THE REAL MAX

I've been told, for almost as long as I can remember, that things are rarely what they seem. And the older I get and the more miles I put on, the truer that statement seems to be. I should have known all along. The Lord demonstrated this very concept to me back when I was in college, but like so many other things back then, I didn't catch on right away.
I played ball with a guy named Max from Fort Worth, TX. Now Max was an odd sort of a critter with an amazing sense of humor. He was a hoot to be around and always in the mood for something fun. In fact, even his appearance was a bit amusing. Now as I try to paint this picture, remember this was a long time ago; the late 60's to be exact. Things were definitely different then.
Max played defensive nose tackle. He was relatively short at just a notch under 6 ft. and he weighed in the neighborhood of 225 or 230. He was built similar to a cement block. By that, I mean he was almost as thick as he was wide and when he would get down in his stance, his center of gravity was about 1/2 in. off the ground. All the offensive linemen hated trying to block the guy because he was like trying to move a speed bump... might near impossible.
He had blonde shaggy, curly hair, big old lamb chop sideburns, his eyes were real close together and his cheeks looked kind of like a squirrel who was stocking up on nuts for the winter. OK... now y'all got a mental picture of what Max looked like.
One afternoon, after workouts, Max and two other guys piled in my car and the four of us headed for the Dairy Queen to get something to drink. Nothing out of the ordinary; no indication of what was to come.
As we pulled up in front of the DQ, it just so happened that two young ladies pulled in at the same time. Both were obviously about our age, probably college girls, but none of us knew who they were and both were really cute. Max began pawing at the back of my seat, and in a frantic tone began saying "Lemme out! Lemme out!"
He got out and made a bee-line for their car. He opened the passenger side door for one of the girls and in a voice none of us had ever heard before, very articulately introduced himself and asked their names. He was being quite the gentleman and the three of us were just watching in a bit of amusement. It was a hot day and he very politely said to them, "I was about to have a banana split, would you ladies allow me to treat you to the same? I would love to buy you both a treat of your choice".
Now these two girls gave each other a quick glance and with a smile told Max that that would be great. He ordered for the three of them and then, as any gentleman would, pulled out chairs for them sit down and told them to have a seat, he would be glad to bring them their treats.
Now my two buddies and I just kind of sat there in our booth, not saying much, just watching. We were all three in awe. None of us had ever seen our friend act so refined and polite. To be honest with you, the three of us were pretty impressed by the whole deal.
Max carried the three banana splits to their table and sat down with them. The girls started eating and Max was just chatting away, making small talk, but all the while he was making an impression on them... AND us. They would laugh and talk and the only word that comes to mind that would describe Max's interaction with these girls is "charming". I know that sounds funny coming from me, but that's the only word that really fits... he was polite, he was being a real gentleman... he was... charming.
The three of us sat there in our booth in dumb-founded silence. I mean this fun loving, always into something guy that we all three thought we knew was giving us a lesson in how to be cool for the ladies, and I have to be honest, we were all three impressed.
The girls were almost done with their splits and one of them said to Max, "Aren't you going to eat yours? You haven't even touched a bite. Please, go ahead, don't let it melt".
Max stopped, looked down at his half melted banana split, looked back up at them, smiled and said, "Oh, sure... thanks". Then without blinking an eye, reached down with his hand, picked up a hand full of semi-melted ice cream and crammed what would fit into his mouth with the rest running down his cheeks and off his chin onto the table, while making some sort of primal grunting noises.
The looks on those two girls' faces was beyond description. They literally scrambled to their feet and were out of that place in flash, running to their car, taking quick glances over their shoulders to make sure this guy wasn't following after them. As they dashed out the door, Max called out after them, "WHAT??? What did I say???"
You can probably figure out what our trip back to the dorm was like. It didn't take long for the word to get around about our old buddy Max. From then on, when he'd be introduced to someone, they would invariably ask, "Are you THAT Max?" He'd smile and ask if they wanted to go get some ice cream.
Now I shared this story with you, (which IS a true story, by the way), to illustrate the point that you and I run into folks like Max all the time... Especially folks who pride themselves in how "religious" they are. When we first meet them, they're polite, kind, considerate... even charming. But if we hang around long enough for the ice cream to melt, we begin to get a little clearer picture of who they really are when they finally get around to eating it.
God's word encourages us to be more concerned with who we are than trying to paint a picture of ourselves that we hope someone will like. We will be judged by the fruit we bear rather than how well we tell others about the beauty of our blooms. But then... Hey... It's Just A Thought.
Well, I need to go. Gotta check and see if we've got any ice cream in the freezer... And find the spoons.