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joshcoverett@dayouthguy.com
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Excerpt from Ch. 3
"The Day God Gave Us Control"
When I was a teenager I lost my mind. I know this now because I can look
back and see the absence of it. I really didn't know it was missing at the
time. My brother, my friend, and I had devised a diabolical plan. We
researched the possibilities, checked to see if we had all of the equipment necessary
to pull it off, and appointed a specific time to execute this brainless
wonder.
After several seconds of careful consideration, we decided that our plan was
flawless. We had one large bucket, enough water balloons to get ourselves in
serious trouble, and a water balloon launcher. Here is how the plan was
supposed to work. We had set our sites on a park about nine blocks away from
my house. In this park was a fenced-in basketball court. Every night there
would be several teenagers playing basketball in this court. After dark, we
decided it would be a lot of fun to hide along the edge of the park and shoot
water balloons into the fenced-in court. The people being shot at would not
be able to see us, because we would be far enough away and hiding. The plan
was to go into the park, shoot water balloons at unsuspecting victims, and go
home with the satisfaction that we had pulled it off successfully. That was
the plan. That is not how it worked.
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When we got to the park we saw that there were several well-built,
muscular, senior high boys playing ball. The three of us were freshmen. It
did not matter who we were shooting at or how in shape they were. They were
never going to see us anyway. We found our place of hiding and began to
unload the equipment. We took out the water balloon launcher, which was
basically a glorified rubber band with a pouch attached to it. My brother
held one end of the rubber band and I held the other. My friend was the one
that loaded the balloon into the pouch located in the center of the rubber
band. He pulled that pouch back as far as he could, and then let it go. That
balloon took off through the air on its mission. A few seconds later we saw
it hit the court. The game had suddenly stopped and the players began to look
around. They could not figure out where that balloon had come from. This was
my life and I was driving. I had the wheel to the car.
These guys could not catch me if they could not see me. We were the ones in
charge of this game. They had to play by our rules. We were in control. After
a few minutes had passed, they decided to continue on with the game. So did
we. We loaded another balloon and let it go. Again, the game was put on hold.
They were confused. We still had the wheel. Once we let the third balloon go,
my car started giving me trouble. These guys decided to form a posse and find
out who was the one behind these attacks.
Immediately, my brother and my friend climbed up a tree. This tree just
happened to be big enough for two people. They were the two, and they were
not moving. There was no vacancy for me. As I was looking for a place to
hide, those senior high guys took the wheel of my car. I was no longer the
one driving. My control was gone. I was suddenly just in it for the ride and
I had no idea where they were taking me. Then they clarified it for me. They
yelled, "There he is! Let's kill him!" Now, I knew where I was
going. I was about to see Jesus face to face and I wasn't sure how I was
going to explain the situation to Him when I got there. At that moment my
brother spoke a very profound word of wisdom. "Run!" That word
relayed a clear message to me. I looked at the posse and decided that I would
yield to his advice.
I began to run. The posse began to run faster. I thought that was a good idea,
so I did the same. I was now in a fight to get the wheel back. That is when I
saw my opportunity....
....Our free will has been given to us by an Almighty God who desires that
we use it for Him. He will allow us to try to control our own lives if we want
to. But just like my situation with the water balloons, we will find out how
little control we actually have. I truly believed I had the upper hand in
that situation. I soon found out that the whole event was out of my control.
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