One Brick Shy

I remember one of my finer moments when I was a youth. I was out on a date and we went to McDonald’s to eat. Obviously it was not a first date or it would probably have been the last after showing her what a big spender I was. But regardless of how long you have been dating, guys always want to impress their date by not doing something really lame. Unfortunately for me, this was not one of those nights. As we stood at the counter to order our food, I decided that I wanted to get a milkshake with my meal. The young girl behind the counter, probably younger than we were since McDonald’s has the famous from the cradle to the grave hiring policy, looked tired as she gave us that now unusual McDonald’s smile and asked if she could help us. I placed our order and at the end asked for a milkshake. The young girl then asked me, “What kind of shake?” I looked at her with a confused look on my face and smartly replied, “Milk!” Not to be intimidated, the girl asked very slowly as if speaking to a complete idiot, “But what flavor do you want?”

Have you ever been there? At those moments it seems as if everyone around you is thinking the same thing, “He is one brick shy a full load.” Sometimes our embarrassing moments are the result of miscommunication, misunderstanding or just a plain mistake. We can only hope that others around us did not notice. But, unfortunately, people rarely miss our mistakes.

The Bible is full of characters that seemed “one brick shy” at some time or another. Just think about it, starting with Adam and Eve. They had everything, except for clothes. God gave them only one command, “Do not eat of the tree of knowledge or you will surely die.” Next in line would be Noah. Building a boat in the middle of nowhere. No water for miles. It had never even rained, yet he told people that God was going to send water down from the sky.

The entire nation of Israel would seem to have had some problem thinking at times. Not only were they still following a ball of fire and a cloud that all knew were the symbols of God’s presence, but they had seen miracle after miracle performed and yet they still rebelled against God. You would think the earthquake at the foot of the mount Sinai would have cured their hearts of any complaints against God. Then there is King David who had hundreds of wives and didn’t know what to do. So one day he stands on his roof and lusts after a married woman. Not only does he try to conceal this relationship, but also has her husband killed. This is the same David who had already written songs about how God knows the desires of our hearts.

You would think that by the time of Christ people would start to use their heads a little more, but just look at Peter. How many times do you think Jesus had to tell Peter to shut his mouth? But God knew what He was doing by choosing Peter as a disciple. After all, Peter used his big mouth in a big way once he was willing to allow God to have control of his tongue. But we don’t want to forget the other disciples. Even John the Beloved chose to sleep when the Son of God had just warned them to stay awake and pray.

But before we come down too hard on these poor Biblical characters, we need to think about our own lives. How often have we failed to follow Christ or even chose not to listen to Him? And we have the Bible to show us what He has done in the past and what He will do in the future. Could it be said that those who refuse to tell others about Christ are “one brick shy” or perhaps simply rebellious? Just as a boy strives to impress his date, shouldn’t we always strive to impress God? Our faithfulness and our praise honor Him.