Roasting Your Game?

The book of Proverbs is an interesting one to me, probably my favorite book in the Bible (to you legalist types who want to shout “THEY ALL SHOULD BE YOUR FAVORITE!” yeah, yeah, shut up). On top of that, the twelfth chapter is my favorite in the book. The times I’ve on-again, off-again read Proverbs, that is, I tried to follow the chapter number for the date of the month plan, I find it full of riddles, advice, and instruction with verses that would be plain as day right off the bat, or a verse that I would read over and over until there was the Aha! moment and I would finally get its meaning, I think.

One in particular I’ll share is Proverbs 12:27 “The lazy man does not roast his game, but the diligent man prizes his possessions” NIV. Most of you might get this right away, but for me it was, So, o.k. I thought, a person of that time roasts his game before it spoils. A lazy man kills his game but won’t roast it and it does spoil. I however, read this several times before I was hit in my mind with everything we own or possess is our game, game that needs to be roasted! In those times it could very well have been a full day of hard work to get that game, why would it be allowed to spoil? Obviously some did allow it to spoil. Wow woman, what a day getting that rabbit. I trudgged around those rocky crags all day and lost three arrows but I finally got one of those suckers! Now pour me an urn of wine. Hey, that went down pretty good, pour me another!………zzzzzzz.

Did you work hard to get that job by studying and/or working your way up by focusing and being diligent? Did that job and income allow you that car, that house, all of your equipment and means to perform the up-keep of them? Did you roast your game by keeping up with the maintenance of your vehicle with oil changes, light repairs before they became major, tire rotations, engine cleaning etc? How about the cracked window, the peeling paint, the invasive weeds, the patchy grass at your home?

Everything you own is a gift from God. You are stewards of your possessions provided by God. From your toothbrush and clothes on your back to your car, home, job, finances, relationships, all of it. Are you asking: You say God gave me these? I worked like a dog for what I have, everything I have is because of my work and success and drive. I made all of this happen. Careful, King Nebuchadnezzar pretty much said the same thing, read Daniel 4:28-33. Bad choice of words, it took him down pretty hard, temporarily, but pretty hard just the same.

On Thursday November 8th 2018, six years ago today, the town of Paradise California and some other surrounding communities were completely wiped out by a wildfire dubbed The Campfire that appears to have been ignited by faulty power lines then driven by fifty mile per hour winds against very steep and very dry terrain. The fire moved so fast, at times burning eighty acres per minute, that’s 4800 acres in one hour, most of the people only had time to get out with the clothes on their back and their cars. Some had to abandon their car and flee on foot due to a complete standstill of traffic. A lot of people didn’t make it, eighty five people in fact. Some of the people that perished had little or no warning, some were trapped in their homes as the garage door would not open due to the power being out, and through either lack of knowledge or out of panic, they weren’t able to get the garage door to open manually. Many were trapped in there cars and burned alive. My brother and his wife, my niece and her husband and children, my aunt and uncle, my wife’s aunt and cousins all lived there and all escaped by the skin of their teeth. My brother, Gary, realized he left behind some important papers concerning our parent’s estate, and he went back to retrieve them. A decision I’m sure he regrets today, he was surrounded by flames and he knew he was a goner. By the grace of God, he managed a way out and caught up with his wife later. They were among tens of thousands of people that fled, over 52,000 people in fact. Over 18,000 homes and buildings destroyed. When it was over, 240 square miles of terrain was consumed by the fire.

My wife’s and mine families were very fortunate, they all ended up at other family member’s homes providing a roof over their heads. Many evacuees ended up in nearby Chico. Many landed in other Northern California towns like Sacramento, Oroville, Redding, Yuba City and even outside California. Many of these people were not only without a home, but also without a school and a job….. and a certain loved one or more. Most of those that made it to Chico were sheltered in centers where there were outbreaks of viruses that spread rapidly due to the cramped and unsanitary living conditions in the evacuee camps. The tension in those camps got very intense. Tent cities sprang up in parking lots and other places where people had no money, supplies, communication, enduring this in thirty degree weather. Housing availability in Chico was near nill. Even those in tents that did have money couldn’t even rent because there were no homes or apartments left that were vacant.

Today marks six years since the burn. Many of these people are still not at a normalcy since then. Friendships have weakened or vanished between those that were displaced, people in areas far from the destructive fire now only remember it in passing conversation, such as where I live in Colorado. Since then there have been other major catastrophes throughout the land, like here in Colorado with its own fires and floods and landslides and displaced people.

One day not long after the fire I roasted some game by blowing the leaves off the roof and out of the gutters and then I moved below to the lawns and walkways to tackle leaves there and wondered how many of those tens of thousands that fled for their lives are wishing they had game to roast? Game to roast with their perished loved ones or a close friend. A neighbor they will never see again due to them passing in the fire or being displaced to another land. A car to drive and maintain, a house to live in and enjoy the upkeep and yard work, a job to return to, a school to send their children to? How many of those people are wishing now they had roasted their game while they had it? A handful I’m sure.

Count your blessings. Roast your game. Do it now.

Pick Up Your jawbone. Slay Your Philistines!