A LESSON FROM TRASH

When I was a young man, I worked for a company that employed about 300 people. They had a cost reduction program where they encouraged each employee to find ways to save the company money, and each employee whose cost reduction was implemented would receive a bonus at the end of the year.

One year, one of my friends turned in a cost reduction concerning trash collection for the building. One of the trash disposal companies in the area had a trash compactor there. It had been there for several years. They charged $50.00 each time they emptied it, which was usually about once a week. This cost the company an average of $200.00 each month, or about $2,400.00 a year.

My friend found another company that would bring their trash compactor to our building, and only charge us $35.00 each time they dumped it. This would save our company $15.00 each week. So it would only cost $140.00 a month, which would only be $1,680.00 a year. That would be a savings of about $720.00 a year.

His cost reduction was accepted and implemented. The old trash company removed its compactor and the new company brought theirs in. That’s when we realized that the new one was smaller than the old one so it had to be emptied more often. This piece of information was not incorporated into the equation for reducing the cost of trash removal. Now, instead of paying $200.00 a month for four dumps, the company was paying $210.00 for 6 dumps a month. More than before with more hassle with having to call when it filled up and having to wait for them to come and pick it up, and waiting for them to bring it back before we could remove any trash from the building. The fact that the new container was smaller was a very important factor that was left out of the equation because my friend did not have all the information he needed in order to make an informed decision.

I’ve always taught my children that you have to have all the information to make an informed decision. So you have to be sure to ask all the right questions, and when telling someone else something, you need to make sure you give them every ounce of information you possibly can so they can make an informed decision.

I’m afraid this is what is happening in our churches today when people ignore part of the Bible. Many don’t think you need the Old testament. Many have been taught that the Old Testament is not relevant for Christians today. This is the book that God gave to his people. This is the word of God. The complete book; the Old and New Testaments.

There are many things in the Old Testament that build the foundation for the New Testament, and without all that information, you cannot understand the New Testament correctly.

Jesus, and the other New Testament writers quoted from the Old Testament many, many times. There are hundreds of prophecies in the Old Testament concerning both the first and second coming of Jesus. The Old Covenant is there, which is the foundation of the New Covenant in the New Testament. For more on that subject, read my study called “The Old And New Covenant.”

2 Timothy 3:16-17 says, ALL scripture is inspired by God, and is helpful for teaching, for evidence, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness: So that the followers of God may grow to maturity, and be fully equipped for all good works.

ALL SCRIPTURE includes the Old Testament. Here are a few more examples:

1 Corinthians 10:11 says the things that happened in the old days were examples for us in the end times and were written down as warnings to us.

Jude 1:7, and 2 Peter 2:6 tell us that the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them were recorded in the Old Testament as an example of eternal fire and what will happen to those who live ungodly lives.

Romans 15:1 says the things written in the Old Testament were written for our instruction, so that, through patience, and the comfort of the scriptures, we might have hope.

So, I encourage you to read the Old Testament. It is a great work on the creation of the world and mankind. It contains the history of God’s people and his dealings with them over a few thousand years. It tells us the history of the ancestors of our Lord, Jesus. We must realize that the Old Testament is part of this complete book that God has preserved for his people for thousands of years. He didn’t preserve it for no reason. He preserved it for us to study, and to understand his purpose for us, and his great love for us. It’s all God’s word from beginning to end, and all of it is important.

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ONE TREE, TWO COUSINS, AND FOUR FLAT TIRES

It was Halloween and I was 19 years old. I had just recently come to my senses and was off drugs and alcohol. I was trying to rebuild my life and become a better person. I had a good job and a dependable car and I was into having good, clean fun. I thought it might be fun to go Trick-or-Treating. The last time I had gone was a few years earlier when I made my own Freddy Kruger costume. It wasn’t bad if I do say so myself, and I had gotten some good compliments about it.

I felt like I was too old to go Trick-or-Treating, though. I went to my cousin, Tim’s house to see if he wanted to go. I could drive him around from house to house in exchange for a percentage of his treats and we could hang out like we did when we were younger. He’s only a couple of years younger than me so he thought he was too old, as well. He said we should go get my younger cousin Thomas who had recently gone with us on a camp-out and offer him the same deal. That sounded good to me, so that’s what we did.

I got a big, brown paper grocery bag and rolled the top down about halfway, and sat it in the front seat between me and Tim. Each time Thomas came back from a house we would empty his bag into the big one and soon we had several pounds of candy and a few rocks.

After we had hit several neighborhoods in his community, we headed up the main highway toward mine. All of a sudden, I saw blue lights behind me. I stopped and rolled my window down and waited for the officer to walk up. He said someone had been setting fires all along the side of the roads in the neighborhood and wanted to know if we knew anything about it. I told him we didn’t know who was doing it, but I had stopped to put one out earlier, before sunset. I was hoping we could be on our way after that but then he said, “Y’all been drankin?” When I said, “No Sir,” he said, “What’s in the bag?” I said “Candy” as I tilted the bag up for him to look into. A big smile came across his face as he chuckled. Then he told us to be careful and he walked back to his car.

