One of my very best friends gave me an unbelievable Christmas gift. When he handed me the package I laughingly said, “Oh, you got me a new gun.” As I tore off the paper expecting something else, what to my wondering eyes did appear but a gun! He gave me a brand new still in the plastic seal Daisy Red Ryder BB gun. I was overwhelmed with a rush of childhood. I had one. I would jump off the school bus, be greeted by my dog and would grab my Red Ryder and head for the woods. As I held it in my hands I realized what a different world we live in now in the 21st century. If we saw a child wandering along fence rows with a gun, even a BB gun, someone would most likely call the police. Sixty years ago it was just a boy thing. I have no idea what happened to that childhood gun. It probably stopped working and got rusty and my mom probably threw it away.
Now I have a problem. The packaging around this new one is really nice. I don’t want to spoil it by cutting it open. So for now I have it by my desk just to look at. I know come spring I am going to want to shoot it. I hope my neighbors don’t see me and call the police. I have a few months to figure out how to get it out of the plastic seal without destroying it.
I am going to guess that you can guess what my friend said to me as I ripped off the paper. You’re right. He said, “Don’t shoot your eye out!” Ah, the words of every mother whose boy had one. I have often wondered if when God gives us new and wonderful gifts if He says, “Don’t shoot your eye out.” Alas, sometimes we do.
Written by Roger Bothwell on January 13, 2011
Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574
Rogerbothwell.org