I am a decorator at heart. The decorating does NOT stop within the four walls of my house, but spreads to the outside yards.

I see a house as a great easel to display your art on.

I have had a black-spray-painted wooden rocker under one of the two Bradford pear trees that grace our front lawn for about three years now. Just this past Saturday this spray paint queen decided that rocker looked very weathered and needed another coat of paint.

As I walked the rocker to the back yard, I noticed it seemed to be covered with what I thought was layers of “mud.” Of course I had to wash it down and get the extraneous “mud” off before spraying on a new coat of paint. As I scraped, I realized the “mud” was the tunnels created by Georgia termites. As I continued to scrape, I noticed the termites had eaten deep gullies into the rocker's two wooden rocker pieces. When I later lifted the newly painted chair, the chair fell apart in some of its connecting “joints.” The termites had infested and started to destroy nothing less than the “integrity” of the rocking chair.

Aside from running immediately to Wal-Mart to buy a Termite Terminate Kit, I got to thinking how this old rocking chair could illustrate what the continued practice of what God calls “sin” can do to a person.

The Scriptures say: “The soul that sinneth, it shall die” (Ez. 18:4, 20), “One sinner destroyeth much good” (Ecc. 9:18).

There are all kinds of examples of this in our so-called secular or post-Christian world. I personally feel that God is not dead and that His universal, absolute truths still apply to us today.

Of course, with all the class action suits against the tobacco companies, the whole of America should know what smoking does to a healthy lung. It's a free country, but make an educated decision when you decide to smoke.

I love that commercial that is presently being shown on TV that shows a girl in a kitchen with a heavy black metal frying pan. The commercial goes beyond the “fried egg in the frying pan” metaphor: “This is what your brain looks like when you take drugs.” The girl proceeds to take the frying pan and wipe out the dishes in the drying rack and cupboards, break the window and smash the light fixture: “This is what happens to your family, your relationships and your life when you take drugs.” Finally! Truth in advertising!

Scripture also says: “Be sure your sin will find you out” (Nu. 32:23), “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper” (Prov. 28:13).

The very definition of “sin” is separation from God. If you believe that God — among many other things — is perfect truth, perfect knowledge, perfect wisdom and perfect goodness, than I certainly do not want for one second to be separated from that perfection. That is why I believe the WWJD bracelets and product lines are so popular. The standard or plumb line for creating that rocking chair or creating a human life is the perfect Son of God, Jesus Christ.

So the next time you have an important decision to make about what road to take or what career to pursue or about taking drugs, remember the termites in the black wooden rocking chair.

The chair could not guard its integrity. You can.

[The Herndons started and pastor His House Community Church currently at 193 Johnson Ave. behind Mask Tire Co. in Fayetteville. For information or prayer requests call 770-719-2365 or email at khern2365@aol.com.

Back to News Home Page | Back to the top of the page