We live in a world of coverup. Politically, the folks in all levels of government always try to leave themselves a way to excercise “plausible deniability”. This simply means that they want a way to avoid taking responsibility for their statements and actions. We seldom get to know the “real” person with whom we deal. We see the outer appearance, often very different from the inner person.

For nearly 10 years, I was a volunteer fireman. We didn’t get paid for fighting fires. We just loved fighting fires. A few of our cynical fellow citizens even asked us if we somehow started a fire now and then just so we could get in some practice. As if!!!

Some of us were able to attend firefighting school located on the campus of Texas A & M, home of the Aggies. The training was rigorous and thorough. I signed up for a ladder course. At first, I didn’t think it was going to help. One of the things we had to do was put a ladder across a street at the 6th story level, then crawl both ways. The tallest building we had in our town was about a story and a half. We did have some fairly tall prairie grass, but ladders didn’t really seem appropriate! (g)

One of the ladder classes involved the care and feeding of ladders. Our ladders were all made out of wood. The first rule we learned was this: NEVER paint the ladders. Naturally, we wanted to know “why”. Our instructor explained that by covering the wooden ladders with paint, we covered up any flaws in the wood. These fine, tiny early cracks and splits were readily spotted through a clear finish. When hidden under paint, the flaws would expand and grow until they could lead to structural failure. This kind of failure could easily cause serious injury or death.

What do WE cover up? How do we attempt to cover up? What are the potential dangers to us and others if we fail to deal with the cracks and flaws in our character? I appreciate hearing from you. As you can see by the following responses to last week’s piece on praying over food in public, there are lots of varying views. What’s your view on this week’s offering, “Coverup”?  Use the “Leave a Reply” box below!

 RESPONSES TO: “Judge Judy, Judy, Judy . . .” 

– Our Pastor suggested that when we go out in public to restaurants, that before we start to pray with our family, friends, etc, we tell the waiter, waitress, that “We are about to pray the blessing, Is there anything that we could pray about for you while we are praying? We’d be so happy to add your request to our prayers,” or “Would you like to take a moment to pray with us?” If they choose for us not to pray for anything, we then proceed to pray for that person, that whatever their needs might be, that the Lord would meet them.

– I just read your e-mail and I am so glad that you went over and talked to those people. I think, as believers, we should stand up and encourage people when we see them thanking the Lord for whatever.

– I hate to sound pessimistic, but they would probably try to stop us from praying (saying our blessing) before we eat in public as they have tried to stop prayer in the schools (and have succeeded), before sports events and so on. It is exceedingly exciting to see a young family thank God before their meal and especially in public. I had began to think that this was a dying thing. Although my parents weren’t devout church goers, we were taught to say grace before each meal.

– It is awesome to see someone stop to pray. Yes, it probably would be better if done while the food is in the cooks control. (g) We always pray before we eat, no matter where that is. We were with a good-sized group one day at a Mexican restaurant and the waitress started to say something. She realized we were in prayer, so she just stopped, bowed her head and prayed with us. Then, she apologized for the interruption. I assured her we were fine and that she was very kind. Just thought that you would like to know that some waitresses are considerate as people are in prayer.

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