Take out the Garbage
I learned to read long before I started school at the age of 7. In the first grade I was reading Trixie Beldon Mysteries and could not understand why we had to read Jack and Jill and Tip and Mitten. Babyfied books.
I had my own public library card and each week my mother would take me to check out new books. In Junior High - what people now call Middle School I developed a taste for adult novels with salacious content. The Exorcist was popular at this time and I was about half way through reading a paperback I had bought, when my mother noticed what I was reading.
She was the original inventor of the phrase "Garbage In, Garbage Out" She threw the book in the trash, tied up the bag and walked me out to the garbage can with it.
What an outrage! Censorship! The woman was ahead of her time. She knew how to practice reverse psychology. She told me she knew of a good book I should read when I was older, but that I was too young to understand it now. It was called Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. I was not to try to get that book until I was in high school. Anyone who knows me at all can predict the next two things that happened.
After Mom left for work, I went out to the garbage and dug out my copy of The Exorcist and finished reading it. I also pocketed my library card and peddled my bike as fast as my legs could pump to check out this new forbidden book.
My mother never mentioned the book from the garbage but later asked me if I had enjoyed Catcher in the Rye. She smiled knowingly. Actually I preferred one of his other novels, Franny and Zooey.
This week in Pastor Grupp's sermon he talked about taking out the garbage. If our minds are continually filled with sin then our speech and actions will reflect that. If you are dirty you wash and put on clean clothes. As Christian you must take off your old self and put on a new self created to be like God.
Ephesians 4:19 Instead be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ.
So how does garbage enter into you? Is it the company you keep, the reading material you choose, or perhaps the hours you spend in front of the television. You can choose to take out the garbage. Hang out in better places, read better books, and I bet your television has an off switch somewhere.
We all have to keep taking out the garbage to prevent the overflow from taking over our whole house. I think there is a bag or two waiting for me to get rid of.
I am praying for many of you, Megan with a new job, Nick as he prepares for marriage, Robby as he is starting a career, Elisabeth as she returns to college, J.J. as she returns for an advanced degree. My lists get longer each day. I ask that you pray for me also.
I had my own public library card and each week my mother would take me to check out new books. In Junior High - what people now call Middle School I developed a taste for adult novels with salacious content. The Exorcist was popular at this time and I was about half way through reading a paperback I had bought, when my mother noticed what I was reading.
She was the original inventor of the phrase "Garbage In, Garbage Out" She threw the book in the trash, tied up the bag and walked me out to the garbage can with it.
What an outrage! Censorship! The woman was ahead of her time. She knew how to practice reverse psychology. She told me she knew of a good book I should read when I was older, but that I was too young to understand it now. It was called Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. I was not to try to get that book until I was in high school. Anyone who knows me at all can predict the next two things that happened.
After Mom left for work, I went out to the garbage and dug out my copy of The Exorcist and finished reading it. I also pocketed my library card and peddled my bike as fast as my legs could pump to check out this new forbidden book.
My mother never mentioned the book from the garbage but later asked me if I had enjoyed Catcher in the Rye. She smiled knowingly. Actually I preferred one of his other novels, Franny and Zooey.
This week in Pastor Grupp's sermon he talked about taking out the garbage. If our minds are continually filled with sin then our speech and actions will reflect that. If you are dirty you wash and put on clean clothes. As Christian you must take off your old self and put on a new self created to be like God.
Ephesians 4:19 Instead be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ.
So how does garbage enter into you? Is it the company you keep, the reading material you choose, or perhaps the hours you spend in front of the television. You can choose to take out the garbage. Hang out in better places, read better books, and I bet your television has an off switch somewhere.
We all have to keep taking out the garbage to prevent the overflow from taking over our whole house. I think there is a bag or two waiting for me to get rid of.
I am praying for many of you, Megan with a new job, Nick as he prepares for marriage, Robby as he is starting a career, Elisabeth as she returns to college, J.J. as she returns for an advanced degree. My lists get longer each day. I ask that you pray for me also.
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