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Apples of Gold
Radio Script for December 3, 2010
“Be Sure Your Sin Will Find You Out”
Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.
Have you ever had a bunch of girls tattle on you and then you got a whippin’?
That happened to me in grade school, in Mrs. Murgatroyd’s class.
Yes, that was her name, Mrs. Murgatroyd, and if the name alone didn’t put the fear of God in you, she had a big Greek paddle and she wasn’t afraid to use it.
It was Illinois in the winter, and there was a coat closet in the back of the class. I’d like to see that coat closet today, because it seems like the ceiling was only about five feet high. It was short, but deep and wide, with room for storage, and a rod that ran the length of the closet.
There were enough hangars for everyone’s coat. Some were nice, heavy silver hangars, and the rest were made of flimsy metal.
Now I don’t know how this happened. I don’t know who started it, and I don’t know how it became such a big deal; but somewhere along the line the boys started hiding the nice silver hangars. I mean, who wants to come in from recess and hang their coat on a flimsy hangar? So before recess we would hide the nice hangars so they would be waiting for us when we got back.
I don’t know if I missed a day of school, or if I just wasn’t listening (which is very possible); but I guess at some point the girls must have whined to the teacher and the teacher issued a decree from on high that the boys must never, ever again hide the nice hangars from the girls.
Man, I wish I could go back in time and see how this really went down.
They say you remember things that have something emotional attached to them. Well I had no emotional attachment to hangar hiding . . . until one fateful day.
Our elementary school was a block or two from the high school, and that’s where we ate lunch. So at lunchtime we would put on our coats, line up two-by-two and walk hand-in-hand across the street to the cafeteria.
So that day I did what I was in the habit of doing. I took my coat off the rack, pulled the nice silver hangar out of the coat, and carefully hid it on the back side of a fan that was stored in the closet.
Some of the boys had pitiful hiding places, and the girls always found their hangars, but not mine. I had the best hiding place because the metal lines of the hangar were cleverly disguised by the metal lines of the fan.
I probably wouldn’t remember any of this if it weren’t for the sudden jolt of adrenaline that slammed it into my permanent memory bank. It happened when all of a sudden one of the girls shouted, “Doug is hiding a hangar!”
Then a chorus of girls joined in for a rousing round of “Doug is hiding a hangar.”
Okay, so I hid a hangar. What’s the big deal?
Apparently it was a big deal. I don’t know, but I’m going to guess that the teacher must have said something like, “The next person who hides a hangar is going to get a spanking.” Or maybe she was just having a bad day. Or maybe it was a girl solidarity thing, I don’t know.
But out came the big Greek paddle. The other students were ushered out of the room, and I received in my body the due penalty for my sin.
I tried to dry up the tears before I joined the lunch lineup, but I knew my face was red, and nobody would look me in the eye, “you hangar-hiding wretch.”
But remember, we had to walk hand-in-hand to lunch, so somebody had to acknowledge me. My partner was a boy named Eric, and thankfully he settled me down and told me everything was cool, it was going to be alright. And that was that.
I don’t know if anyone else in the world remembers that incident, but I sure do. It taught me a powerful lesson, and here it is.
Be sure your sin will find you out!
I thought I was being sneaky, but I got caught, and punished.
And today I’m glad I did. I’m thankful for the many times I was caught and punished as a young man, because I learned lessons from it. I don’t want to be caught and punished now, so I avoid the things that bring it.
That sounds simple enough, doesn’t it? Yet our prisons are full of people who didn’t learn that lesson when they were young. In fact, our nation is full of wreckage caused by people thinking their sins would not find them out. Pastors have fallen. Families are broken. Political campaigns have been destroyed, all by people who didn’t learn the lesson that their sins would find them out.
I know that’s an odd way to say it, “your sins will find you out.” What it means is that you will suffer for your sin. It’s based on Numbers 32:23 where Moses said, “You have sinned against the Lord, and be sure your sin will find you out.”
He said that to motivate the people to do right, and it’s a good motivating factor. So often we are willing to sin if we think we can get away with it.
Don’t fall for that lie.
Let this be your warning today. You aren’t that sneaky. You aren’t so clever or so wise.
If you are playing around with sin, there is a warning that you better hear before it’s too late.
Be sure your sin will find you out.
Comments?
E-mail me: dougapple@wave94.com.
May God bless you today! With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.
© 2010 The Arrow’s Tip
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(Proverbs 25:11 – “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”)
Why “The Arrow’s Tip”? Each morning, after diligently seeking the Lord, I write Apples of Gold. Then before I release it to the public I pray one final prayer, “Lord, send forth your arrows.” I envision Apples of Gold as arrows, tips dipped in the river of the water of life that flows from the throne of God (Rev. 22:1), sailing toward the hearts and minds of men and women around the world.
Doug Apple
General Manager - Wave 94
Christian Radio for Tallahassee
PO Box 4105
Tallahassee, FL 32315
(850) 926-8000
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