We went to a few more houses, then decided to call it a night. We were on the way to take Thomas home when we came to a place where my aunt Lola Mae lived years ago. The house was gone but the big oak tree and the circle drive were still there. Just as we came to the drive, Thomas said, “Drive around that tree.” I wasn’t going that fast so I turned and drove around the tree. Just then, I felt something bump the bottom of my car, first at the front and then at the back. I had driven over something. I continued back onto the road and to my sister’s house just a short distance ahead. When I got out to see if there was any damage, all four tires on the car were flat.

I wanted to scream. I wanted to hit Thomas for telling me to drive around that tree. He assured me that he didn’t know that would happen. I halfway believed him, but nothing I could do to him would fix my tires. I had to wait until the next day to get back on the road.

We can learn a lesson from this experience. Those of us who are on this road to heaven need to stay focused and never take a detour. Sometimes though, we do veer off the road and something similar to this happens. We’re sidelined for a while. Sometimes for a long while. The key is to never leave the road, but if we do, for some reason, we need to get back on the road as soon as possible with renewed determination to never be misled again.

By the way, I haven’t celebrated Halloween in the last twenty-two years and I never took my kids Trick-or-Treating because I discovered that it’s Satan’s holiday, and it’s not something that God’s people should celebrate. Click on the link below for a great Bible-based video that explains the evils of Halloween. Thanks for reading my blog, and thank you, Tim and Thomas, for that night and the great memories.

Ghosts and Spooky Spirits

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TWO OLD MEN, TWO OLD TRUCKS, AND A GRAVEYARD

I was probably around ten or eleven years old when I did my first odd Job. There was an old man in our neighborhood who wanted me to help him cut some firewood. Actually, he just wanted me to help him pick it up and put it in the back of his truck. He talked to my grandmother about it and she sent me to help. He had an old white Dodge that had seen better days. Well, I climbed up into his truck and we drove a few miles and he turned off the road and just drove off into the woods.

We got out, and he fired up that old chainsaw and started cutting. He cut the trees into small sections about a foot or two long, so they would fit into a heater. I don’t know if he was cutting it to sell, or for himself. That really didn’t matter to me anyway. I didn’t care what he was doing with it. I just wanted to get his truck loaded and get out of those woods. I helped him for what seemed like all day long, but I only remember loading the truck once, so it was probably only for a few hours.

A few years later, my cousin and I were walking by the house of an old man we had known for years. He had owned the store in that community up until a few years earlier. He called us over and asked if we wanted to make some money. We asked him what we would be doing. He said he needed a little dirt put on a few graves at the graveyard. He said, “It won’t take long, and I’ll give you both Ten dollars.” We said we would do it, and he told us to come back early the next morning when it was cool so we could finish before it got hot.

We arrived early the next morning and knocked on his door. He came out and took us to an old step-side pickup truck that had been sitting in that same spot for years. It was filled with trash that had been there just about as long. We had to clean all that mess out first. That probably took us thirty minutes. That truck was so old the start switch was on the floor, and it didn’t want to start. He had to get some gas and raise the hood to prime it, and all sorts of stuff. It took a while, but it finally started.

Then he drove the truck twenty or thirty feet to his old garden spot that was overgrown with Bermuda grass and handed each of us a shovel. The ground was hard and the grass was thick. It took about an hour to fill up that truck with dirt. I thought he wanted a “little” dirt on a “few” graves. We had enough dirt to completely fill up a couple of graves. We threw the shovels and a wheelbarrow on the truck, then we headed to the graveyard. It was a few miles away and he didn’t seem to be in any hurry. When we got there, it had already been about two hours since we got to his house, and it was getting hot.

We worked in that graveyard for two or three hours, filling up the wheelbarrow, pushing it around from grave to grave, and then back to the truck for more dirt. We were hot and sweaty and soooo tired. As we watched the dirt level drop in the truck we grew more and more anxious. We were ready to go. It wouldn’t be long now.

Finally, the truck bed was empty, and we were working with the last wheelbarrow full of dirt. Just as we finished spreading the last shovel full, the old man said, “I think we need some more dirt.” Ughhhhhhhhhhhh!!! That’s what was going on in my mind.

To make a long story short, we spent the whole day working, until it was almost sundown. When we finally got back to his house, we were ready to get our money and get out of there. We thought we might get paid more than Ten dollars each, since, what we thought would only take a few hours actually took all day, but it was right the opposite. The old man held out a ten-dollar bill and said, “Thank you, boys. Here’s your ten dollars. Y’all will have to get it changed at the store.” Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!

All that work, all that heat, all that sweat, and the blisters, and the tired aching body. All, day, long, for five dollars each. When he said he would give us BOTH Ten dollars, he really meant ten dollars for BOTH of us. We said a few mean things about him to each other on the way home, and we both vowed to never work for him again, as long as we lived, and that was one vow we both kept.

