SPIRITUAL COCKROACHES

I recall vividly my first encounter with an honest-to-goodness live cockroach. I was visiting my sister in Florida and opened a cupboard door to see this monstrous, ugly critter crawl behind a stack of dishes. My scream of terror brought Ruth running to the kitchen in a mad dash. When I could talk enough to describe what I had seen, she nonchalantly said, "Oh, I see it's time to spray again." It was a routine household chore they performed every ninety days, she said!

My second encounter with the filthy little pests was in the courtroom one day when the judge asked the defendant why he continually refused to pay his rent. "I'll tell you why," he adamantly stated. "Because of this," he angrily exclaimed, slamming a jar of cockroaches on the counter. "When the landlord gets rid them, I'll pay my rent."

"Get those things out of here," demanded the judge in no uncertain terms. We knew the prisoner well from his many appearances in court, and I often wondered if he turned the obnoxious critters loose inside the city hall as he left! I wouldn't have put it past him!

But spiritual cockroaches? Cockroaches can cause more trouble and alarm than anything else in the average household. In fact, I read that cockroaches are the second most common invaders of the average household next to dust! Scary, isn't it?

To me cockroaches -- spiritual or insects -- are digusting, troublesome and vile, always sticking their noses where they're neither needed nor wanted. They nose around and pry until they know everyone's business. Nor do they hesitate to spread around what they know. Not only that, whatever tidbit they're passing along increases with each telling, just as cockroaches, left unchecked, continue to increase. Do I need elaborate any further on spiritual cockroaches? I'm sure you get my drift! They're disgusting, filthy critters to say the least! The less I have to do with them, the better.

In other words, don't gossip -- oops, I meant to say, don't become a member of the cockroach clan!

Preacher's Kid