So, my sister has a problem.  To some, bird watchers maybe, it wouldn’t be a problem at all.  But to her and her family, a bunch of geese pooping all over her yard is a big problem.  Since she’s got a mini football team of boys and a cheerleading girl as her oldest, none of them want to play in goose poop while they are out back in the yard hard at practice.  

Let me set the record straight.  There are many things about the Canadian Goose that I admire.  They are gentle creatures.  I actually like to watch them.  They soothe the soul while gliding out across a lake.  I love to watch them migrate in the fall.  Faithfull, they mate for life and are committed to the partner they choose to spend the rest of their days with.  When raising their little ones, I always awe in noticing their parental skills.  One parent will lead while the other brings up the rear guard.  They always have the kiddos in the middle where protection, guidance, and safety is strongest.  But. . . as beautiful as Canadian Geese are. . . they are also terribly and relentlessly messy.  With four boys, a girl, and a host of neighborhood kids always over, yes, there is a problem.  Her house is often the hang out of the neighborhood.  

You can’t have goose poop in the neighborhood hangout.

The funny part began when she started asking us for suggestions in a group text.  “How do you get rid of geese in your yard?”  The answers varied.  Protected as a federal bird, you can’t just set a mouse trap or other extermination scheme.  So, what do you do?

She sent her kids out to chase them away.  At first, they succeeded by chasing the geese with brooms and other things they could find.  On a side note, If I was a goose being chased away by a bunch of kids with brooms, I’d probably find a new place to call home.  But not the geese.  They meandered back almost right away.  Determined little buggers, aren’t they?  Her yard must be something special.

Next was more group discussion in which she was open for more ideas.  She lives in a housing development next to a man-made lake, so hunting them was out of the question.  Private hitman?  Catch and relocate?  Somebody suggested a grape Kool-aid type product to spray in the grass.  What about a dart gun lol?  A picture of an Amazon-searched product, Goose Scram, a repellent, popped up in the chat.  An inflatable scary man for the yard?  We had fun suggesting just about everything.  It was hilarious.  Someone even suggested getting an eagle while we all laughed at my sister.  Now that’s thinking outside the box. Sorry if the image disturbs you, (my wife is warning me to be sensitive), I don't know where someone found it.

Turns out she picked the most boring of all the ideas.  She went out to Walmart and bought a bunch of party decorations.  Not sure why.  We about fell over laughing when we saw what she picked to scare the geese away.  She set up the yard for a birthday extravaganza.  Streamers.  All sorts of “spooky” things designed to move in the wind.  What she didn’t anticipate, is that the determined Mr. and Mrs. Goose would bring the whole family right back to enjoy the party!

Frustrated beyond belief and now becoming a vendetta, she got her husband involved.  He tried a more pointed approach.  Instead of buying something from the glitter and streamer isle, he found and purchased two rubber wolves, both hunched and ready to kill some geese.  They brought them home and strategically positioned them in the most goose-frightening way.

I admit they look ravenous.

Then my sister and her family all left for vacation.

Now if it weren’t for the fact that all the kids tend to hang out at her house it may have gone unnoticed.  But while they were all away relaxing at a vacation pool, the phone began to blow up.  They missed the first few calls while splashing in the water.  Finally, my brother-in-law picked up the phone and was notified of all the crazy that had transpired.

Wolves are terribly scary.  Maybe not to geese, but to neighborhood hangout kids.  One had seen one of the angry wolves hunched behind a tree.  The eyes.  The growl.  The snarl of a ravenous wolf.  A coyote?  Who knows?  There’s something scary in that yard.  I gotta run and tell my mom, one thought. And that is exactly what happened.

Before long, not only were the police called but also the game commission.  They both arrived at the scene.  Without anybody home, they soon took control of the situation, protecting the neighborhood from the “wild beast” roaming through the housing development.  Neighbors stood in eyewitness.  Shots were fired.  The wolf never flinched.  A neighbor was surprised that the wolf wasn’t moving.  More shots were fired.  Confusion.  Hesitation.  Bewilderment.

Rubber wolves.

