Stupider than I

8-25-2024

Stupider than I

I was raised in a family of dirt farmers in Southwestern Idaho in the 50s’ & 60’s. We lived for a time in a converted chicken coup next to a ditch bank in Homedale. I was the oldest of my three brothers and at first I rode my little bicycle to school. Our family all worked the fields harvesting crops during the summer. My dad was a crew boss who managed and worked alongside a number of regular migrant workers. Nobody told us we were poor, but we were family and always had more than enough.

When harvesting potatoes we little guys were out front shaking the vines knocking the dirt clods and potatoes free. As we got bigger we donned the belts of the pickers and drug those burlap bags as we filled them with potatoes. When I was big enough I began steering the spud truck as dad bucked two one hundred pound bags over his head and onto the back of the truck. Mom was the driver who took us 4 boys in tow and headed to Simplot’s scales and shed to be unloaded.

We picked other crops too, strawberries, peaches, apples, corn – whatever crops were ready Mondays through Fridays. On Saturdays we went for a burger, fries and a coke at the Dew Drop Inn and over to the theater to watch a Tarzan movie or those horror movies like The Blob. We also got our 25 cent chocolate-dip cone at the Frosty Palace and sometimes ended up at the park where we climbed all over the Sherman tank. On Sundays we went to Sunday school at the Nazarene church.  

We learned right from wrong and I remember the time I tried stealing a pair of leather gloves I got caught and after being punished at home I was made to go back into the store and apologize to the manager.

Life was much simpler back then.

So what happened? In society today it is common practice for someone to take something just because they can, and if they get caught it’s often not even a slap on the hand. Lying is considered normal behavior and mistreating animals is grounds for immediate punishment, but killing babies by abortion is to be seen as a woman’s right to choose or called health care.

I was never called the brightest bulb in the box but even I know that the 10 Commandments are but guidelines to follow simply because God said so. There is no amount of justification to break even one on purpose.

I know that God loves me and I can humble myself before him and ask forgiveness. I know that because I know God hears me, he has promised to forgive me. That means I simply do an about face, turn from my wicked ways and not repeat the sin I’ve been forgiven of.

It’s mindboggling that people feel they can outsmart God or do something behind his back or in the dark and nobody is the wiser. (What is done in darkness will be brought out to the light).

I’ve had people get offended when I tell them I hate stupid or have no patience for stupid people doing stupid things, I really don’t – but God does!

As hard as it may seem, it is impossible to be too stupid for God.

God loves you just the way he created you and no you are not a mistake. Ask God to forgive you, place all your trust in him and ask God to become your Lord and Savior. Do it today. Do it now. – RTM