Well I am sure you have had a busy week like we have had around Team Swap, so this week’s post is a short one. This post is based on a funny event that happened to me a few years ago, and a bit of wisdom God later gave me from it.
I have the unique opportunity to be at a stadium gate at the University of Tennessee during most football games. I have had this opportunity for over a decade, so I have seen a lot of things. Most of the things I have seen have been funny, a few of them sad, and a few have even been scary. At this point and time though almost nothing I see around football games really surprises me. Things that use to be strange to me are just common to me now. It really takes a lot for me to be shocked. Two years ago at the Tennessee vs. Florida game I was shocked though.
About the middle of the second quarter I look up one of the ramps near a gate, and I see a lady backing down the ramp. At one point that in itself would have been strange to me, but now it is not.
Unfortunately, walking down ramps backward is not uncommon. Some people, from 2 to 102, seem to think that backing down a ramp makes it easier. Anyway, this ladies action drew my attention, but did not really get noted as extremely odd, just mildly strange. I looked toward her again in a minute or so, to be sure that she had not fallen (again a common occurrence on stadium ramps), and I saw for the first time that the lady was holding a wheelchair back and that was why she was backing down the ramp. That made her a bit more interesting to me as she was holding the chair back, something that is virtually impossible to do if there is any weight in it. Then I noticed she had a box on the arms of the wheelchair and that was all.
Now I was really interested, so I walked up the ramp. As I approached her I saw she had on a medical vest (stadium med tech) and that box was actually a microwave box with a piece of duct tape keeping it shut. I ask if she needed help and she said no, but then she began the story that I was shocked by.
She told me that a squirrel had gotten into a command area (the police / fire / emergency / first aid center in the stadium) and gotten injured. She then told me that the squirrel was in the box. Yes that is right we now have a med tech backing a wheelchair down a ramp with a solid box (no holes) closed with duct tape that contains a injured squirrel. Ok this is a new one even for me.
She continued though and the story just got crazier. She was bringing the squirrel down the ramp where it could be taken to the Vet center for surgery and rehabilitation. I kept looking at her to see if she saw anything funny or odd about this, she did not and that was funny and odd to me. Anyway, she finished getting down the ramp and the authorities had a police car (not sure what department) take the squirrel box via lights and sirens to the Vet hospital. The lady then went back into the stadium and up the ramp complaining about how lazy everyone in command was since they had not helped her catch and transport the squirrel.
As crazy as it was, the previous story is NOT fiction. So, hopefully the humor of this will bring a bit of laughter to you and a smile too your face. Hopefully though, while laughing / smiling / thinking about the story do not forget to also consider the wisdom that God gave me about it later.
Here goes, think about how many times we do stupid things that seem right and important to us that make God and the rest of the world shake their collective heads at us.
Sometimes when we do stupid things we may be doing the right thing and following God’s will perfectly even if it looks crazy to the world. That is a admirable trait, but it is not the norm for most peoples random acts of stupidity. The truth of the matter is that most of the time when we do stupid things, or act foolishly we are doing those things on our own. Our motives may be good and true, but our actions are not.
The moral here is really be sure that whatever you are doing is not just right in your mind, but be sure that it is right in the eyes and ways of God and His will as well. If it is not you are just doing dumb things for selfish reasons. Bottom line, many times we do things with the right heart and consider them Godly, but they are still out of God’s will and are done for silly and selfish reasons.
Have a great day and I hope this story brought you a few laughs while getting you to think about some of the motivations for things that we all do in good faith and good will. No matter the motives we profess to have, they may still be out of God’s will.
