So above are both a link to a video and the video itself. They are both there in case one eventually fails.
In case both fails, I will briefly describe what is in the video. A little boy named Kyle is stepping on the digging end (what would you call that?) of a shovel. When he does that the handle part comes off the ground and flips over. Kyle dodges the handle for the first several times. Eventually however the handle smacks him in the head. It hits him and it hits him hard a few times.
Kyle is seen rubbing his head.
His sisters appear to be looking on. None of them go and step on the shovel.
Commentary...
Why does Kyle go back and get hit by the shovel. He obviously knows this is the possible outcome yet he goes back over and over and takes the risk. At first it looks like fun. But in the end is it worth the risk?
Related story...
We belong to a small group. We being Pam (my wife) and I. I get to attend because Pam is nice and she is normal. The group endures me so that they can have Pam in the group. Everyone is too polite to verbalize this but it is floating there, just below the surface: known but unsaid. (insert smily face emoji here - - maybe)
Without any comment I sent this video to our group through the message app which has - to date - been reserved for prayer request and church or group announcements. I made no observations. I just sent the video.
The main reason I send it was because it is so entertaining. The announcer, the voice over, is Steve Inman and he really adds a lot to the video.
But...
I've thought about the video, before and after I sent it. It reminds me of Proverbs 26:11. The verse is a "two parter". The second part talks about "a fool who repeats his folly".
A fool who repeats his folly. He goes back for more, even though it is folly.
I went to that trusty source "Google" to see what it says about folly. It is in italics below.
What does folly mean biblically?
Folly, in the biblical sense of the word, is to hold the pursuit of truth in contempt by choosing to make our own path.
I've thought about how silly or stupid Kyle is... and how I'm like Kyle.
And Paul from the bible, who in Romans 7 talks about stepping on the face of the shovel. I think of these verses in Romans 7 and those 70's "do whap-a do" songs. Paul is doing and do whap-a doing. Here are the verses...
 Romans 7... 15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
Pau is like me and Kyle. We don't know why we go back and step on the face of that shovel. It's kinda fun! Sometimes it's really fun! But then we get whacked in the head and that ain't so fun.
And then there are the times when I'm just an old grouch. The other word for it when you get to be my age is "Curmudgeon". Someone does or says something and in my mind I begin to grumble and complain to myself. Sometimes Pam has to endure one of my lectures or speeches. None of this is fun. It's not like stepping on the shovel face in the respect that it might be fun. There is no fun component... just the whack in the head component. Yet I do it over and over again.
Lord help me to do what you want me to do this week.
Help me.
Help me to not step on the shovel.
©David L Arment
April 28,2024