As Vinegar to the Teeth

Proverbs 10:26 

(King James Version)

 ²⁶As vinegar to the teeth, and as smoke to the eyes, so is the sluggard to them that send him.

Then there was Peter Nielsen. My wife, Sylvia, has always had a soft spot in her heart for those she deems as less fortunate than herself. Peter was one of those. He never had a job to my knowledge, nor did his wife. They had one child and lived in a rundown apartment on Main Street in a town in Massachusetts. They occasionally went to the same church we did.. Sylvia had them over for a meal at least once. That just opened the door.

Peter would show up at our house just about supper time on many an occasion. Sylvia would invite him to stay, and he never turned her down. The kids instinctively disliked him, and we saw to it that he was never alone with them.

He always needed to “borrow” money. I don’t ever remember his paying any of it back. Naturally, I didn’t loan him more money, reminding him that he owed me some already. But that didn’t stop him from asking.

“Have you seen Star Wars?” he enquired one time. “No!” I responded.

“You absolutely must see it!” he insisted. “It has the whole of The Great Controversy in it.” He was referring to the powerful history of Christianity written by Ellen G. White. I doubted it then, and know it is false now that I’ve seen it.

He did show up one time with a large book, I think it was called The Code Breakers. He explained that he didn’t know when he would have the cash to return to me, so he urged me to accept his book. I did because I knew I would never see the cash again. I still wonder how he got the book—it’s probably a good thing I don’t know.

One Christmas morning he showed up at our house. We had waffles for the special occasion, and he sat right down and dug in, too. It was our practice to open presents after the breakfast dishes were done and put away. So he went right on in and settled down next to the tree. While we were doing the dishes, the kids begged us to get him to leave before we opened presents.

“Peter, this is a very special, personal time for our family. It’s time for you to leave,” I told him firmly. He did, though certainly not graciously. I think he fully expected a present.

One day my pastor came to me. “You know, Peter has been itching to go to California. How’d you like to chip in and help buy him and his family a one-way ticket?”  He owed my pastor money, as he did most of the people in town. I chipped in gladly.

A year or two later we moved to California. We hoped and prayed that Peter wouldn’t discover our new whereabouts. He never has, although Sylvia assures me she has seen him at least twice.

Lord, give us the wisdom to know how to relate to ne’er-do-wells so that we show them your love but don’t encourage them in their indolence.