Bad Company!

     A farmer was having trouble with a flock of crows devouring the corn in his corn field so he loaded his shotgun and crawled quietly into the pasture determined to get a shot at them.  The farmer had a very sociable parrot who made friends with everybody.  Seeing the flock of crows on a fence, the parrot flew over and joined them just to be sociable.  The farmer spotted the crows but didn’t see his parrot.  He took careful aim and POW! 
     The farmer ran over to pick up the fallen crows and, lo-and-behold, there lay his parrot.  He was badly ruffled with a broken wing, but was still alive.  Tenderly, the farmer carried the parrot home where his children met him.  Seeing their pet badly injured, they tearfully quizzed, “Papa, what happened?”  Before the farmer could get a word out, the parrot muttered, “Bad Company! Bad Company!” 
     Many young people have made the mistake of hanging with the wrong persons.  And because of it, their lives have never been the same.  Their path took a zig instead of a zag and they were forever branded.  It is an accurate statement: we are known by the company we keep. 
     Our lives are shaped and our destinies formed by the company we hang with.  My dad use to tell me, “Son, birds of a feather flock together.”  As a young boy I didn’t fully understand, but now that I am older I know exactly what he was saying.  This applies even to our leaders: “If a ruler hearkens to lies, all his servants are wicked” (Proverbs 29:12). 
The story has been told of a good young man who had a bright future.  His name was Sam.  He was athletic, helped his parents around the house, and enjoyed school.  People often discussed how vast his future was.  But Sam had a weakness: he couldn’t say no to anybody especially his peers.  He just wanted to be accepted by all so he would go along with the guys to be sociable. 
     One night while hanging with his buds, one of the guys mentioned old Miss Harris.  She lived just down the street by herself, went to bed early, and was hard of hearing.  It would be easy to sneak into her house while she was asleep, take some of her valuables, and she would never know it.  The guys agreed, but Sam felt sick in his stomach about the whole thing.  Because he didn’t want to be a wimp, he quietly went along. Sam knew it wasn’t right, but his pride got in the way. 
     That night when they snuck into her house something went terribly wrong.  Miss Harris was not in bed but was watching T.V.  When she saw the boys she screamed, so to quiet her, one of the guys hit her with a glass vase.  In the hysteria another boy slammed her to the floor kicking her.  The guys ransacked her house and left with some valuables, but what they didn’t know: Miss Harris was dead.  After an investigation, the boys were caught and indicted for robbery and murder.  Sam did not inflict her death, but because he was with bad company his future was forever destroyed.  For more info you can visit us at www.JoyChristianMinistries.com.

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