Turning 50 a few weeks ago seems to have cost me a few brain cells.
Honestly, I’m quite used to the fact that I am forgetting things…putting the milk in the pantry and cereal in the fridge, dialing up the number of a close friend only to find myself surprised to hear her voice as I’d somehow forgotten who I’d called…
But this past weekend I took this middle-age thing a tad too far. My memory wasn’t the problem, it was my judgment.
Wrapping up a late night of July 3rd, neighborhood, cul-de-sac fireworks, my family headed for home. With a bicycle, Power Wing, lawn chair and fireworks to manage, I magnanimously offered to help by riding the Power Wing home…in the dark…down a decent sized hill, (later to be named “Suicide Valley” by my son).
Power-wing: “cousin to the skateboard, equipped with handle bar and 2 wings designed to increase speed…”
The slow decline was soothing, allowing a gentle breeze to brush my face as I sailed leisurely down the tarmac.
But with little warning, things changed. My speed quickly accelerated, and this gentle slope soon became a death drop, down which I began to hurtle out of control.
I really don’t remember the next painful moments, but Josh assured me it was horrible to witness. “Mom! You did a faceplant double-roll right down the street!”
True that. Whatever I did, that pavement couldn’t have been harder, or my velocity more intense. The right side of my body took the worst of it, including my arm, elbow, wrist, ankle and hip. I haven’t had any X-rays yet, but since the swelling and pain is still refusing to go away, I’m becoming more open to the idea.
My trip down Suicide Valley was the perfect metaphor of how effortlessly I seem to slip into sin. I start slowly enough, so casually that I have little or no idea that I am on a dangerous path. But before I know it, I have accelerated into a downward spiral, finding myself at a point of no return, at least not without a good amount of damage awaiting me.
Listen to what A.W. Tozer says about sin...
Sin, in addition to anything else it may be, is always an act of wrong judgment.
To commit a sin a man must for the moment believe that things are different from
what they really are; he must ignore the signs on the highway and drive with his
eyes shut …
No act is wise that ignores remote consequences, and sin always
does. Sin sees only today, or at most tomorrow; never the day after tomorrow,
next month or next year. A.W. Tozer, The Dwelling Place of God
I won’t be riding any Power Wings in the near future. I’m also hoping I to stay clear of those other dangerous paths which promise excitement, but will eventually end in pain.
Shepherds, what is your best practice to avoid a slippery slope toward sin?
