The Battle of Grapevine

Proverbs 10:11 -- "The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life, but violence overwhelms the mouth of the wicked."

The Battle of Grapevine.  What do you think of when you hear that?  Was it a turning point, maybe in the American Civil War?  Nope. What about the Revolutionary War? The war with the  French?  Nope, again.

In 1888 a series of events lead two families in the Eastern United States to take up arms and very literally start a battle against each other.  That seems kind of ridiculous to me, but, I bet it didn't seem so silly to William Hatfield and Randolph McCoy.  That's right.....this infamous family feud lead to an actual battle and the deaths of many - family members and supporters, alike.  It's amazing to me that both sides claimed to be God-fearing Christian folk but the body count just kept on climbing.

This is what I thought of when I walked into the living room only to hear that my two boys were arguing over how to best play Halo.  Yeah....that's right....how to best play a video game.  What began as a comment or two turned into name calling and yelling and just....ugh.  Made me think of the Battle of Grapevine [although truthfully, our event was probably much less dramatic].

Here you have two sides. Two opinions and two very stubborn individuals who just would not let it go.  I stood there in the living room, hands on hips, just shaking my head.  "Ok Hatfiled and McCoy....time to do some house work!"

Much complaining was then shared by all involved, and I took the opportunity to read this verse from Proverbs and then went into the story of the Hatfields and the McCoys.  If just one of them had walked away and kept his mouth shut....maybe so many needless deaths could have been avoided.

Again in Proverbs, we are told to "overlook and insult" [Proverbs 12:16].  It isn't easy to do, I know this.  But have you SEEN the Hatfield and McCoy mini series on the History Channel?  I just wanted to take both of them and shake them!  Just like my two -- both well into their teen years [actually Brian is almost out of them] yelling at each other like three year olds who don't want to share a toy -- and all over how to be the best at shooting the alien scourge. ...ugh!

Housework completed, Steven came home from work and sat down to play a video game.  The boys were on the couch and I started nit picked Steven regarding his shooting skills.  The boys just looked at me like I was a crazy person.  Steven just sat there.....playin' his game in silence. I smiled and said "seems kind of silly, me fussin' at Dad over how he's playin' a game."

You could see the light bulb go on over each of them.  It takes TWO parties to argue.  It takes TWO people to start a fight.  There can't be a fight, if one of you walks away and does what God says to do.  Keep your mouth shut.  Let it go.  More difficult done than said....but can you image how history might have recorded good ole' William Hatfield and Randolph McCoy had each of them obeyed these two simple verses in Proverbs?