I was running at top speed when I made the corner of the barn. Big brother Ed was hot on my tail and looking for blood. (As much as he could let without getting into too much trouble). Just a digression to explain. Throughout elementary school days you could find Dad and at least two of us boys on a poor land farm that Mom inherited. To say that brother Ed and I grew up with sibling rivialry would be a minimal statement of relationship. Ed was bigger than me but I was faster; except this day. As I turned the corner of the barn I had two choices: to run around the tractor (and get caught by brother Ed) or cut across the flat space, jump over the mud puddle in the middle and I will win out. The puddle I cleared very well but the rest of the flat spot (about 15 feet across) was ‘mushy’ to the step. But I made it!  Brother Ed did not. In a loud voice he called, “Help, Help, I’m sinking”. Sure enough, up to his waist. He hadn’t even got over the mud puddle. Too heavy! (small has some advantages). The flat spot was really spongy, but I got a long pole and helpedEd out. OHHH, did he make it out!!!  The tractor had been hitched up to the manure loader and the flat spot was the ’soupy part’ of the manure pile. And OHH, did brother Ed stink!!! Now the good part, we hosed him down, clothes and all, he had to stand in the back seat of the car on the way home. He was embarassed and I was overjoyed. I never forgot the incident and Ed has no memory of the event. It took a few years and some maturing to remember what I really needed to recognize. First, when it came to a ‘King on the Mountain’ type game or stance, I always had to be first. Second, I could never see me as the ’stinker’, but only brother Ed, or whoever else was involved in what I was doing. A lifetime of learning to get along in life has taught me a couple of lessons. First, ’stink is as stink does’. This was brought home in my mid-sixties when I began to loose my sense of smell. Today, there are very few odors that I can recognize and the odors that ‘get through’ to me have a tendancy to remain for a few HOURS. Quite a reminder to someone wanting to be ‘right’ on a constant basis. Last I learned that an odor does not have to ’stink’ but can have a pleasant aroma if travelled in a better way.    …walk in love, just as Christ also loved you, and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma… (Ephesians 5:2). Life is not about winning to keep the game alive, but it is about a life of sacrifice that gives, to please the king.