Intel had informed us that an attack was imminent. The informant? Most likely the lead perpetrator. The reason? To get us fired up and ready. The target? The homecoming bonfire, Loop, Texas, 1972.
Yes, there was trouble brewing, but we had been warned. One of our local fans had been informed that an attack had been planned, and the target was our bonfire. It was homecoming week, and we had been gathering wood for the past few days. While picking up a load of wood at Douglas Floyds place, Douglas told us that he was sure that the bonfire would be set afire prematurely by the rival Wellman Wildcat’s. According to him, the attack would be coming Wednesday night, the night before the homecoming pep rally and bonfire.
Knowing something had to be done to save day, we formulated a plan to save the bonfire. The main problem was getting permission to activate the plan. We, the defenders of the fire, were a group of juniors. The first obstacle was getting permission from Mr. MacDonald, the school Superintendent. The second obstacle was getting permission from our parents. Our head coach Dwain Young was also consulted, because the plan called for us to be out all night if necessary, as we had no idea what time the attack would occur. Coach Young’s main concern was for one player, Craig Ancinec. The rest of were more or less expendable. Craig was one of those guys who could do anything. He was an athlete, he was smart, and he was the heartthrob of all the girls. He was also one of the better football players on the team. Troy Williams was new to us. He had just moved in from another town, and as yet hadn’t really proven to Coach whether or not he was really needed on the team. Derris Shults was a lineman who would be missed, but he wasn’t the type of player that Coach would lose sleep over. Then there was Mike Young and me.
As a teenager I was always glad there was Mike Young, and me. Mike was a little guy too, and if you are a little guy you can really take comfort in knowing that you have a friend who understands. This was our first year to play football since we were in junior high. Remember this was a long, long time ago, back before “junior high” became un-PC, so for those of you, who might have never heard the term, think middle school. Loop was a class B School at the time, and we played eight-man football. After counting the students in high school that year using the yearbook as a guide, I have determined that we had fifty-five students in the four high school grade levels. There were no freshman, or JV teams, if you played football you played on the varsity. The reason our junior year was our first year to play high school ball was because Mr. Mac came to Mike and me before three-a-days that August before our freshman year, and asked us to consider not playing because of our size. Mike was a little larger then me, but I know that at the physical that was taken before the start of football that year, I weighted eighty-two pounds. By the time of our junior Mike and I had both taken a growth spurt and I weighted in at one hundred twenty-five pounds. So, Coach Young needed the bodies, but Mike and I were still kinda like collateral damage if something happened to us while saving the bonfire.
Folks please forgive me if there were others involved in the group. I am relying on a picture in the yearbook to know who was there. Anyway, everyone agreed to let us set up surveillance just in case the attack was to materialize. We were hold up in the boy’s locker room, which was located just East of the bonfire woodpile. We had armed ourselves with weapons, I seem to remember a tree branch being one of them, I think there was a baseball bat, and I remember I was toting a tire tool. Sure enough, the perp showed up. The thing is we were surprised because we didn’t know this guy. We were expecting a few guys from Wellman to show up simply because we had been told that Wellman was out to burn our bonfire. Never the less, we charged with a shout, all of us brandishing our chosen weapon. This poor guy had just gotten out of his car, and was setting three or four Molotov cocktails out on the ground when he jumped at the noise, and then saw his life flash before him, as a gang of wild eyed homecoming saviors came running toward him.
That was that. The threat had been thwarted. He gave up without a fight. I ran to Mr. Mac’s house to tell him we had been successful, and asked, “ now what do we do?” Well, Mr. Mac was expecting us to catch a bunch of boys we knew from Wellman, so he just planned to go over, have a word with them, and tell them to get themselves back home. But, when he was told this guy said he was from Midland the picture changed.
I am about to get to the reason I am relaying this story. As I look back at some of the decisions I’ve made I have to ask why, why did I decide to do that? And I still wonder why this guy decided to make the choice he made. Mr. Mac came over to the wood pile and asked this nineteen or twenty year old what he was doing there, and why he had glass bottles half full of gasoline with a rag protruding out of each one, and he says “I don’t know.” WHAT?!!! You don’t know why you have three or four incendiary devices set out on the ground?
Mr. Mac: “Are you here to burn the bonfire?”
Young man with mush for brains: “No.”
“Are you here to burn the school?”
“No, sir.”
“Look, if you will just tell me you are here to burn the bonfire I’ll let you go, but if you don’t tell me that I have no choice but to assume that you are here to burn the school, and I will have to call the Sheriff. Now, are you here to burn the burn the bonfire?”
“No, sir, I’m not here to burn the bonfire.”
Mr. Mac had given him his choice, and he chose jail over getting into his car and driving back to Midland. Why? Did he think Mr. Mac would let us have a piece of him before he drove away? Did we really look so mean that a criminal record was better than being let go? Burning a school is a big offense, what was he thinking? We’ll never know the answer. But, I know I have made choices in my life that have made just about as much sense.
This, would be, bonfire burner made a choice that gave him a record that will stay with him the rest of his life. He could have made a different choice and the record would not have been written. That’s the way it is with mankind. The record is written and it stays with you. However, that’s not the way it is with God.
I John 1:5-10 (NIV) 5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all [b] sin.8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.
Isn’t that great. If we walk with Christ in the light we are cleansed and purified. If we confess that we sin we are forgiven. But, if we deny we have sin we are liars and there is no light in us.
This poor guy denied his intentions, and found himself in jail, when all he had to do was confess, and remain clean.
Dear Father, help me to confess my wrongdoing, and my bad intentions. Help me to walk in the light, knowing that I am still going to make mistakes, but I am not going to have to pay the price. Please put a hedge around me today, and give me the strength to deny the lie, to face up to my shortcomings, and live, as you would have me live.
Till next time,
Grump