Bad Choices, Unicorn Horns, Bruises, Atari & Forgiveness

Are you wrinkled with burden? Come to church for a faith-lift.

“Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another.” Hebrews 10:25

I sometimes miss the glory days of Atari. When video games were new enough to be exciting but not as exciting as playing baseball in the field across the street. If you ever played Atari games, you remember the tall, slender joystick and the red buttons. It was the first time you were supposed to play games with both hands. What you may not know is that the joystick itself was covered with a soft, molded rubber piece. If you took the rubber piece off, then it seemed easier to move around in a game.

On a side note, the fourinch tall rubber piece could be collapsed and make a suction that would stick to things. Most notably, foreheads.

I spent many an hour sitting in front of the television playing Atari with a fourinch rubber unicorn horn stuck on my head. Oh yea. You laugh now. What you may also not know is that when you put anything on your skin that has suction (I’m an expert in a great many ways to make a fool out of myself) then it causes the blood to come to the surface of the skin making a bruise.

So one Saturday night I had stayed up late playing Atari. For some reason the unicorn horn kept falling off and I had to keep putting it back on. Over and over again. And not just on my forehead. For a while I was an Egyptian Pharaoh when I stuck it to my chin. I also played Frankenstein and stuck it to my neck. In all, I stuck the tall rubber piece to my face well over 100 times.

The next morning, I got up to go to church. When I went to the bathroom, I recoiled in terror. I thought I had the plague!

All over my face were small little, perfectly round ½ inch bruises.

It was like someone put polka dots all over my face. Except these were all black and brown.

And the thing about bruises is they take a long time to go away. Especially on your face.

So I had to go to school with these round little bruises all over my face. I had to explain to my friends, teacher and even in an embarrassing incident, my principal, that if you took the rubber piece off an Atari joystick, it would stick to your face like a unicorn horn.

I even brought it to school to show other people.

And just like that, I single-handedly started the great face bruise plague of the ’80s.

For some reason, no one believed me. So they had to try it for themselves. And having a unicorn horn was so funny that the next person had to try it. And the next and well, yes. I was patient zero. I made a lot of new friends that day and a lot of people mad at me the next day when the bruises appeared. But in the end, I learned that unicorn horns really are funny and that you can convince people to do silly things if it’s funny enough.

We all make some bad choices in life. A lot of them are fun when we make them but the consequences are there, lurking just under the skin waiting to shine forth for the world to see. Isn’t it great that we have a God that forgives us? Bad choices and all. Let us pray. Our great God. We know sometimes in life we make the wrong decisions. It’s just who we are. We pray Lord that you will forgive us for the wrong choices we make and guide us to always choose your love. In Christ’s name we pray. Amen.

The blessings of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.