"So, what do you use it for
if you don't have a rodent problem?" I asked,
not realizing that I had just reached first base
in this unexpected game of Crazyball.

"I eat it,"
he said as he chomped on a big piece of chewing tobacco.

At that moment, I was convinced that I was either on Candid Camera
or in the midst of the Twilight Zone.

I wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible.
I have found that conversations with crazy people
usually aren't overly productive.

The cashier had been measuring my look of surprise and confusion.
"Oh, he's not kidding," the cashier said.

I handed the cashier my cash
hoping I could get out of Crazyball as fast as possible.

But the cashier held my twenty dollar bill (and me) hostage.
"He really does eat it."

I reluctantly decided to head to second base......
"Why do you eat it?" I asked,
not sure that I wanted to hear the answer.

"It thins my blood,
I eat a piece every morning at breakfast.
Put it in with my oatmeal," he said very matter-of-factly.

If this was Crazyball,
the pitcher had just released a wild pitch over the backstop.
I had no choice but to go to third base......

"So you eat rat poison with your oatmeal
every morning, and it helps to thin your blood?"

"Yup, it sure does,"
he said between chews.

"I give it to my wife too."

I immediately said a prayer for this woman whom I had never met.

"Been doing it for 50 years,
she's healthy as a horse," he said very proudly.

The cashier rang up my purchase.
I eyed the door as my escape to sanity.

"Yup, you should try it." he suggested.

By this time, I figured my best
way of escaping from Crazyball
was to try to steal home
and get out the door.

I grabbed my change and mumbled,
"Yeah, maybe I will give it a try."

As I darted for the door, he blurted out,
"Just put a lot of cinnamon on it.
You'll never know it was there."
The door slammed behind me.

Home run
Game over.
Crazy wins.

We all do strange things from time to time.
Especially when love factors into the equation.

How many of us have been known
to do the outlandish when love is young and blooming?

Sing a song in public?
Buy a gift that is way out of the budget?
Put a marriage proposal on a billboard?

Yes, love sometimes motivates us to do the strangest things.

If you think slipping rat poison into a mate's oatmeal is bizarre,
how about willingly receiving three nails into the flesh
for the sake of the beloved?

As we practice acts of love on February 14,
remember the journey of Lent begins very soon.

What would possess a Father to not only allow,
but cause a Son to suffer such a fate
on behalf of a stiff necked people,
many whom to this day,
still do not receive this act of rescue?

The answer......
love.

Lent is not only a yearly ritual of the church.

It is the journey for each one of us
to walk towards the One that loves us more than anyone else....
to stare into the heart of God,
to witness the crazy act of sacrificing love,
and to receive that craziness,
knowing that we will be forever changed.

Before you turn and walk out of the door,
dismissing crazy as just being crazy,
think how crazy it would be
for you to reject a love that is that deep.

As for my oatmeal,
raisins will do my just fine, thank you.

For the word of the cross is to those who are perishing,
foolishness,
but to us who re being saved,
it is the power of God.
I Corinthians 1:18
.

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