DO NOT FORGET by Robert Soto

DO NOT FORGET by Robert Soto

January 5, 2010

Deuteronomy 4:9 "Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them. "

Today my grandson got a new train engine to add to his train set that he got for Christmas. They sure know how to get to your pocketbook. They make so many kinds of trains so that every time my grandson sees a new one, he wants us to buy it. Well, today he got a remote control train. It has a handheld control that makes the train go forward and backwards. It also makes the sound of a train blowing its horn. My grandson decided he wanted to hear the train noise a little more carefully so he carefully picked up the running train and put it next to his ear. He has a beautiful smile that soon turned to panic as he heard the train sound next to his ear. For as he put the train next to his ear, the tires were still moving and he found out very quickly that running train tires and long hair do not mix as his hair got tangled and pulled into the spinning tires. He was yelling as he cried, "Papa, take it off, Papa take it off!"

I finally convinced him to turn off the train but I could not untangle his hair. So I carefully took the scissors, and just clipped a little of his hair. He was still crying and saying, "It hurts, it hurts." I hugged him a little and gave him to my wife to give the motherly comfort he needed. After he stopped crying he snuck over to where I had laid down his little bundle of hair and he said, "Papa, put it back, put it back" as he rubbed it to his head. I tried to explain to him that I could not put it back but that it would grow back. He still cried and kept asking me to put it back. In many ways, that is the way we are with God the Creator. We manage to get into the messes of life and when we are hurt by them we plead before God the Creator to take it off. Then God comes into our lives with His spiritual scissors and cuts the hurt away. He takes it off, but for a time, we will carry the memories of the pain we had to go through. As Moses warned us, "Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them." Do not forget and learn from your mistakes and teach your children lest they forget.

Robert Soto, Lipan Apache and pastor of:

McAllen Grace Brethren Church
The Native American New Life Center
Chief of Chiefs Christian Church