The Scary Month

My favorite time of the year has finally arrived – OCTOBER. The scary month. When I was a kid my dad always set up a haunted grave yard in our front yard. We spent Halloween night scaring kids. Most Halloween nights were hysterical. My sister laid in the grave yard like a zombie and when she moved kids would nearly lose control – crying, screaming, running …. Those were the days.
One year, we put a box at the street next to the trash cans so no one suspected it had someone inside it. Wes Rush hid in the box and he jumped out to scare a group walking down the street …… not so scary when he leaned over too much … toppling the box onto the street.
Needless to say, we still carry on the tradition …. Last year, Ashlyn dressed in black and sat next to the graveyard behind a bush. All she had to do was say hello and little kids ran away scared to death – HYSTERICAL!

I look forward to Halloween every year.

Thinking of Halloween makes me wonder what scares you.

Otters, heights, floods, Jerry Springer, turning on the TV and NOT finding an episode of Law and Order, faith, spiders, your boss, snakes, church, death ….. Many things scare us; some legitimately and others because of our misconceptions. I like scary movies but I wouldn’t want to live in one.

Fear can be a powerful force causing intense reactions. God is not the author of fear so how we respond in fearful situations is the key. Maybe the best way to counter fear is to be prepared with scripture. Hide His Word in your heart and you’ll be ready when fear lurks through your grave yard.

Another Halloween tradition started in high school – stealing, I mean collecting pumpkins. Late Halloween night we drove around taking pumpkins from people’s houses. Hey, it wasn’t stealing we were helping them throw them away! We loaded the bed of a truck every year with 30-40 pumpkins. I remember one time I snuck through a front yard creeping toward the porch with my prize in sight. A large jack o lantern with a bright flame flickering through the crooked smile and jagged eyes. After the snatch, I took off across the yard as fast as I could run. Something trailed … it was right behind me. Fearful I was being chased I looked back. It was an extension cord …. Looking at the pumpkin I realized it was ceramic and the flame was electric. I kept running with a 100 ft extension cord flopping on the ground. I’ve always wondered what those people thought when all the sudden their extension cord spontaneously tightened, jumped from the outlet shooting across the room … Come to think of it … I still have that cord.

Happy October, Happy Halloween … start early and scare someone tomorrow.