Coming and Going

The wicked man flees though no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion. Proverbs 28:1

Getting a haircut was a ritual growing up. Three boys in the family, dad would haul us down to Oscar's where we each dreaded our turn under his cigar breath and not so nimble fingers. Hair was kept short and it seemed my ears were continually knicked by his wayward shears. Things changed. From my freshman through senior year in H.S. I had my hair cut exactly once, up to my shoulders. I had long hair. I liked my hair long. Never missed my time in Oscar's chair.

Adult living and careers slipped in and hair needed to fit the "social norms." I learned to dress for work; whether that was when I galvanized steel wearing denim, waited tables in a tux, was a bank teller in a tie, a school teacher in permanent press or my early years of ministry in a suit everyday: I kept my hair short. Sometime in the '90's I decided to skip most trips to the barber. Even with friends more than willing to cut my hair - at my office, in their homes, in our home... I fell back into the habit of letting it grow, not really long, but longer than most... one or two cuts a year. Hey, it's my hair.

When I was a kid, my parents and adults in general hassled me about my hair. It was a pain in the neck. As an adult, my kids and their friends hassle me about my hair. It's still a pain in the neck. Today I was out to get a sandwich for lunch- a young man from church, early twenties, saw me and the first words out of his mouth were: "You need a haircut!" Oscar's revenge!

Proverbs teaches that the wicked run from that which does not pursue them... >I'm not going to let all these kids get me down!< But the righteous are as bold as a lion. >Don't lions have long manes? And no one messes with them.

Here's the problem: short hair is so much easier. But if I get it cut all these people will start saying "Finally!" Just like when I was a kid... people even wrote songs about it: "Almost cut my hair..." Think I'm going to take the path of the righteous- bold, without fear and get a hair cut... so much easier than getting stopped right before lunch. Some kids never grow up.

Eric