You must not bow down to their gods or worship them. You must not live the way those people live. You must destroy their idols, breaking into pieces the stone pillars they use in worship. Exodus 23:24
Tom hurried as he fumbled to find the key for the door. The game started in 15 minutes and he had little time to make his lunch before kickoff.
Finally he found the key and raced into the kitchen, where he turned the oven to 450, took the wrapper off his pepperoni pizza and put it into the oven. He ran upstairs and striped off his tie and suit and threw it on the chair next to his bed. He grabbed his Cougar jersey, pulled it over his head, ran back down to start his pizza.
Tom was a big fan of the Nashville, Cougars. He had t-shirts, a jersey, flag, and an autographed ball. He couldn’t afford season tickets, but he tried to go to one game a year.
The phone rang as Tom took the pizza out of the oven, “Grrrrr! Who could that be?” he yelled.
He picked up the receiver and pushed talk. “Hey, this is Tom.”
“Hi, Tom. This is Ed Martin, the youth pastor at church. How are you doing?”
“OK.” Tom gritted his teeth.
“You left before I got a chance to talk to you this morning, and I wanted to ask you something about this afternoon,” said Pastor Ed. “We were planning to take the junior high youth ice skating this afternoon. Sarah was supposed to drive the bus, but she’s at home sick in bed. I was wondering if you could help us out?”
Tom didn‘t hesitate. “Sorry, there is no way I could drive the bus today. I’m too busy.”
The pastor sighed. “OK … it’s just I’m having trouble finding someone. You and Sarah are the only ones that have a class B driver’s license.”
“Well, I am sorry,” Tom said with irritation. “I just can’t! But I’d be glad to drive the bus any other time. Just not today.”
“I’ll keep you in mind,” Ed said. “See you next Sunday.”
After hanging up the phone, Tom started to cut his pizza across three times so he would have eight pieces. He took a paper plate and the pizza pan out to the living room and set both on the coffee table. Then he went back to the kitchen, poured a glass of root beer and then hurried went back to the living room couch.
With a piece of pizza on his plate, Tom grabbed the remote and slouched back. With a click, he turned on the TV. A picture appeared for a moment, then shhhhhhhhh. There was a graphic that said No Signal. The cable was out.
“Oh great!” Tom said, throwing the remote down on the table.
He thought for second and realized that maybe he could hook up the old rabbit ears and get the game on free television. Tom went into the closet and found the antenna, then disconnected the cable and hooked up the rabbit ears. With that done, he sat back down on the couch, picked up a piece of pizza, grabbed the remote and turned on the TV.
There was no picture. No sound. Nothing.
“Rats!”
“Maybe the remote’s dead.”
Tom got up and tried to turn on the TV at the set, but it still wouldn’t work. He sat back down on the couch, shaking his head in disbelief.
His next thought was the radio; he knew that wouldn’t fail him.
Tom turned it on and went back to the couch.
The radio blared: “Perry caught the pass. He’s on the forty, now thirty.…”
Beep beep beep…
“We interrupt this program for a special report. There has been a shooting at the Burhaven Shopping Mall…”
The coverage of the shooting was still going ten minutes later. Tom gave up and turned off the radio. There was no way he could listen to the game.
He sat in silence for about five minutes until, all of a sudden, he heard church bells. He had lived in that house for 17 years and had never heard church bells before. Tom rushed to the door, thinking he may be able figure out where the sound was coming from, but he couldn’t.
Closing the door, Tom sat back down on the couch and put his feet up on the coffee table. The bells made him think of church that morning and the sermon he’d heard about Exodus 32. About the golden calf the Israelites had made, and how we build idols in our own lives. He stared at his autographed ball for about 30 seconds, then he looked down at the jersey he was wearing. All of a sudden, Tom realized he had his own golden calf–it was his love of sports.
Tom started to cry as he prayed. “Oh Lord, please forgive me for putting football first. I am so…..sorry. Please forgive me; please forgive me.”
Brushing the tears away, he got up, picked up the phone and punched in the numbers. It rang ten times before someone answered.
“Hello, this is Pastor Ed.”
Tom tried to get his composure. “Pastor Ed, it’s Tom,”
“Hey, Tom.”
“My afternoon plans have changed. Do you still need a driver?”
“Yes we do,” Pastor Ed answered quickly.
“I’ll be there as soon as possible,” Tom said as he reached for his keys.
He could hear the smile over the phone as Ed said, “That would be great. I was just about to tell the kids the trip was canceled. Praise the Lord, I won‘t have to disappoint them.”
Tom put his jacket on while he was still talking. “I’m on my way.”
“I can’t wait until you get here,” the youth pastor said.
Tom hung up the phone, threw it down on the couch, and ran out the door. In the distance he could hear the sound of church bells.
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