Wile E. Coyote

The Christian life is not a constant high. I have my moments of deep discouragement. I have to go to God in prayer with tears in my eyes, and say, 'O God, forgive me,' or 'Help me.'  Billy Graham

A Christian life is an unending engagement on the battlefield.  Watchman Nee

I see the strangest things when I am driving to work.  I don’t know if it is the early hour or what but this morning I was in Plano on a three lane road and a coyote ran across the road in front of my car. This started me thinking about the old Looney Toons carton Wile E. Coyote. 

My dog is named after the infamous Wile E Coyote cartoon.  When he was a puppy my brother wanted to put ACME stickers on his kennel because he was always into stuff and not in a good way.  This morning he woke me up at 2:00am barking.   As his cartoon counterpart always was hungry I figured that was his problem but I didn’t feed him because then he would wake me up at 2:00am every morning thereafter.   

When I saw the coyote it started me thinking about the premise behind the cartoon.  The coyote was always hungry and the roadrunner was always fast.  The coyote would think up all kinds of ways to catch the roadrunner.  He would order stuff from the Acme Corporation that was supposed to give him the advantage over the roadrunner.  He had dehydrated boulders, jet powered roller skates and earthquake pills to name a few. 

The writer of the series, Chuck Jones, in his book “Chuck Amuck: The Life and Times of an Animated Cartoonist” claimed that the artists behind the Road Runner and Wile E. cartoons used simple but strict rules:

1.    Road Runner cannot harm the Coyote except by going “beep,beep.”

2.    Only the Coyote’s own ineptitude or the failure of Acme products can harm him except occasionally trains or trucks.

3.    Coyote could stop anytime—if he were not a fanatic. ("A fanatic is one who redoubles his effort when he has forgotten his aim." — George Santayana.)

4.    Road Runner must stay on the road—for no other reason than that he’s a roadrunner. 

5.    Whenever possible make gravity the Coyote’s greatest enemy.

6.    Coyote always more humiliated than harmed by his failures

7.    The audience’s sympathy must remain with the Coyote.

When I thought of the rules listed above, it made me think of our lives as Christians and our sin.  If you put it in the Christian perspective we are not to harm another.  Most of the time it is our own ineptitude that causes us to fail in our Christian life, it is not always someone else’s fault.  We have the freedom to stop sinning at any time but sometimes we become fanatics (i.e. we forget our aim in life).  Then there is the road.  We have a path that we should be on but we get off the road.  I like to think of Satan as gravity.  He is continually pulling us down when God is trying to lift us up.  When we are humiliated by our failures, we are not harmed, most often it just helps us get our God perspective back.  If we apply the audience’s sympathy to our Christian life, that very sympathy should be used with others who have sinned.

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, thank you for helping me to see You in everything.  You provide the tools I need to live the Christian life.  Please give me the wisdom to use them to the best of my ability.  You are my Redeemer Whom I love beyond measure.  
 
Scripture:  I hate the double-minded, but I love Your law.  You are my hiding place and my shield; I hope in Your word.  Depart from me, you evildoers, for I will keep the commandments of my God!  Uphold me according to Your word, that I may live; and do not let me be ashamed of my hope.  Hold me up, and I shall be safe, and I shall observe Your statutes continually.  You reject all those who stray from Your statutes, for their deceit is falsehood.  You put away all the wicked of the earth like dross; therefore I love Your testimonies.  My flesh trembles for fear of You, and I am afraid of Your judgments.  Psalm 119:114-120