My Pocket Knife

It's Friday and I just got back into the office. The 98 degree heat is getting to me so Cindy, Zach and I are going camping in the mountains to do a little fishing and get out of the heat.

I want to write about my pocket knife. Last Christmas my wife gave me a pocket knife. I was a yellow handled, three blade, stockman Case brand knife. It is a pretty nice knife. Case makes a good knife they normally use Chrome vanadium for the steel which is a good steel for a blade. It sharpens easily and does a pretty good job at staying sharp with regular use. Chrome Vanadium corrodes if you don't keep it clean and oil it regularly. The stockman is a knife designed for stockmen. I'm not much of a stockman so I use mine for other purposes. I tried to take care of the knife, just because its a good knife, (and the last Case my wife gave me I had for 1.5 weeks until I lost it.) But I got a little careless with the new knife. During a visit to my parents house for my Baby's blessing I would sneak out to the garage and cut pieces of cake for my older brother and I, I think that the cake was hidden from my brother and I. In the heat of the cake battle I didn't take the time to clean off my knife. I just licked the Icing off the blade and put it into my pocket. Later when I returned to Sheridan I pulled the knife out and cleaned it up. One thing that I noticed was a little black spot on the blade. I didn't think much of it. I noticed that every time I used my knife and didn't clean and oil it immediately after the spot would grow. I went fishing a couple of days ago and did some wading. I got my shorts wet and in my pocket was my knife. I didn't pay a lot of attention to the knife until I pulled it out a couple of days later. When I opened the blades I noticed that my main blade was completely covered in rust. Not only that but the rust had spread to the other two blades. I think that it will take a lot of work to get the knife clean again, a lot more work than it would have normally taken if I would have took care of it in the first place.
I think that we are a little like a good pocket knife. If we keep ourselves clean mind and body, we are able to function the way that God intended us. I think that we need to be very careful that we don't corrupt or allow the little corruptions to enter our lives. I don't think that we wake up one morning corrupted and lost. I think that it happens a little at a time. Perhaps with an unhealthy thought. We dwell on the thought until it makes sense to us to make an action. Maybe not a big action at first but before we know it we find ourselves making the big actions . The sad part come when our actions start to bring others down with us.
I guess my point is if we stop ourselves at the thought we can save a lot of cleaning at the end.