Warnings And Early Warnings Series

Warnings and Early warnings

Video from (Peggy’s Cove)

If you aren’t familiar with the video shot, then I’m not sure what to say. I took that a month ago while we were on our annual pilgrimage to Peggy’s cove, and while I preparing to take some of these phone photos I noticed the lady down on the rocks. If you were watching carefully you were aware of just how close she was to the edge of the water. Now realize that in order for her to get to the spot where she was standing that she would have had to pass one of these warning signs, and have ignored the older less politically correct signs that are scattered around Peggy’s Cove. 32 clicks to make a clue and she didn’t have a click.

I don’t know if you could hear on the video but a couple of people who walked behind me commented on the fact that she was on the dark rocks. That means rocks where the waves have been recently.

Perhaps if you had of asked her she would have told you that she knew exactly what she was doing, that others may have been swept off the rocks at Peggy’s Cove but that wasn’t her intentions. If you had questioned her common sense perhaps she would have told you not to judge her, that she knew what she was doing and the signs were for others who weren’t nearly as intelligent as she was.

She may have even suggested that the signs weren’t binding, they weren’t the law that they were merely suggestions and that if she had of followed the suggestion then she wouldn’t have been able to get the photographs that she wanted to.

Now to be fair I was shooting video that I thought I would be able to sell to the Television News if anything went awry. But seriously I was watching because I knew that if something happened that someone would have to do something, I’m not sure if I would be prepared to jump in the water after her, but I could certainly yell for help.

And she was not only placing herself in danger but was putting others in danger because someone would feel obliged to jump into the water after her. And if they failed to pull her to safety or recover her body then her family would insist that society, in the form of the coast guard and local fisherman should place themselves at risk and spend vast amounts of money to recover her body. All because she refused to heed the warnings. And then some nitwit would suggest that we fence all of Peggy’s cove to prevent it from happening again.

Which goes to prove the truth of Billy Sunday’s statement “Sin can be forgiven, but stupid is forever.”

About the same time in the news was the story of Maria Pantazopoulos, the thirty year old bride who drowned during a photo shoot near Dorwin Falls in Quebec. And that was a tragedy but it was preventable. Her family has suggested that there should be barriers to keep people away from the water because the warning signs are not enough. Others have suggested that there be regular patrols or that life preservers be installed along the water edge.

How about this for a suggestion? Pay attention to the warning signs? Just a thought. I don’t want to negate the tragedy of Pantazopoulos’ death, but there were warning signs posted.

And I completely agree with warning signs in areas like this. When there is danger we should know about it. And if there weren’t warning signs it would be irresponsible. That’s why we have warning signs.

Now some warning signs are just dumb, like the label on a bottle of peanuts warning people that it might contain peanuts, or the hairdryer warning stating that it should not be used while sleeping, the label on the iron on transfer that says “Do not iron while wearing shirt”.

This warning I like, it was on the back of a truck operated by a septic tank cleaning company and it said “Warning this truck may contain political promises.”

But there are warnings that must be taken serious. The past couple of weeks we have been talking about “What Jesus Said about Our Behaviour” and I would suggest that when Jesus spoke about our behaviour he was posting warning signs. Signs that warn that certain behaviours can hurt us, physically, emotionally, spiritually and eternally.

In the scripture that was read earlier Jesus warns people about those who exhibit evil behaviour. A very similar list is given by Paul in Galatians and that list concludes with these words Galatians 5:21 . . . Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God. That my friends is a warning.