The Edge
Of Mom’s nine, the three oldest boys were Jim, Brad, and me. As a boy Jim used his bright mind to challenge everything and everybody. As folks in the country would say: “He just did not believe that cowhorns could get tangled up.”
Bradley? Oh, Bradley was a different breed. He could do well in school when he wanted to. He was good looking. Had that cool movie star look with his hair flipped like James Dean, and he could take up the posture of a poster star. Girls swooned, while I had mamas introducing me to their daughters.
But that is not all the story about Bradley. Bradley liked the edge. We lived in the mountains with cliffs, waterfalls, and rock ledges. See me laying on my stomach, inching out, looking down over the edge. Or, I might hold on to a strong tree with one hand and lean out to look down. Regardless, looking down gave me cold chills, butter flies in my stomach, and vertigo. Bradley? Well, he would walk right out to the edge, stand, laugh and talk.
I have seen him standing in water at the top of a waterfall, laughing, taunting me and others. We would be pleading for him not to be on the edge. He seemed to love the thrill that came with the danger.
Thank God he has lived to more sane days, though even now I think he is reckless with a four-wheeler. I am sure that if I dared do his ventures there would be a need for medical care or more.
With the thoughtfulness that comes with time I have observed that there are many who live on the edge. They dare to challenge gravity. They dare to look down at
the risk of falling.
Ah, you have run ahead of me. While I speak truth of my brothers and me it is only to make a point about life. The Edge of which I write is the edge of risking one’s character, integrity, and soul.
The Edge is to venture where one should not go, looking at things one should not see, listening to what should not be heard, and doing what should not be done.
I was in a store recently. The music was terrible. “How do you stand this music all day long?” I asked. “What music? I do not listen to it,” was the reply.
“Not so,” I thought to myself. “Your brain is being imprinted with sound and words. The sound and words are influencing your thinking.” Many folks come away from work depressed, not knowing they are suffering from the negative music and radio talk that has permeated their workplace.
In time it became apparent to me that life is about investing. I speak not of money. Life is about investing time, thought, and effort. Every choice eliminates variables. Every preference includes a rejection. Every commitment necessarily means that other things will not get done.
Thrill seeking has little virtue. Looking back into the past to count mistakes is only valuable if one can learn to avoid repeating such mistakes. When past failures have taught godly principles for corrected steps, the past needs to be packaged up and placed in the history of the mind. Not forgotten, but neatly stored in a manner to prevent past failures from preventing future success.
Lot had a choice when his uncle Abraham offered a compromise. Lot could and should have asked his uncle for counsel. Lot should have asked the Lord. But Lot “looked”, thought of himself, and headed towards Sodom. My hunch is that Sodom already had a reputation that lacked testimony of honor. However, Lot had beautiful daughters and a wife who loved fine things. He went for the Edge. Went over the Edge. Lost his wife, daughters and son-in-laws, and while drunk fathered the Ammonites and Moabites, tribes who later were a “thorn in the flesh” to God and Israel.
Time has taught me that looking up does not make me dizzy, light-headed, or nauseated. Looking up makes my feet feel lighter, my heart feel encouraged, and my mind to think of good things. Looking up motivates me to move on, to share Jesus with others, and to determine to help pull more and more people back from the Edge.
Be cool! Look up. Choose Jesus. Get a life. Be filled with the Spirit. Think of others. Think of how you can spend your life in a manner that will testify of your gratitude for Jesus giving His life for you. Run away from the Edge!
With hope that you will live an exciting life
glorifying Christ,
Pastor Bare
Colossians 3:17