Sand Mountain Sermonette 88
Hebrews 10:39; Hebrews 12:1-2
Policemen Afoot!
“But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul (Hebrews 10:39)…Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us (“The Hall of Faith”-Hebrews 11), let us also lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us (unbelief), and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author (pioneer-trail blazer) and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:1-2).
In the early 1960’s, my dad, Skeeter, served on Albertville City Police Department with one of his best friends, Scarborough. Late one night, when they were patrolling the streets and alleys of Albertville working the graveyard shift, where, in 1963, it was as quiet as the fictional TV town of Mayberry, they were so bored they decided to do something about it.
They were wide awake and so they parked their patrol car next to the Albertville Clinic, walked over to a nearby traffic light, got ready and when the light turned green, they set themselves to run a foot race-drag race style- to the next traffic light, one block away which was on the corner where the Police Department sat across from the Rexall Drug Store near downtown. Well, that’s just what they did! When the light turned green, they set off apparently at lightning speed and daddy said he had Scarborough by a nose as they were just a few feet from the finish line when all-of-a-sudden dad’s feet caused him to flip and roll over and over on the asphalt! Scarborough was able to get dad to the Clinic where a nurse apparently called Doctor Lavender who lived nearby and he decided to keep dad overnight.
And here’s where the story turns the corner. I rode with mother the next morning to pick up my dad and when we pulled into the back of the clinic and he walked out, to a little kid like me, I distinctly remember my father looked like Boris Karloff’s portrayal of Universal’s Mummy monster: He was all bandaged up face, hands, and arms! And then, mother proceeded to let him have it! And after dad went back to work a few days later, the Chief of Police called these two policemen afoot into his office and said, “I can’t leave two grown policemen alone without them going off and doing something like this!” But mom and the police chief got over it, and Dad and Scarborough went back to driving normally rather than foot-racing on their beat.
Christian, we are called to run courageously the race of life; a race that often entails twists and turns that could trip us and lead us down paths of destruction were it not for the One true Son of God who walked to the cross to die for our sins so that we could be made right with God now and forever! And did you notice in our Scripture passage how we are to run? We run, like the faithful before us, by laying down the cumbersome wrappings of unbelief as we keep our spiritual eyes on Jesus “the perfecter of faith,” and with Jesus in our sights, the Bible promises we will one day cross the finish line! “Victory in Jesus!”
Pastor Louie