ROACHES & FLIES

Ecclesiastes 10:1-41 As dead flies give perfume a bad smell, so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor. 2 The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of the fool to the left. 3 Even as he walks along the road, the fool lacks sense and shows everyone how stupid he is. 4 If a ruler's anger rises against you, do not leave your post; calmness can lay great errors to rest.

Ma Lihua had a problem with a capital "C": Cockroaches.

For 6 weeks Ma had single handedly set up over 200,000 dominoes with a goal of breaking the world-record 281,581 dominoes set up and toppled by German Klaus Friedrich in 1984.

Each day, Lihua worked for 13 hours to set up some 10,000 tiles. Each night the roaches would come out and topple tens of thousands. The dominologist would cry as she surveyed the daily damage. In response to the insect infestation, organizers of the record-breaking effort laid hundreds of traps for the creatures, striving to rid the Singapore facility of them.

In the end, the dominoes toppled to the tune of 303,000 on August 18, 2003. Ma had set a new world record and she had persevered the destructive ways of some reckless roaches. Her next goal? To team up and break the group domino toppling record which stands at 3.8 million tiles. Let's hope there are no nocturnal pests at the venue her team selects!

King Solomon recognized what bugs can do to a good thing. In Ecclesiastes 10:1 he wrote: "As dead flies give perfume a bad smell, so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor." His point? You can possess a long line of impressive accomplishments made possible by wise choices, but if you choose to make a foolish decision the whole thing topples. For "a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor" (v.1).

The wise king continues this thought in verse 2: "The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of the fool is to the left." It's interesting that the Latin word sinister means "left." But it has the additional negative meaning--bad and evil--as its English counterpart.

What "bugs" are threatening to topple your testimony for Jesus? Are you entertaining thoughts of turning "left," when you know "right"is God's way? Bring your small sins and unwise choices to God today, or you may soon be faced with a big spiritual collapse. --Tom Felten

DESTINATION POINTS

* What unwise choices have I been entertaining?
* How does turning to the "left" affect my relationship with God?

LINKS
New World Record For Domino Topple http://cnn.com/2003/WORLD/asiapcf/southeast/08/18/singapore.dominoes.ap/

bottom line: Foolish choices lead to dishonor and demise.

soul journey