The Night the Golden Wave Left Me Holding the Mop

It’s football time again in the Million Dollar Coalfields. Around here, when fall settles into the mountains and the stadium lights come on, Friday night football is about as close as some folks get to a weekly family reunion.

It takes me back to my senior year of high school and one particular Friday night when the Grundy Golden Wave traveled to play the Tazewell Bulldogs.

My mom and dad owned a used blue Jeep Grand Wagoneer with wood paneling down the sides. That thing was less of a vehicle and more of a rolling piece of living-room furniture. The valves rattled like a diesel engine, but we considered it modern because the previous owner had installed one of the first CD players. That thing was about the size of a suitcase!

That Friday night, I was the driver, and everybody wanted to ride with me. By the time we left, I think there were nine or ten boys packed into that Wagoneer. It looked like a Greyhound bus without assigned seating or safety regulations.

We laughed and carried on the whole way to Tazewell, enjoyed the game, and afterward everybody decided to meet at McDonald’s.

On the way there, somebody remembered that Little Caesars sold a lot of food for very little money. That sounded like a tremendous idea to a vehicle full of hungry teenage boys.

The plan was simple: buy several pizzas, take them into McDonald’s, purchase our drinks there, and meet up with everybody else.

Everybody agreed. Nobody questioned it.

We bought the pizzas, carried them into McDonald’s, ordered our drinks, and opened the boxes. Within about two minutes, every slice had disappeared. It looked like someone had dropped raw meat into a pond full of piranhas.

Napkins, cups, pizza boxes, and crumbs were scattered everywhere. The place looked as though a food fight had broken out and the food had won.

Suddenly, the manager came marching out.

She was not smiling.

She looked at the mess, looked at us, and said, “Somebody is going to clean this up, or I’m calling the law.”

Now, I had arrived with a Jeep full of loyal friends.

But when the words “calling the law” were spoken, those boys suddenly received the gift of teleportation.

Within ten seconds, I was standing there alone.

My buddies had run outside, climbed into other people’s cars, and disappeared into the Tazewell night.

A few moments earlier, I couldn’t have fit another person into my Wagoneer with a shoehorn. Now I couldn’t find one friend willing to hold a broom.

There I stood, face-to-face with the manager.

I asked the only reasonable question I could think of:

“Do you want the floor swept or mopped?”

The answer was both.

So, while everybody else continued enjoying Friday night, I swept and mopped the McDonald’s floor under the watchful eyes of customers who seemed to find the situation far more entertaining than I did.

Nothing builds character quite like pushing a mop through McDonald’s while your former passengers drive by and wave at you through the window.

Looking back, I laugh about that night, but there is a spiritual lesson in that old blue Wagoneer.

Everybody agreed on the plan. Everybody participated in the mess. But when the consequences came, the crowd disappeared, and I was left holding the mop.

Just because everybody is doing something doesn't make it right. And just because everybody agrees with something doesn't make it true.

God warned Israel in Exodus 23:2: “You shall not fall in with the many to do evil.” (ESV)

The Bible gives us several examples of what happens when people follow the crowd rather than God.

The crowd chose Barabbas over Jesus.

Matthew 27:20 tells us that the chief priests and elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus.

When Pilate asked what he should do with Christ, they shouted, “Let him be crucified!” (Matthew 27:22).

The crowd was loud, but the crowd was wrong.

The crowd wanted to return to Egypt.

In Numbers 14:4, after God had delivered Israel from slavery, the people said, “Let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”

Joshua and Caleb stood against the crowd because they believed God's promises. The people even wanted to stone them (Numbers 14:6–10).

The majority wanted to go backward. Joshua and Caleb trusted God to lead them forward.

The crowd demanded a golden calf.

In Exodus 32, the Israelites grew impatient while Moses was on Mount Sinai. They pressured Aaron into making an idol, and he gave in.

Aaron knew better, but he allowed the pressure of the people to move him away from obedience to God.

The crowd tried to silence Bartimaeus.

In Mark 10:46–52, blind Bartimaeus heard Jesus passing by and began crying out for mercy.

The crowd told him to be quiet.

But Mark 10:48 says he “cried out all the more.”

I love that! The crowd told him to hush, and he got louder.

He wasn't going to let the opinions of people keep him from the One who could change his life.

Jesus stopped, healed him, and Bartimaeus followed Him.

We live in a world where it's easier than ever to join a crowd. You don't even have to leave your recliner. Social media will gladly provide you with a mob before you've finished your morning coffee.

Somebody makes a statement, somebody shares it, and before long thousands are repeating something they haven't investigated or defending something they haven't considered.

And Christians can get caught up in it just as quickly as anybody else.

Proverbs 14:12 reminds us: “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.” (ESV)

Romans 12:2 tells us not to be conformed to this world but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds.

And Jesus warned us in Matthew 7:13–14 that the way leading to destruction is wide, while the way leading to life is narrow.

The number of people traveling a road doesn't determine where that road ends.

Sometimes following Jesus means standing alone.

Even the disciples abandoned Him when He was arrested. Mark 14:50 says, “And they all left him and fled.”

Yet Jesus continued toward the cross, faithfully accomplishing the Father's will.

And here is the wonderful difference between following the crowd and following Christ.

The crowd may leave you holding the mop, but Jesus promises in Hebrews 13:5: “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” (ESV)

I've often wondered what that McDonald's manager thought about the whole situation. Here came a Jeep full of boys, carrying pizzas into her restaurant, eating like starving wolves, making a mess, and then scattering when she threatened to call the law.

And there stood one poor fellow holding a mop.

I probably should have received some kind of honorary employee-of-the-month certificate. At the very least, they could have given me a free Happy Meal.

But I learned something that night.

A crowd can encourage you to make a bad decision, but it won't necessarily stand beside you when the consequences come.

The crowd chose Barabbas. The crowd wanted to return to Egypt. The crowd demanded a golden calf. And the crowd tried to silence Bartimaeus.

But Joshua and Caleb trusted God. Bartimaeus kept crying out. And Jesus faithfully walked the road to Calvary.

So whether you're surrounded by a thousand people or standing all alone, make sure you're standing with Jesus.

Because one day the crowd will be gone, the cheering will stop, and every one of us will stand before God (Romans 14:12).

And on that day, the only opinion that will matter is His.

As for me, I've learned one more practical lesson.

If nine or ten teenage boys all agree that carrying Little Caesars pizza into McDonald's is a great idea, somebody probably needs to pray about it first.

And if you happen to be the one driving, you might want to keep a mop in the back of the Wagoneer.

The crowd may be loud, but God's Word is always true.