Column: Pastor’s Pen

Take haircuts for example; seeing that this was going to be an issue back in April, I invested in some shiny Remington clippers and, settling down in front of the mirror, asked my wife Lynne to cut my flowing locks.

I thought it would be straightforward. At the hairdressers I have a number four on top and a number two at the back and sides, so choosing the appropriate, very helpfully numbered clippers, I issued Lynne with her orders.

She started on the back and, almost immediately, I noticed a look of absolute horror transform her face. Apparently her first foray into my hair had left a strip down the middle of my head that was almost totally bald!

At this point we decided that it might be a good idea to read the instruction, and sheepishly I realized that the numbers on the blade didn’t refer to the numbers that the hairdresser used, but rather the cutting lengths. Lynne had almost scalped my head to two millimeters.

Having worked that out, we carried on, but the damage had been done and for a couple of weeks the back of my head looked decidedly silly.

Reflecting on this incident, I wonder if putting your hair in somebody else’s hands is rather like becoming a Christian.

We have to give up control of our lives, admit that someone else knows better and will make a better job of running our lives than we would.

Eventually we have to ask them to come into our lives as our Lord and Saviour.

For me that happened when I was 14 and ever since then God has always been with me and I’ve sought to let him be in control, sometimes more successfully than others.

However, the second thing I learnt from my haircut is that for the best results we should follow the maker’s instructions.

Just as there were instructions with my clippers which, if I had read them, would have stopped me going wrong, God has given us a wonderful book, the Bible, whose letters spell Best Instructions Before Leaving Earth.

Why do we so often leave this book on our bookshelves rather than reading it daily and letting it shape our lives?

I have to say that, having learnt my lesson, my second haircut at my wife’s hands went faultlessly. Isn’t hindsight a wonderful thing!

This week’s Pastor’s Pen is written by Rev Andy Heber