Thursday, April 17, 2008

You want it, you got it! E-100 Day 32 (1 Samuel 8-10)


I think I was in either 5th or 6th grade. One of my best friends, Steve Barnes, was going to be spending the night at my house. I didn't have too many friends spend the night, so it was a big deal when I did have someone over. We were ready to party! Steve got to be a part of our family's Friday Night Ritual: Go to Hollywood Video and rent 3 movies, then to Pizza Hut to pick up the 2 large pepperoni pizza's (for me, my brothers, and Steve) and 1 veggie pizza (for my mom and dad), then head home! Normally we would watch one or two of the movies on Friday night and save the other one for the next day. But tonight was special. All of the movies were ones that me and Steve picked out, and we were determined to watch all of them Friday night! Bear in mind that we would start watching the movies until T.G.I.F. was over on ABC. We had eaten our pizza, drank our soda, and watched the first movie. During that time, I had also been mixing my famous chocolate chip cookie dough from scratch (something my mom taught me how to do at 6 years old). I made a double batch even, so this big mixing bowl was filled! Steve and I brought the big bowl in the living room with us and two spoons! Everyone else was getting ready for bed, and we were allowed to stay up and watch the movies. My mom gave us a warning, however, "Don't eat too much of that dough, you'll get sick to your stomach."

We heard the warning. We understood the warning. But we were determined to eat a ton of cookie dough anyway. We ignored the warning. We paid for it in the morning. We were sick as dogs. We were determined to do what we wanted. Much like Israel in our reading today. They wanted a king. Samuel gave them this horrible warning of what would happen if they had a king, and their response was, "We want a king anyway!"

This totally challenged me to really stop and listen when people that are looking out for me try to give me advice or a warning. Hopefully, the next time we will actually stop, listen, and learn from what others might be trying to save us from. How about you? How are you at taking advice or warning? Are you rolling your eyes right now? Maybe it's time to sit up and listen. It might save you alot of trouble. Have a good one guys!

Ron Foster

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