Toxic

1. Toxic

The experiments of our youth can be great ignition points for huge life lessons. Case in point, between the ages of six and nine, I made friends with a neighbor’s Grandson, James, who would come to live with his Grandparents during his summer vacations. My exploits with James taught me some hard learned lessons.
First, I learned that before you play with little green, plastic, army men in a make shift foxhole filled with muddy water, you should probably go home and put on old clothes.
I learned that even though I knew the way to Miller Pond and the swimming pool, that at six years old you shouldn’t take the mile and a half walk to said pond and swimming pool without your parents knowledge and permission…(this also helped me to learn that my Mother would indeed spank me with a belt if she felt it necessary.)
I learned that even though you can roll up a piece of brown paper bag to give the appearance of a cigar, that lighting one end, blowing out the flame, and then inhaling the residual smoke through the other end will result in a very unpleasant experience…(please take my word on this one.)
Finally I learned that it’s pretty much impossible to make a hand grenade out of your friend’s Grandfather’s aluminum snuff cans by combining dish washing crystals, (an Alkaline) and toilet bowl cleaner, (hydrochloric acid), and then quickly slamming the snuff can lid closed, trapping in the pressure of the newly created chlorine gas (I was much older before I learned all of the names of the chemicals.)
This is also the first time I witnessed a genuine chemical reaction that emitted a TOXIC odor.
Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary defines the word Toxic as “containing, or being, poisonous material, especially when capable of causing death or serious debilitation.”
Now, this is not a Chemistry lesson and I would not even be close to qualified to give one, but bear with me for just a second. You would think that something toxic and dangerous would be easy to avoid, but many times, unlike my little snuff can grenade experiment, you can’t see or smell toxic gas, it’s just there. Such is the case with carbon monoxide. Many people find themselves feeling sick, or even more tragically, are found dead after being exposed to high concentrations of carbon monoxide without their knowledge.
At this point you may be wondering, “What does this have to do with me, my family, or my church?” Here ya go. I believe God has shown me that many people and/or churches all over the world have similar situations they are dealing with. They find themselves either trying to locate, rebuild from, or even spiritually dying or dead because of toxic issues that they possibly had not realized were there.
In other cases, people may have been aware of the existence of some kind of problem, but the problem was underestimated to the point that no one took action to deal with it before it was too late.
In the case of the individual, almost everyone has the intent and desire to be successful. A happy and blessed life and family is our goal. And yet, broken homes, dysfunctional families, and absent fathers have become the norm of our society.
In the case of churches, I would challenge that there has never been a church established in which it was the design and desire of its leadership or congregants for the church to fail. Yet still every year record numbers of churches are closing their doors.
Formerly anointed pulpits are removed to make way for sales displays or office equipment as these modern day tabernacles are converted from houses of worship to places of business. This would not be bad at all if it was because these buildings were being repurposed due to their becoming too small to house a great revival and evangelistic growth. Sadly however, most often it’s because these once vibrant and growing congregations have dwindled both spiritually and numerically to the point that keeping the doors open is determined either to be a lost cause or fiscally impossible.
Seeing as how most every family was started with hope and excitement, and almost every Church ever built was intended for success and built by people who truly believed they were doing God’s will, then we must ask: “What happened?”