It was a perfect 80 degree August afternoon in the Valley of the Jolly Green Giant. (Actually it was central Wisconsin and it isn’t a valley.) I was cycling the compass  perfect country roads. And was enthralled at the flying skill of a crop duster just ahead.  Pausing to watch I was vicariously swooping and diving over the fields wishing I were the pilot.  With each pass he grew closer and closer and then it happened.  He roared only a few feet over my head while spewing out his clouds of poison.  Instantly my mouth, my eyes, and my nose burned as I fell gasping to the ground frantic for pure air.  Fortunately I had a water bottle to quickly flush my face.

Later that evening, while thinking about what occurred and my foolishness for lingering in the path of the plane, I remembered Psalm 1:1, “Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers.”  I stopped riding, I stood by the fields and watched and I waited.

The verse so well portrays our behavior.  Few if any fool just jumps into a situation precarious to the well-being of their soul.  Instead we dwell on things and so subtly allow ourselves to be drawn in. Sometimes we are so changed we are not aware of the new person we have become.  Others about see but they are self-blind and use a lot of self-justification.  In such situations we need help.  Just as an addict needs to go to rehab, they cannot do it alone, we need the divine help freely offered by Jesus Himself, who said, “Come unto me and I will give you rest.”

Written by Roger Bothwell on October 4, 2017

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