Monday, January 7, 2013

Come Out – I Can See You!


Swimming in the creek
courtesy photobucket.com
 
My folks had a cabin in the Stanislaus Forest, and each summer we would vacation there for at least a week and sometimes for the long week ends.  It was secluded and only one neighbor, an old retired army man.

The first few visits there was NO cabin, and we slept under a makeshift tent and cooked at an outside fireplace my dad had created with rocks and a large piece of metal.  The metal would get hot from the fire underneath, and we would enjoy fried potatoes, bacon and eggs for breakfast and a pot of beans for dinner. 

Each time we visited, my parents would bring lumber and other materials and they began to build a small cabin.  Later my uncle helped them to build a larger house with more sleeping and eating quarters.  By then we had electricity and could cook inside.

My teen age cousins would come with us and one adventurous day, when we were about fourteen years old, my girl cousin and I put on our bathing suits and walked down a trail about half a mile away where the creek widened into a place where we could swim and enjoy the sunshine.

Large boulders went up the side of the hill where trees and bushes gave us a sense of privacy, and we felt safe to sun ourselves on huge flat rocks at the waters edge.

We decided to be brave and remove our suits so we could tan without tan lines.  Then we would jump into the water as little water nymphs, and laugh at our nakedness.  Although I didn’t believe it, for a joke I suggested to my cousin that perhaps we were being watched.  

We would duck down in the water and yell, “We can see you, and you can’t hide from us.  You had better come out now.”  Getting bolder we declared, “We are not kidding, you better show yourself now.”

Suddenly to our surprise, a young man stood up at the top of the hill where he had been hiding in the bushes - - - - and we screamed at the top of our lungs. 

Apparently my cousin had mentioned at the fire station that we had a cabin near Brown’s place and the young teen boy whose parents worked there, decided to visit us.  Mother had told him where we were swimming, but she did not know the context of our swim.

The boy declared up and down that he hadn’t seen anything and had just gotten there, but we didn’t believe him.  We made him turn his back while our suits were hastily put back on.  That ended our swim session for that day.

There are times in live when we think no one is watching and we try to get away with things that do not suit our best behaviour.  The sad thing is that others are looking at us as examples. 

God himself never takes his eyes off us, so we are caught in a catch two situation when we veer off the path of righteousness.  If we stumble, we can hopefully quickly get up and get back where we should be with God.  Don’t allow yourself to be caught naked before him. 
 
Get that robe of righteousness back on and leave it on.

This post is Shared with Laura at The Wellspring

Also shared at: Tell Me a Story
http://letmetelluastory.blogspot.com/     

 

9 comments:

Brandee Shafer said...

What a great story. Great moral, too.

Aritha V. said...

Thank you! Scary story. But you've linked a good lesson to it.

Floyd said...

Why doesn't this story surprise me! If we could only be more mindful that God is always there watching. Hard to smile at the majority of this creation. Innocence and youth I think He gives a pass to...

Brenda said...

Isn't it lovely how God speaks through situations in our everyday lives. Yes, pretense achieves nothing because to God 'as a man thinks, so he is'. If we get tempted to do what we know is not right in God's eyes it is better to recognize that it starts with a thought and try to take that thought captive and bring it into obedience to Christ.

caryjo said...

Both the physical reality and the spiritual reality are very true. A good story to help us focus in the right direction in body/soul/spirit.

Sylvia R said...

Yep, great story! And I love your application: "Get that robe of righteousness back on and leave it on"! :)

Laura said...

Why, Hazel, I never would have guessed such orneriness from you! :) it is a great story and teaches a good lesson. Still smiling here.

joy said...

Nice to read your stories and I agree with you. Sometimes we do fooish things and believe that no one is watching. But God does. It is a reminder to always be careful no matter what we do, coz God is watching.
Happy New Year:)

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