Regret

Where has time gone? I grew up near a small town, some 30 miles west of Minneapolis.  Thirty-three acres of hobby farm allowed much room for my dog and me to scamper about.  At the back end of this property lay a meandering muddy river filled with prize Bullheads.  Trailing this river toward town, a mile or so, brings us to my good friend.  There's his home just off the river ready to take yet another spring barrage of water and debris.

We couldn't put up with it any longer we had to fix the "dilemmas" of nature and society.  The secret club began.  A bunch of fourth and fifth grade boys were about to right all wrong.  Oaths were stated and dues were collected, nature was our first battle.  Spring had sprung and our beautiful river was laden with all kinds of "stuff" carried from its long journey.  Washing machines, tires, doors, almost anything that water could push was trying to sneak by.

The wary sleuth's wasted no time.  Our pockets filled with due collections, we rallied the troops to the hardware store.  Ropes, cables, hooks and anything else used in river dredging was whisked from the shelves.  Unfortunately, the helpful hardware man had to put most of it back because we could only afford a short piece of cable and a hook.  No worry, much greater wrongs had been righted with much less.  We were off!

Toasters, chairs and car doors were among the debris collected from the river and deposited on the shore.  The idea was fabulous, the procedure was inefficient. Not only did my friends family have to put up with the unsightly garbage on the shore the rest of the year, the garbage would be washed down the river in the next spring flood.  We were eight or nine, what did we know? 

Now that the problems of the environment had been solved we moved on to the humanitarian challenges of the day.  My friend and I would ride our bikes around town looking for things to do and see.  An old man on an old porch would often catch our eye.  This poor man was not very friendly, responsive or sober. He would be our new project.

Back we went to the secrecy of our club room to plan our strategy.  This plan would be flawless.  There was no room for mistakes this time, we were dealing with a person.  The plan was set, we checked out our stash of money and headed for Mayer Grocery.  There was no way this would fail....Twinkies and root beer, no one could resist our friendship.  The conversation was awkward at best, the treats were criticized but our visits were not discouraged.  Soon this old man with no name faded from the porch and I have no recollection of his final chapter.  I'm afraid our follow-up capabilities had not yet matured. 

This partner in care, my good friend, had not yet given his heart to this God I now call mine, however, he was interested.  Around this time of figuring out our responsibility in society our church sponsored a movie, we called it a film of course, which depicted the love and concern of a God who created this conscience my friend and I were developing.  I invited my buddy to come take a look and off we went.  After the movie my friend was moved both by the message and the call to salvation.  He asked me to go up front with him.  I froze, feeling people may think I was a rebellious rascal who fell back on his earlier decision...I didn't go with him....he didn't go either. 

Failures were mounting quickly.  We changed schools and this new place offered a much higher class clientele of which I could not compete...my good friend and I drifted apart.  As time went on through high school and college I tried to resurrect the experience to him through letters and prayers but to no avail.  May I have banished my friend from heaven because I was "chicken" to go up front with him? 

Time is short, change happens quickly.  A soft heart may harden before another chance is available.  Don't put Christ aside for the giving or the taking, it's not worth the regret.