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.
Some men just go through their life with their hats on backwards,
but do they have their heads on straight?
I have my opinions about hat-on-backwards guy.
Personally, I gave the practice up sometime around the age of 22.
My thought was when you have a college diploma in hand,
you don’t need to try to look like Justin Bieber.
I felt this way, even though Justin Bieber wasn’t to be born for 15 years.
I have my theory regarding this phenomena among males.
I believe that when cavemen were hunting for dinosaurs,
they had trouble seeing the dinosaurs because the sun was in their eyes.
So they probably took a bunch of leaves and vines and attached them
onto their heads so that the big leaves stuck out over their faces,
creating a shady cover for dinosaur hunting.
This also allowed them to lay back and take naps on sunny days
while they were supposed to be dinosaur hunting.
This probably continued for thousands of years.
The two things then likely occurred:
1)They finally realized that dinosaurs were extinct.
2)Once mirrors were invented, they realized how silly they looked.
So they invented the baseball cap.
Then along came Ken Griffey, Jr.
“The Kid” as he was known during his Hall of Fame baseball career,
made the hat-on-backwards look his signature look, even though the purpose
of baseball hats was to keep the sun out of baseball players’ eyes.
This created a generation of hat-on-backwards guys who likely thought
that they too, could be hall of famers.
These men are often confused with the ones who wear sunglasses while indoors.
This is a separate group of silly men.
I think I have heard all the reasons why men in their 30’s and 40’s try to pull this flipped lid look off…..
Reason #1: It looks cool
Answer: No it doesn’t
Reason #2: I don’t like how the bill sticks out.
Answer: Then perhaps you should wear a beanie.
Reason #3 The sun doesn’t bother me.
Answer: Then why are you wearing a hat in the first place?
Then often, these silly men ask me a question.
Why do you care how I wear my hat?
Answer: I long for the day when guys will become men.
This is my hope and dream. And then those dreams are smashed when I see
guys like this…..
and I realize that we as a society, are doomed.
I have held this attitude of superiority for quite a while.
Every time that I am at the gym and a hat-on-backwards guy enters,
I think, “our cavemen fathers would be so ashamed.”
Then yesterday, I was knocked off my throne of intellectual superiority.
A hat-on-backwards guy walked into the gym as I was working out.
“There’s hat-on-backwards guy” I thought.
We are doomed as a nation, a culture and a civilization.
Moments later I realized,
I had my gym shorts on backwards.
I knew this, because my school’s insignia was no longer on my right thigh where it should be.
I calculated the rotation and knew that the insignia should therefore now be located on my left buttock.
Surprisingly, as I looked in a mirror, it was not.
It was then that I realized, that not only were my gym shorts on backwards,
they were on inside out.
This would now explain why the pocket liners were hanging out on either side
much like Dumbo’s ears.
All of a sudden, hat-on-backwards guy didn’t look so silly.
I think if we are honest, all of us do this.
We criticize one other, and yet often do the same things,
or sometimes, do things that are even worse.
How many times when driving, have I yelled at someone for not using their turn signal,
but on occasion, I do the same thing?
How many times, do I inwardly chastise someone for saying something hurtful about another,
but in the moment, I do the same thing?
How many time do I…………you fill in your blank.
This is the meaning behind one of Jesus’ most used statement,
“Judge not, lest you be judged”
It is often one of the most misinterpreted passages in the Bible.
We often use it to say
“We’re all sinners, so therefore we shouldn’t judge anyone else for what they do”
But the subsequent verses don’t support that interpretation.
Jesus goes on to say that you need to take the log out of your own eye,
BEFORE you attempt to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.
The lesson isn’t about judgment, it’s about hypocrisy.
Once we have removed the offense from our lives,
Jesus says we are THEN ABLE to assist our neighbor.
It is THEN, when we are free from our hypocrisy, that we can make clear judgments.
So until I get my shorts on straight,
far be it that I condemn hat-on-backwards guy.
I won’t even begin to tell you about my socks …………………..
“You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly
to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”
Matthew 7:5
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