Do you know any Mo?

Sorry, I couldn't help myself, I had to use the Charlton Heston picture, every time I hear "Moses" his face immediately comes to mind.

Ok, now on to more pressing issues.

When was it in your life when you first realized that listening to your parents kept you from being punished? Do you remember what activity it was that you restrained yourself from getting the proverbial "discipline"?

I have many places in my life where I "choose" that obedience was better than a "switch" (not electrical for those who are not learned in tree branches).

My one "rule keeping" incident that came to mind today while I was writing this is...

Wait...

Yep, it is true...

Snowball throwing!

A group of us young and adventurous males used to make a supply of snow balls to hurl at cars that passed through our neighborhood. Drive through our gauntlet, which often including making "snow walls" about 8-10" tall to slow cars down so they would be easier to hit, and you would become our victim. The trick was not to be seen so that if you made the driver became angry there wasn't a target for their fury.

This one evening is as clear in my mind as any story from my childhood.

We began our strategy for the evening, just after school and just before dark, we set up our first flurry (cute huh, flurry, snow, c'mon, you want to groan) of snow projectiles. We didn't have to wait long before cars began to pass our chosen hiding place. The offensive began. One car, two cars, and now the third...

The third car would be life changing one...

The third car was a lady, despite my recollection of her voice and accusation, I don't remember what she looked like. It could have been that I was hiding in the neighbors back yard and dusk was just arriving that made the determination harder.

The assault of her vehicle was a success, every one of us hit her car. Brake lights came on and she began to enter a driveway a few houses up the street, then she backed out. Oh man, we're toast if she catches us. So, the escape plan began. You never ran to your own house, that would give it away and your parents would surely be notified of your delinquent behavior. So as I had done a few times before, I ran about 4 houses up the street, ran to the back door like I lived there and quickly ducked behind the house to remain unseen. I wasn't unseen.

So my next phase was surely to be a success. Jump the fences in each of the back yards until I could get behind the shed my father has on the back of the property where we lived. The lady saw my escape route and proceeded to the front door of my house. OH MAN, WHAT DO I DO NOW!

Jump back over the fences and proceed to walk from the house down the street like I knew that I had no idea what was going on. As I jumped the first fence I heard her say, "I hit the telephone pole..." I stopped to listen to the rest of the story. "...they hit my car with snowballs and it scared me so bad that I hit the telephone pole...". It was a lie. She stopped and turned around, we saw her, but you can bet I wasn't going to come hollering that she lied.

The conversation ended and I heard a familiar voice, it was my father. I responded to the beckoning and came from the back yard to take my lumps. My dad scolded me, without a spanking (I was probably 14 or 15 so he had begin to give less physical correction). His words are garbled even today, but the look on is face was clear. DON'T DO THAT AGAIN! I never did. Rule given, rule observed. Almost.

I never threw snowballs at cars from our yard again, no need in taking risks when there were plenty of places to hurl white fury at passing traffic.

What is your story?

Like mine, you can probably remember how you avoided trouble by altering your behavior, but as we've begin to understand, altered behavior is not what God intended for entrance into eternal reward.

So, do you think that rule keeping, like the 10 Commandments are important? What is your perspective of whether the Bible has clear cut rules that promise eternal life in heaven?

I sit in anticipation on your thoughts, so...

Comment away!