He told us that we were not to swerve on the road to avoid hitting small animals or birds…it wasn’t worth it, he said. He saw too many accidents caused by people trying to avoid hitting a tweety bird.
It was something that Instructor Jack Strong repeated to us multiple times over the next months as we 16-year-olds attended his Driver's Ed Class. They were words that he repeated when he took us on the road to teack us to drive, two by two, in his little car with the extra brake on the passenger's side.
"Now remember, don't swerve for a tweety-bird," he'd say.
It was a lesson that rang in my ears multiple times down through the years.
One day, I got curious and looked up the meaning of tweety-bird. It means, “a bird that sings in a sweet voice.”
But Tweety-Bird is also a cartoon character as well, and was originally conceived as an aggressive and naked bird, quite noisy and different from the feathered and innocent look he later adopted.
I thought about it.
How many times have good, wonderful people stumbled because they were annoyed by something small?
How many times do awesome people allow someone else’s big, vain words to get under their skin—and cause an unnecessary gossip firestorm?
How many times has a little sin caused a great man to fall?
Joseph’s brothers were annoyed by their little brother, and they did great wickedness against him.
Balaam’s head was turned by a little gold—so was Judas’s—and you all know how that turned out. Saul ruined his kingship by a little jealousy.
By a little lie, Jacob ruined a relationship with his twin brother.
Gahazi and his family inherited Naaman's leprousy because of a bit of covetousness & deceit.
David's one second-too-long look at Bath-sheeba...caused him to break almost all of the 10 commandments.
The list of folks who have fallen because of a little sin, is very long.
So. Don’t even pay attention to the petty stuff. Don’t let jealousy have a single chance to seed in your heart. Don’t let someone who is stuck in the mire pull you down too. Don’t allow their loud and empty words to create a major accident. Don't allow yourself a one-second-too-long glance.
Don't let the little stuff take you down.
Don’t swerve for that tweety-bird.
Don’t swerve!
Don’t swerve!
Don’t swerve for the tweety-bird!
Keep the wheel steady.
Keep your eye ready.
Don’t swerve for the tweety-bird.
Fly high!
Fly high!
Soar high like the eagles fly!
Rise with the tailwinds!
High above the storm winds.
Fly high o’er the tweety-bird.
March on!
March on!
March on! Face the great foe.
Left, right with the squadron,
Heart beats with the Captain!
March on past the tweety-bird.
Have Faith!
Have Faith!
Have Faith in our Great God!
Have faith like a small seed.
Move mounts with a faith creed,
Undeterred by tweety-bird.
-gj
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