Tuesday’s Blog – Up and Over the Curb!

Tuesday’s Blog – Up and Over the Curb!

Psalm 119:69-70 – The proud have forged a lie against me, but I will keep Your precepts with my whole heart. Their heart is as fat as grease, but I delight in Your law.

Bible Challenges and Comments

Have you ever watched a silent movie? Well now if you are my age or somewhere near it your answer would be yes. As a child growing up these were similar to the cartoons of those days too as all of the cartoons were silent with words to read on the next panel or page of a book to explain the scenes of the previous film footage.

Our submarine docked in Portsmouth, England at a naval shipyard and the automobile rental agency was our first priority. The Supply Officer and I were driven by an English sailor to the rental spot and we rented two vehicles for the ship during our stay over. One vehicle was for the crew and one vehicle was for the officers.

We were nearly back to the ship and navigating through downtown Portsmouth; I was looking through the rearview mirror when I saw the vehicle of the Supply Officer leave the road. It jumped the curb and those walking on the sidewalk began to scurry in every direction; sort of like chickens being chased by the fox in one of those cartoons.

This was a momentary event and then the officer’s vehicle was back on the roadway looking quite normal. So we kept going, and yet in my mind I was revisiting a cartoon of many years before. The chickens were being chased by the fox and the next page read, “And the fox goes hungry for another day, no harm and no fowl”

Auto Rentals in those days contained in the glove box a “kill switch” in England, so both of us were instructed to use the switch when leaving the vehicle for periods of time to prevent thief and above all we should not flip the switch off while the vehicle was in motion. Of course, I had no problem with that, but it seems that the Supply Officer had to try the switch to see what would happen. Like all of the people who scurried out of the way; he in his front role seat, saw what happened.

After returning to the ship I asked him what happened, of course with the excited words of a child in trouble he said; “I couldn’t help it, I had to try the switch while the car was moving, so I did.” As his thinking on this continued I somehow ended up being reprimanded for asking him why? His emotional moment took full steam and he turned on all of his anger and embarrassment at me. In Psalm 119: 69-70 the term “their heart is as fat as grease” is a very interesting statement and explains very well how people react daily the circumstances that life sends their way.

The term literally means that the proud of heart have smeared the truth with a lie of words that are stupid and emotional. This is the way of the world around us, isn’t it; something potentially harmful happens and someone response with emotion, then adds; it is your fault for asking. Then someone else picks up on the emotion and before you know it, the whole dang town is mad at Leroy Brown!

This affliction on life though is small compared to some of the things that come at us daily, but it does identify the problem of much anguish in life. If we lead by emotion we are of a proud and unrepented heart bent on selfishness, but we the children of God can process these moments into good since this affliction will drive us to learn more about the statutes, commands and precepts of God. The promises and laws of God’s Word are better than thousands of dollars of silver and gold.