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MY SUNDAY JOURNAL
By Dalton Roberts
IPS Feature
8-11-02
WATERMELON COMMUNION
When Dave James was seven he stole a watermelon from a neighbor's
garden. His mother caught him and made him go to the neighbor and
confess and offer to pay for it out of his allowance.
As soon as his neighbor opened the door he blurted out, "I stole
one of your watermelons and I'll pay for it." The sweet lady told
him to come on in and asked if he wanted a piece of pecan pie. He was
ashamed to eat and said no but she just went on fixing him a piece and
loading it down with whipped green.
She said, "The watermelons are not ripe yet, Son, but when one does
get ripe, you and I will have a big piece."
As he left she said, "You don't have to pay me back but will you
promise to visit me from time to time?"
So many times when we do wrong, it doesn't amount to much but it can
make us feel terribly bad. Our guilt and shame separate us from each
other and make us feel God is down on us.
Dave said, "Some may think my first communion was at church but it
was really in that widow's kitchen when I confessed, was forgiven, and
was asked to come back from time to time."
CAN'T HEAR AND GLAD
On this date in 1995 "Papa John" Popham sat next to me at a
luncheon. Everyone was talking at once and he turned up both of his
hearing aids. Still he couldn't hear because so many people were talking
at once.
He saw me watching him as he turned down his hearing aids and said,
"I can't hear a %&*!# word....and it's wonderful!"
Silence is wonderful. We are bombarded with so many sounds most days of
our life that our neurological system takes a horrendous beating.
The only way to know God is silence, if I understand this verse right:
"Be still and know I am God."
During my years in politics, my least favorite activity was going to
political things where the bar was open and everyone was walking around
with a glass of wine or a drink and their pinky sticking out and all of
them talking at once. Babbling would be closer to it. No one was paying
any attention at all to anything anyone else was saying.
If Papa John had been there, I'll guarantee you he would have turned off
both of his hearing aids.
If you have no hearing aids, I have good news. From long experience I
can tell you it is possible to totally turn off your brain. Think of
things like when you were a boy sitting on a creek bank with a cane pole
in your hand.
You just need to remember three words. Just walk around grinning and
saying "How about that," and you will get through it with
flying colors.
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