Don't touch my ears! (II TIm 4:3)

It all started back in elementary school. I will never forget it.................. My bus drivers name was Twinkie. He was a big man who when things got rowdy would beat a broom stick against the bus wall to get everyone to quiet down. I was afraid of Twinkie, so every time I rode the bus, I was quiet and minded my own business. Not everyone shared my fear for Twinkie, some of the students actually would try to provoke him to anger so he would pull out the stick and slam it against the wall. One Friday afternoon (they were always the craziest) the crowd in the back was in rare form. They weren't just being loud, they were being dangerous. In a few minutes time frame they had opened up the back emergency door, popped the emergency hatch in the roof, threw various things out of the windows, made obscene gestures to other vehicles, and last but not least lit a girls hair on fire........
Before I continue on in the story I want to briefly describe the importance of my location on the bus. I was a middle of the bus kind of kid. I never sat up front because I was fearful of being labeled a nerd or a kiss up. I wasn't a back seat kind of kid because deep down I was terrified of the recklessness of the kids in the back........let me just say I was a closet front seat rider, attempting to portray myself as a rebel, but not a Axel Rose rebel, maybe more like Bon Jovi rebel. I was a middle busser.
Now back to the story. I had had enough. It was so loud, so crazy, kids were screaming, the emergency alarm was going off, Twinkie was screaming, beating on the wall with his broom handle and the air was filled with the stench of burnt hair. Then it happened. I snapped....... the want to be Bon Jovi rebel inside quickly hid in the depths of me and out of me came a mixture of my parents, my Martymom (my mom's mom), and the preachers I had heard on TBN while hanging out with Martymom. With all the righteousness and power I could muster up, I stood up, turned around and boldly proclaimed to those in the back to "KNOCK IT OFF!!!!!" To my amazement the bus went silent and for a moment I felt like the "king of the world”, (alright that is a little too far and way to "Titanic") ...........maybe the most accurate description is I felt like somebody who mattered. For a moment I was no longer a middle of the bus kind of kid, I wasn't even a kid at all. I stood up for what was right, I took control of a chaotic situation; I acted in authority and strength. I was no longer a bus rider at all, I owned the bus and everyone on it........ For a moment. I would love to say this is a blog about standing up for what is right, but it isn't. You see this has little to do with my stand at all. It has to do with what the Axel Rose rebels did after I sat back down and Twinkie got back on the road. The silence was broken by the rebels whispering and scheming about their recourse. They had been embarrassed by a middle of the busser and that just didn't ever happen. I tried to listen carefully while starring straight ahead as to not give away the fact that my power had faded the moment I sat down and I was back to being terrified of the plans of their deviant minds. As I listened carefully, ears attempting to pick up every little word, I experienced the most awkward and disgusting moment in my life (at least up to that point). Somebody behind me stuck their saliva dripping finger directly into my left ear canal. This experience is called a "wet willy" and totally freaked me out. I felt violated....it was just plain wrong. I mean, if I wiped it, I get some other kids spit on my hands, if I used my shirt his saliva is all over my shirt, if I leave it as is, then I have another kids fluids in my ear. I mean, a wet willy is a no win, catch 22, lose/lose situation. That was just the first of many. As the days and weeks progressed, I got numerous wet willies and those progressed to getting thumped on my ears. As their antagonizing progressed so did the row of seat I chose to sit in, until one day I found myself in the front row. Yeah, I admit it; somehow, someway this situation shaped the kind of person I became, I shook my middle busser image and became a front of the bus kind of kid. I began conversing with Twinkie, growing to be friends with him and then the years to come befriended my new bus driver Mrs. Debbie. This situation literally in some way shaped me. I know it is weird but it did.

So why tell you this story.....and what in the world does it have to do with II Tim 4:3. Not much other than it was the first story that popped into my mind when I thought about ears.

You see our ears are really sensitive. It's not just saliva dripping fingers that bother us, or finger flipping thumps that set our ears a ringing. Our ears are bothered most by hearing things we don't like. We don't agree with. Maybe it is an opinion that differs from ours, or maybe it is a message that is spoken from the Bible that makes us uncomfortable and convicted. You see there are times in life that what we need to hear isn't what we want to hear. It is at moments like that when you and I have a decision to make,; Do we continue to listen and the apply the teaching even though our lives will have to change, or do we stop listening and only focus on things we want to hear. Do we get up and move and listen to something else that is more pleasing to our ears. Paul warns Timothy to beware of the time when what God's word says will be rejected by men and it's place the people will speak words that tickle the ear; words that have no life changing power but are fun to listen to and easy to accept. The time that Paul was warning about is still alive and at work today. Our world, our generation is so accepting of words and ideas that tickle yet extremely offended by the message of the truth. Ears are a sensitive thing, it is with them that we are influenced and we are shaped. What is it that you are hearing in your life? What is it that you are listening to?

Read II Tim 3:14-4:1-5

Take sometime to journal things you listen to (music, teachings, TV, friends) and how the message they express compares to the scriptures.