It was one of those moments like in the movies.  One in which all the chaos and craze is occurring while you aren’t even home.  Everything short of the National Guard was armed and ready to take out the neighborhood threat.  A threat that was unknowingly staged.  All the fear.  All the concern.  All the worry about the safety of the children.  A threat that wasn’t a threat at all.  A pair of simple rubber wolves.  A threat only staged to handle something as ridiculous as goose poop.

There are times in life that we tend to do the exact same thing.  We get all worked up at perceived threats that aren’t really threats at all.

That sparks a question.  

If we shouldn't fear rubber wolves, what should we really be afraid of?

I searched for the word beware in the Bible.

Jesus had a good answer.

Matthew 16:5-12- When the disciples reached the other side, they had forgotten to bring any bread. Jesus said to them, “Watch and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” And they began discussing it among themselves, saying, “We brought no bread.” But Jesus, aware of this, said, “O you of little faith, why are you discussing among yourselves the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive? Do you not remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many baskets you gathered? Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many baskets you gathered? How is it that you fail to understand that I did not speak about bread? Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” Then they understood that he did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Of all the things that Jesus could actually warn us to beware of, that is, to protect ourselves against, it was to stay far away from the hypocrisy of what the Pharisees and Sadducees had fallen into.  Wow.  Really?  You mean that we should be more concerned with the trap of hypocrisy than the demons that war around us?  We should be more concerned about protecting ourselves against the mindset that says one thing and the heart that lives far from it?  To live the double life of what the Pharisees lived was more dangerous and damaging than anything the demons of hell could do?  

Think about it. 

The danger of hypocrisy is that is destroys what one cannot see.  To hurt the physical body is something that can be healed.  In God’s grand design, the body is made to repair itself.  Hurts can be healed.  Scars might remain, but most minor cuts and abrasions repair pretty rapidly on their own. 

Not so with the heart and life of others.

An old DC Talk line comes to my mind from the Jesus Freak album.  It explains it best.  It is a quote by Brennan Manning, one I find to be accurate beyond what I could express.  “The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians: who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, walk out the door, and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.”

Simply put, the world doesn’t need to beware of the evil demons or even the devil himself; at least that isn’t the real danger.  As scary as they seem, Jesus Himself told us that they are not the main threat.  In fact, we aren’t even supposed to fear anything that can kill this mortal body.  That’s not where the heart and soul of God is anyway.  Matthew 10:28- “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.”  

Instead, Jesus warns us of hypocrisy.

As the neighborhood found out, my sister’s wolves weren’t really as scary as they looked.

When she got home from vacation, she noticed that there was actually bird poop on them.  It was hilarious.  The birds weren’t afraid of them at all, apparently, as some songbird seemed it fitting to perch on that hunched wolf to take a moment and relieve itself.  The birds knew it was nothing to be afraid of.  The geese came back.  They are still pooping in my sister’s yard despite the enemy-level-10 threat that the neighborhood kids thought was lurking in the backyard.

The real danger is that we, as people who claim to know God, actually live it out in a world that is desperately needing the Savior.

That, in Jesus’ eyes, is the most significant thing to be afraid of.

I challenge you today to examine your own heart and soul.  I’m sitting here myself, wondering if my life is truly living the name and calling that I present to others.  Does my life amplify the mission and purpose I am presenting?  Or does my life have rooms inside it where hypocrisy is walled off and hidden.  No doubt, hypocrisy can be smelled a mile away, and these things can be picked up by others.  It is the “leaven” that Jesus warns us about, that will ruin the whole loaf. 

I challenge you to examine your life today.  Are we living the life Christ has called us to?  Do we really fear the right things?  Are we so wrapped up about being concerned with the fake wolf in the backyard when the real danger might reside inside our own heart?

There is nothing more concerning than the real danger Jesus warns us of.

Let the birds poop on the rubber wolves.

Make sure we heed the real warning.  

Let’s live in truth and pick up the call-to-action Jesus provides.  Let’s ditch any hint of the leaven of hypocrisy. 

Instead, let’s join hands, have a pure heart, and go laugh at the rubber wolves in search of bullet holes.

 

By Chuck Carr