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During my years as a Geography teacher I found from bitter experience that some children would pinch almost anything - coloured pencils, rulers, compasses and scissors - but there was one thing they never took and that was Copydex. The glue they used to stick maps and diagrams into their exercise books was very much disliked because of its pungent, unpleasant smell.
One morning after a class had left I walked around the desks tidying up. I picked up a tub of Copydex by the lid. The lid had not been screwed on properly and the Copydex spilled all over my jacket before hitting the floor and spreading out across the carpet. My only consolation was that there were no children in the room at the time! I removed my jacket and set about wiping the Copydex off the carpet - without much success. By the time I had finished the Copydex had set hard on my jacket. It didn’t peel off! I wondered what to do! So I went to consult Mr Green the Chemistry teacher. Perhaps he knew a solvent to do the trick. He recommended alcohol - he would! But it was totally ineffectual. So I wandered off to consult Mrs Gray - head of textiles. She should know what to do. Mrs Gray recommended cold water - absolutely useless. So there I was with a ruined jacket with no remedy in sight. It was then that I had a brainwave. Perhaps there was some advice on the tub of Copydex itself. And there it was - what to do in the event of Copydex drying on your clothing: It can be loosened by rubbing with a pencil rubber. So I took a pencil rubber and began rubbing. As my form came in for registration I was hard at it - rub, rub, rub. Andrew S**** - a big amiable lad with a bigger mouth - chortled and said: "You wont get that Copydex off in a month of Sundays Mr Reed. Ho! Ho! Ho!" But I kept rubbing - rub, rub, rub - and rubbed all the Copydex out of my jacket. And all because I read the maker’s instructions. We are very concerned about stained clothing. Nasty stains ruin clothes. I wonder if we are as concerned about spoiled, unsatisfactory lives. We can, of course, overlook our faults and failings and explain them away with a, "Well, I’m only human." But other people do not find it so easy to overlook our weaknesses. If we do not pass muster with our fellow men how will we fare before the judgment seat of God. People who are really concerned about the quality of their lives will try all sorts of remedies - self help books, psychiatrists and New Age religion. Christians believe the Bible contains the Maker’s instructions. John tells us in his epistle: The blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. 1John1v7 What does this mean? Jesus offered himself in love on the cross as a sacrifice to God for our sin. It was a token payment which God accepted for the wrong we have done him. This gave Jesus the power to do something about spoiled lives. If we come to him in faith he is able to deal with a great variety of ills - guilt, fear, self-loathing, failure, futility, disappointment, bitterness, self-reproach and despair. Recently I heard a young man give his testimony. He said he had got into a very dark place. But, he did recall something his headmaster had said in a school assembly, "If you are ever in real trouble remember Jesus is there to help you." The young man just called out in desperation: "Jesus, Jesus, JESUS." He said: "At once the darkness lifted." Jesus saves from death, destruction and despair.
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