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A talking Tootsie Roll? You bet! I was there, in Norwood, New
Jersey!
You already know that I must have a very strange mind to come up
with memories like this. But the other day I was reading in my
Bible something about sin and was reminded of the verse that says,
". . . be sure that your sin will find you out" (Numbers 32:23). It
was a warning to two tribes of Israel that if they failed to fulfill
a certain promise, their sin would grab them unexpectedly, take them
by surprise and demand atonement. It brought back a memory of
something that happened when I was about ten-years old.
A couple of brothers whom I played with lived in the neighborhood.
One was about eight, and the older one was my age. I had made a bet
with the older brother (I can't remember what about), and the wager
was a Tootsie Roll.
I won the bet, but for some reason, the older brother didn't deliver
the wager. He sent his younger brother with it. I think his name
was Billy.
"Here's the Tootsie Roll my brother owed you," he said.
I looked at it and noticed the paper was a bit crumpled. When I
unwrapped it I saw something strange about it. Tootsie Rolls have
grooves in them so you can break them and eat them piece by piece.
The grooves were almost gone, and the Tootsie Roll looked
suspiciously thin. And worse, both ends were wet. Then I realized
what had happened.
"Billy, you've been sucking on this Tootsie Roll!" The look on his
face told me that it was true.
"I don't want this thing after you've been sucking on it," I said.
And with that, Billy grabbed the Tootsie Roll out of my hand, popped
it into his mouth, and ran off, knowing that he was in big trouble.
I guess he figured that since he already was in trouble, he might as
well go all the way.
Looking back on this today, I'm reminded of something that I've been
guilty of, and I'm sure most of my readers also. We may be too
conscience bound to flagrantly sin. But even the Bible says that
sin can be pleasurable--for a season. Though we have no intention
of carrying out a sin, sometimes the pleasure of a particular sin
makes us roll the idea around in our minds. We're not going to eat
the Tootsie Roll. We just want to taste it without getting into
trouble with it.
How many times have you intended not to get into trouble, but you
have? I like the way the Septuagint (Greek Version of the Old
Testament) reads: "Your sin will seize you and take you by
surprise!" Just like Billy, sometimes our sin speaks up, takes us
by surprise, and we decide that we might as well run off with the
Tootsie Roll.
The next time you're attracted by a NO NO, don't think you can savor
it by letting it roll around in your head. Take it from this old
man--that's no way to lick the sin problem.
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