Don't Feed The Pirates

One reality of the human condition is our propensity towards symbols, icons and images and even idols that we can inadvertently collect along life's journey. I have discovered that there is a fine line between art and idolatry. The following story is serious and funny at the same time. It reveals how easily I personally can allow things to accumulate in my home that piece by piece created an idolatrous composition that ultimately saddened the heart of God. Yes, God has a heart. King David was a man who was known as a "man after God's own heart". This means that God has made Himself vulnerable to the actions, intentions, and expressions of humans. In other-words God allows Himself to be hurt and grieved by our decisions. This truth was displayed with great detail and emotion when Jesus the God/Man allowed Himself to be crucified. The photo is of the display hutch in it's current redeemed state. Blessings! Brian Nickens

It was Christmas Eve 2008. Doreen was in the kitchen preparing Christmas dinner and I was on the couch scratching and clawing in pain. One week prior I had gotten out of bed to go to the restroom and collapsed on the floor. It felt as though someone had stuck a knife in my back and I couldn't get it out. It was a kidney stone. I had never had one before and the pain was intense. Because of the holiday, the only two urologists in town were closed. The emergency room doctor gave me pain killers to hold me over but they made me sick and nauseous so I quit taking them and just laid on the couch for two weeks in excruciating pain waiting for a doctor to see me.

There I was in total misery as Doreen tried her best to salvage Christmas. I couldn't take the pain anymore and I pulled a blanket over my head and started crying. Yup, I cried and it felt good. Then I prayed "dear Lord help me, I can't take it anymore". That's when I heard THE VOICE. That voice that comes from the God place in my mind. I know His voice. Jesus said, "My sheep hear my voice". And in that moment on the couch, He said, "I hate that"... I thought to myself, what? "You hate what?". He said, "That!"... I looked out from under my blanket and there towering above me was my custom-built Curio Cabinet.

I personally designed this cabinet (the one in the photo) and had it built by a rustic furniture builder in Guadalajara Mexico. When it arrived in Redding I stained and painted it myself. I love this hutch. But it was what it became that displeased the Lord.

You see, while I was on business in Guadalajara I had picked up a hand-carved wooden skull head. I attached the skull to the inside of the hutch and it created a very gothic rock and roll look. During this same time period, the movie Pirates Of The Carribean was king of Hollywood. I always enjoyed that ride at Disneyland. Pirate junk was everywhere. In every store and every shop, there it was. Pirate this and Pirate that. Pirate birthday parties, pirate costumes, pirate toys, pirate paintings..... you get the picture.

The design of the hutch along with the attached skeleton head made it a natural for Pirate decor. One thing led to another and within about a years time the hutch had become a shrine of Pirate decor. I had a toy model of the Black Pearl on top of it. Inside the hutch was filled with skulls and swords and daggers and buccaneers. I had unwittingly created a massive shrine to rebellion, death, and revenge. All under the innocent guise of the Pirate trend. And there it was in all its dark seditious glory right in the entryway of my home hovering over the couch where I lay in excruciating pain. And in my weakest and most vulnerable moment, I cried out to God, and with zero sympathies God responds with His "hate" for my decor.

I pulled the covers back over my head and cried some more. I was quite pathetic! But I did repent. At that moment I asked God to forgive me for being so insensitive to His presence. I called out "Doreen, Doreen!!!!, she called back, "what,...I'm busy". I said, "come here!!!". She said, "No... I'm busy!!!". Keep in mind that she had been waiting on me hand and foot for the past week as I moaned and ached and squirmed on the couch. And now I'm calling for her again as she is trying to make Christmas dinner.

She reluctantly came to me and said, "what do you need?". I cried out in little boy fashion ...."God hates the hutch!..... She said, "what... are... you... talking... about?". I said "the hutch is evil. I've created a shrine to death and rebellion and the Lord hates it". (at this point my voice is broken and I am speaking with sorrow and distress and pain) I was being really dramatic.... Doreen was not! She says "you have got to be kidding me. What do you want me to do?". I said, "take everything out of the hutch and throw it away"..... Now Doreen is getting upset which is a rarety. There she was trying to have Christmas, her husband has been a 24-7 high maintenance project for the past seven days, and now at 7 PM Christmas eve as she is busy cooking for the family feast tomorrow,....... (are you feeling the tension at this moment?) .... And in a passioned plea in a tone she knew was serious I am asking her to stop what she is doing and throw everything in the hutch that has to do with Pirates away. Which is almost everything. And throw it away now. Hundreds of dollars worth of stuff.

Being the awesome wife she is, Doreen throws her apron down, marches into the kitchen, pulls open a drawer, grabs a large trash bag, marches over to the hutch and starts filling the bag. She would pull an item out and say "what about this?" I would respond "trash". Repeating cycle 6 or 8 times. Then she goes out to the garage and returns with a bag full of wrapped presents and says "I suppose you're going to want to throw these away too". She had bought me more Pirate stuff. Pirate socks, Pirate clocks, Pirate pencils, and Pirate pens. There was even a Pirate wiener dog from Hallmark. Lol!!! Trash, trash, trash. We threw it all away. Yes, I kept the hutch.

Now the hutch is filled with family memories, travel memories and things that celebrate life and creativity. The Black Pearl has been replaced with a replica of the famous British warship Prince. The very old book The Story Of Jesus was my father's very first book. Signed and dated by my grandmother in 1934. P.S. I have to admit the porcelain clown is a little freaky but it was my mothers. Let's not get started on clowns, Lol... The vintage Might Mouse bubble bath bottle is a whole other story that me merit a Blog Post of its own. Lesson learned for now, Don't Feed The Pirates.