Asking For Volunteers Can Result In A Disaster
Ed, my neighbor next door, has lots to say to me privately because we live next door to each other, but he makes it a steadfast rule to avoid me in public. Ed and Ruby were seated at OSAC Concert Series when we arrived last Saturday night. We were far enough away that Ed could completely ignore me. Almost at the end of his performance, Norman Foote asked for a couple of men volunteers. He had done so well with audience participation until that point. The first volunteer from the audience was a bright, confident four-year-old little girl who sang the ABC song like a professional child-star. The second time a lady volunteer sang wonderfully, “You Are My Sunshine.† The performer struck gold again the third time with an older girl volunteer who became a puppet that did movements to his song. If only he had left well enough alone.
In the second half the concert I was a bit distracted trying to discretely eat the bowl of party mix on our table. Then out of the blue performer Foote asked for men volunteers and picked a guy at back. Unfortunately, he also asked me to come up as a volunteer. I should have refused. We men volunteers had to put a flower petal affair on our heads and were to dance as flowers. The other fellow was a good dancer and performer. I am not a good dancer, never have been, and the whole idea of dancing like a flower was pretty hard for my rusty old mind to assimilate. I know my attempts were pretty lame, and the performer had a look in his eyes like there is always one dud volunteer in every show.
In the parking lot after the show, Ed said to me, “You looked like a beached Walrus flapping its flippers on stage. For every-bodies’ sake never go up as a volunteer.†On stage, I knew that nothing could save me when the performer wanted me to dance. Norman Foote displayed a lot of talent and ability as a singer/songwriter, comedian and puppeteer. I had no saving talent or ability for dancing. Thankfully, not being a dancer isn’t life threatening.
Most folks know that a life jacket will save them if their boat does capsize. It isn’t the only thing that they can use to save themselves. Hanging on to any floating object in the water may mean the difference between life and death. Recently, there have been two interesting cases of Styrofoam coolers being used by two fishermen to keep them afloat until they could be rescued after their boats sank. Solano Salazar of Columbia clung to his cooler for two days until being rescued. Mexican fisherman, Raymundo Rodriguez survived a week after his boat sunk. He had climbed into a giant Styrofoam cooler that he had on his ship for his catch.
When it comes to your sins, many things will not save you. If you want to save your soul from your sins, there is only one life preserver, and that is Jesus Christ. He was born into this world, and offered himself up as our ransom. We need to cling fast to Christ until we are safe in heaven.
