On Fire

As a culmination to a unit on fruits and vegetables, I assigned the groups to find a recipe for salsa that we would prepare in class.  As part of the instructions, I warned them of the perils of skin to sensitive skin contact after working with hot peppers.  Most of the recipes called for using jalapeno peppers.  A couple of groups asked if I would buy ghost peppers for them.  Ghost peppers are extremely hot.  I told the groups that I would not buy them, but if they wanted to bring them in, they could use them.  Before going into the lab, I again explained that working with peppers can bring pain and encouraged the students to use plastic gloves.  Having five sons, I know a little bit about teenage boys.  One thing that I know is that they don’t always heed advice. Another thing that I know is that they like to push the envelope.  The day after the lab, I had a conversation with one young man’s father.  He told me that on the evening before, his son had used the bathroom.  After returning to where his dad was, he began to experience a burning sensation which caused some squirming.  After a few minutes, his dad asked him what was going on.  He replied that he used the restroom and despite washing his hands several times, the skin to sensitive skin contact was causing some discomfort.  Ok, that’s not really how he said it, but you get the idea.  The next day in class another student relayed a similar story, which culminated in the young man saying, “I felt like my crotch was on fire.”  I reminded him that I had encouraged him to wear gloves, but he thought that he knew better.  The consequences were quite painful.

God has given us clear directions through His Word for how to avoid needless pain.  He knows what will happen if we choose to sin.  He wants to spare us that pain.  Unfortunately, we think we know better and we do things that go against what He has said.  Then the pain starts…..maybe not immediately, but it does start and we start squirming.  Sometimes it takes some reflection to figure out what is causing the pain and sometimes we can pinpoint the cause immediately. Hopefully, we recognize that the best choice is to follow God’s commands and not think that we know better. 

One of the young men wrote on my board, “Mrs. Holm is always right.”  We need to write on our lives, “God is always right”.