The Unfair Fair

This week is the week our County Fair is in operation. Our church has a booth where we give away Bibles and stuff and we enjoy doing that. That takes place inside the air conditioned fair hall. But just outside the door, in the cool of the night, exists a beautiful lie. The people are shoulder to shoulder, milling around the midway. They laugh at the hawkers trying to get them to play the silly games. Sometimes we play just for kicks. There are the food wagons that send upon the air an appetizing scent of onions and peppers and sausages being prepared just for you. For those with a sweet tooth the pink and blue cotton candy is being wrapped around paper cone handles. And the rides.... yes ... rides for the wimpy ones like me ... slow and low to the ground. There are the trill rides for the adventurers ... winding high into the night sky out of sight, and swiftly down again amid screams of delight and fear. The neon lights that glide through the darkness attract and excite us. The blinking colored bulbs catch our attention. Young and old, there is no place like the County Fair. All the while we are amusing ourselves to the tune of a liar's flute. We know that the hawkers want an extra dollar from our pocket. We are aware that the food has probably been stored in less than ideal circumstances, and even if it is safe to eat, it is certainly a good way to suffer from indigestion for the next several hours. The cotton candy is just air-spun sugar with not one ounce of nutritional value. The ride that inspire so much awe in the night, look ragged and ill-attended in the daylight. The lights that catch our eyes at night are barely discernable in the sun-lit morning. In addition, we pay out great sums of money to participate in it all. It's an unfair fair. It's a beautiful lie. A lie so attractive that we allow ourselves to believe it without guilt. Truly this life is a carnival of lies, an unfair fair full of painted rust that will leave us broken in the end. We like it this way. I say that because we so willingly follow the lies, and the truth seems buried at times. Jesus is the light of the world that shines through the darkness to expose the truth about what we have believed. So it remains up to us to believe the lies or believe the light. It's not something we do just once ... but we must always keep our guard up. The prince of darkness is tenacious and we can never underestimate his ability to cloud our judgment with his lies. Last thing I remember, I was Running for the door I had to find the passage back To the place I was before 'Relax,'said the night man, We are programmed to receive. You can checkout any time you like, but you can never leave -- The Eagles