What a Mess!

Blessed are the pure in heart,
      for they will see God. Matthew 5:8 (NIV)

 …you may be sure that your sin will find you out. Numbers 32:23 (NIV)

 Props: newspaper, bottle of chocolate milk

Tape a copy of the following news story into the inside of the paper.  Read the article as if reading from the paper.  While reading the story, make sure the kids understand the events and emphasize that the whole ordeal was traced back to a locker that needed to be cleaned out. 

 Spoiled Milk Sparks School Evacuation

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

(10-25) 13:26 PDT Swartz Creek, Mich. (AP) –

A plastic bottle with foul-smelling contents that was found in a men’s bathroom at Swartz Creek High School two weeks ago prompted an evacuation and a visit by the bomb squad. But lab results show that the bottle contained spoiled milk.

The bottle had been sitting in a student’s locker and was left on the ledge in the bathroom, The Flint Journal reported Tuesday. It was found Oct. 9 and officials initially said they believed it contained a mix of household chemicals.

“It looks like it was chocolate milk, old, spoiled and under pressure,” Superintendent Jeff Pratt said.

Pressure from the spoiled milk apparently caused the bottle to expand, making it look more suspicious. Pratt said school officials erred on the side of caution, noting that possible threats can’t be taken for granted.

“Two police officers and three members of the bomb squad refused to go near it or touch it, and that was good enough for me,” Pratt said.

Students were evacuated to the football field and later dismissed. It turns out a student had cleaned out his girlfriend’s locker, found the bottle and accidentally left in the bathroom, the newspaper said.

Swartz Creek Police Chief Rick Clolinger said the milk was inside a clear, nearly 16-ounce water bottle.

“I know that after the fact it makes us look on the silly side, that we sent kids home because of spoiled milk on the shelf,” Clolinger said. “But all of the right decisions were made.”

___

Information from: The Flint Journal,

www.flintjournal.com

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/10/25/national/a132652D91.DTL

Teacher follow-up: An entire school was evacuated because a girl left chocolate milk in her locker for who knows how long!  Her boyfriend cleaned it out and left it in the bathroom.  The smell was so bad that it made it seem suspicious and not even the bomb squad would go near it! 

This story should be a good lesson to us that we need to keep a clean heart.  I’m sure that for awhile, the chocolate milk stayed in the girl’s locker and no one even noticed.  But after time, everyone could smell it.  Sin acts the same way.  Sometimes you can “hide” sin for a little bit.  Then time passes and it becomes obvious to everyone.  The Bible says, “…you may be sure that your sin will find you out.” (Numbers 32:23).  In other words, as hard as you try to hide your sin, you can’t hide it forever.  And you can never hide it from God. 

So what’s the answer?  Keep a clean and pure heart!  Come to God every day and ask Him to clean and purify your heart, to forgive you for your sins.  Read God’s Word and obey it.  Don’t do what you know is wrong. 

If that girl had cleaned out her locker often, the whole school could have avoided being evacuated. 

If you keep a clean heart, you will save yourself lots of trouble and Jesus promised, “You will see God.”