I had to laugh Sunday night at services when I looked up and saw my son, Dave, sitting on the front pew. What was funny in a warm, and fuzzy way to me was that there he was, getting pretty tall, and sitting on the far right side. Next to him was Matt Mayo, just a hand span shorter. Next to Matt was Liam, d head shorter yet. It was neat to see them all sitting there from tallest to smallest. I remember not long ago my son was begging me to let him go up there and sit with Nathan or Scott or Tim, and it was Dave who was the little one then...

My son sits up there because we have this rule in our family that he MUST sit in front of or equal to wherever I sit. Since I sit 5 rows back that gives him plenty of space, don't you think? I want to know where he is, and there has been a time or two that we have either passed him up a note or passed one to Frank, who used to sit behind him, to thump him awake.

Well, Wednesday night Dave was up there and so was Liam. Liam is so polite, Dave says he always asks nicely if he can sit there. But it wasn't just Liam; Matt and Ben Melanson also came up. That wasn't a bad thing, believe me, but Dave was commenting on the way home that Liam had asked but they did not. He didn't realize Liam was going to bring all his friends . This reminds me of something called "drafting".

Now, if some scummy criminal wanted to sneak into our building at work they wouldn't just come up to the door and knock. We have badge access, and only those who have a badge can get in. However, if a pretty girt with her arms full of boxes was standing by the door when some guy came to work (some guy with a badge) why, he just might do the gentlemanly thing and open the door for this lady in distress. He would most likely not just open the door for himself and close it in her face, now would he? And if she didn't happen to have her badge in a visible place, well, I guess she probably has it in that purse she has dangling on that arm that's busy holding all those boxes. And off she goes as if she knows where she's going. See, a guy would let a pretty girt in, but not a scummy criminal. There's the rub, of course.

Because you know what she's going to do. She's going to go around the comer from the guy that let her in, ditch those boxes, and go directly to the back door where her scummy friends are. She's going to open the door from the inside for them, and voila, they're in! Free to try to steal whatever corporate secrets they are after.

Now, I didn't write this to make fun of Liam or Dave or even Ben and Matt. But it does illustrate a point. We as Christians do many "harmless" things which lead to much worse activities. We tolerate mild cursing in our language, but pretty soon it's much more than mild! We may drink "wine coolers" which taste good and are low in alcohol but after a while we find ourselves drinking real wine "just at a fine meal or special occasion" then "just to add taste to dinner" and then 'to relax". No high school kid ever wants to be a slobbering, failing down drunk bum but it doesn't start that way, does it? What sin comes at you head on with the most disgusting portion first? Even the devil nibbles at you, coaxes you, convinces you a little harmless fun is OK and then it grows and grows. It gets a hold of you from the inside, because you let it in.

I'm glad the boys sit with Dave, he was the small fish once and now he's gone full circle. I remember once Ben Hayes telling me he hated tomatoes but he forced himself to eat a little whenever they showed up at a meal. It wasn't long and he loved the things (yuk!). I know that there are times when we want to start out slow and grow into things, good things. But friends, you can usually see pretty clearly which way the wind is blowing when you do something. Look down the road and ask yourself, is that really where you want to go? Because whatever you start out walking towards is usually where you end up! Think about it!

Randy