Interesting things do tend to happen to interesting people. Whether that describes me or not, only you can judge, but I sure have had some interesting moments.
I was recently reminded of a bizarre moment when I took a pile of documents to the office shredder. Most people preferred to simply dump their documents into a large waste bag, so that a worker could bulk shred everything later in the day, but I thought ... well actually maybe I didn't think at all, but I can't remember what I was thinking.
Its what I did that matters. I decided to quickly shred my own documents rather than entrust their confidential content to a worker. Unfortunately, that was in an age where the wearing of a tie at work was commonplace. I had just started shredding when my tie caught in the machine and moved up my tie so fast I only just had time to stop the machine before losing the tip of my nose.
Once I had regained control I tried using the reverse lever, but that just pulled me in further and tightened the already tight grip on my neck. So I switched everything off and looked around for some help. Unfortunately, the office was deserted. Fortunately, though, the mail room where the shredder was situated, was surrounded by a glass wall, so I decided to wait a while for someone to appear, hoping to get their attention.
Unfortunately, my ever friendly colleagues were quite sure I was just waving good naturedly to them, so they simply waved back as they walked on by. Desperate for something that would get the right attention, I grabbed a pole and waited again for people to appear, then I tapped the window and pointed out my predicament. Help came at last in the form of a large pair of scissors.
The shredded part of my tie was beyond help, but after the big cut I was left with a somewhat abbreviated tie, most of which had been through the shredder at least once. My colleagues wanted to frame my tie and keep it for posterity, but I was still young enough to be abashed by the experience, so it died there.
It got me thinking how quickly we get into trouble in life. There are trips and traps all around us. No I know that no one else in all the earth would tangle with a shredding machine, but far too many have played with fire, skated on thin ice or tempted God - and before they knew it, they found themselves sucked into the system, unable to break free from sin's powerful grasp.
I am not against risk-taking in life, because as we see with the prodigal son, daring to live is always better than fearing to live. God cannot steer an unresponsive life, any more than you and I can steer a stationery vehicle. The risk takers of the bible were men after the heart of God, for as a former boss once remarked, its better to do the wrong thing than to do nothing.
However, we need to find the balance. It is still worse to lose your soul, than to be so busy doing whatever it is you are doing that the system sucks you in and denies you all perspective on what really matters - your salvation, your family, your constituencies and your place in the purpose of God.
Hopefully, when life is done I won't have a shredded tie to share with the angels on high, but the trophy of a life well lived, in spite of the pains involved.
(c) Peter Eleazar @ www.4u2live.net
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