Looking back, it really wasn’t that bad of an experience. Since I’ve been an adult, I’ve done harder work for nothing. We did get paid something, and we did get a “Thank You” to go along with it. I learned an important lesson that day and I told my children this on several occasions. To make good decisions, people need all the information available. So when negotiating, always make sure you have all the information available, and always give people all the information you have so they can make good decisions as well. This is very important when making any kind of deal, especially when it involves money and labor. Ask questions until you’re sure you understand what you’re agreeing to, and you won’t be surprised in the end.

The same principle applies to our relationship with God and his holy scriptures. I’ve talked with many Christians over the years who don’t read and study the Bible for themselves. They just get fed once or twice each week by the preacher, and he can only provide a small portion in the few minutes he has each time. These people don’t have all the available information, so it’s harder to make the right decisions for all the problems Satan’s forces throw at us every day.

It’s very important to know what God expects from us. His instructions are in his Holy Book. There are also many promises from God and many encouraging words from his servants to help us every day. We all need to read and study the Bible every day, and of course, we need to stay in constant communication with Jesus, through prayer. Life is tough, and we all have a lot going on, but a close, personal relationship with our Lord Jesus will make it bearable and will fill our hearts with joy.

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THE GRASS IS NOT ALWAYS GREENER ON THE OTHER SIDE

I remember when I was twelve years old, we moved to a new place. It was beautiful, especially after four years of living beside the busy highway. The view of nothing but cars and trucks going back and forth, like rows of ants, got old after a while. Now, we were in a new place. A beautiful place. A place that reminded me of the old west that I had seen on TV. There were fields, and pastures with cows, and horses, creeks and springs, hills and valleys, and a big river where we could fish and swim. Like I said, it was a beautiful place.

I remember immediately wanting to explore as much of my new environment as I possibly could, but my grandmother, being the great parent she was, had some concerns. There were snakes, and other critters to watch out for, and she was worried about us being around a big body of water without adult supervision. She loved us, and she wanted us to have fun but she also wanted us to be safe, so we had time limits on how long we could be gone from the house before we had to come back and let her know we were okay. We didn’t have cell phones back then, and who knows what could happen in a place like that? I was allowed to explore, but she said I needed to check in every hour so she wouldn’t worry so much.

One day, while exploring down by the river, I found an open space in the woods, with a mixture of green grass, and brown weeds, that was totally different from any of the other places I had seen around the river. It wasn’t actually beautiful, like a flower garden. It was very interesting. I was so amazed that God would put that spot there in the middle of the woods where very few people would ever see it. I visited that place time and time again. There was just something about it that kept drawing me back.

I also noticed something else very interesting. Directly across the river, there was a spot without trees that looked quite similar to the spot where I was standing. It appeared to be about the same shape and size as the one on my side of the river. Maybe they were both once part of the same spot before the river ever came through. There was something different about it, though. That grass looked much greener and thicker than the grass on the side where I was. I had to get over there and visit that spot; I just had to.

The desire was so strong that, if I had known how to swim then, I might have jumped in the water, and tried to make it to the other side that day, but I used my common sense and resisted the temptation. I formulated a plan, and the next day I put it into action. I had one hour. I knew there was a bridge somewhere down the river because we had crossed it several times going to my uncle’s house. So, I said goodbye to my sisters and my grandmother and calmly walked toward the field that led to the woods by the river. Then as soon as I was out of sight, I ran as fast as I could for as long as I could. I had to make it to that bridge as soon as possible.

I crossed fence after fence and field after field. I kept thinking it should be just around the next turn, only to be disappointed again and again. I started thinking I would never get there. I finally did make it to the bridge and crossed it. Then I headed back up the river on that side in search of that beautiful oasis in the woods. My hour was pretty much up by the time I reached my destination, so I didn’t get to spend much time there, but that wasn’t the most disappointing part. It wasn’t near as beautiful, nor as green as it had appeared when I saw it from the other side of the river. Now it looked exactly like the spot I had viewed it from on the opposite bank. In fact, the spot I had first visited on the other side looked a lot like the spot where I was now standing did when I was on the other side.

When I think about that experience, an old saying comes to mind; “The Grass Is Always Greener On The Other Side.” Well, I can testify that it’s not! I know that phrase is usually spoken sarcastically, and I wish I could say I learned that lesson that day, but, sadly, I can’t. I was raised going to church, and reading the Bible. I was taught to do right, and to avoid “sinful pleasures,” but I still left home at sixteen, and went to the “other side.” After about three years of “sinful pleasure,” I did finally realize that the grass is NOT always greener on the other side. That’s when I truly realized what a sinner I was, and how much I needed a savior.

It’s sad that we humans don’t often learn from the mistakes of others, or the wisdom of those who have been there, and warn us of things we need to avoid. It’s sad that we have to be in the mud with the pigs to see how much better it is to be clean, but that just seems to be human nature.

So when you look at something and think it looks better than where you are now, don’t be so quick to go after it. Investigate first. Pray and see what God says, and remember, the grass is NOT always greener on the other side.

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© 2015 Teddy Lynn – All Rights Reserved

My books are available in paperback and digital format on Amazon @ 
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