It was in the parking lot of the hamburger hangout that we all went to after the high school football games. You could get a jumbo chili cheesburger half and half at 10 o'clock at night and celebrate your victory or sob through your loss with all your friends packing the small restaurant and overflowing the parking lot.
Now for those of you that did not grow up with a Greek, fast food, greasy spoon every two miles (and many times right beside each other), let me explain the menu. Jumbo is not the size of the sandwich but the fact that it is accompanied by fries and slaw. Chili speaks of the spoon full of homemade hot dog chili that is spread on top of the cheese of the cheesburger. Some folks that I know now don't even know hot dogs have chili or they think it comes from a can. The 'half and half' means you want half french fries and half onion rings for an upcharge. The 10 PM means that if I eat that at this point in my life, I would be up half the night speaking a new proverb: The fool says 'Give me a jumbo half -half', even though he knows in his heart, it is time to go to bed. Now if you haven't understood the value of such a meal, I want to let you know two items that I always have to eat when I go to visit my parents in my hometown: a Skin's hot dog and a jumbo half and half of some sorts (either chili or no chili cheesburger). I will save the Skin's explanation for another day.
Back to the parking lot- this particular night two rival high schools had swarmed the same parking lot (a commonality at this particular restaurant) and a fight had broke out. As you are supposed to do in high school, we ran to see the fight. Normally it is some pushing and shoving and yelling back and forth. However, this night it was a dangerous kind of fight. They were going at it. The police came, the fight stopped, one guy ran and hid and the other stood and waited. The wait-er was told to turn around and allow a handcuffing. He immediately started fighting the policeman. Others pulled up and he struggled on. He struggled until a very large policeman came flying in sideways in his car, jumped out, threw the boy down, handcuffed him, picked him up, and threw him in the car. No playing around. I watched the face of the 19 year old in the back of that police car go from wanting to take on the world to just wanting to say 'sorry' and to go home. That change in his look took about 30 seconds. He was then regretting the last 10 minutes of his life. When I read Ecclesiastes 7.9 this morning, I thought about the look in that guy's face from 26 years ago. The passage states-
Be not quick in your spirit to become angry, for anger lodges in the heart of fools. (www.lifejournal.cc) Even if your anger does not get you arrested, it will still lead you to do some dumb stuff. Surrender your anger to the Lord today! Stay out of the parking lot and enjoy the cheeseburger! And have a great day!
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