From the desk – 2/1/11

I have this thing that I like to call “the McDonald’s effect.”  Let me explain.

When I’m extremely hungry and feeling too lazy to make something, I weigh my options.

Taco Bell, while cheap and muy delicioso, is off limits because of a recent scandal involving their meat. I’ll eat anything once, but with recent allegations of being only 35 percent meat — it’s going to take me a while to “queiro Taco Bell.”

Chick-fil-A is, of course, closed because it always is when I want it.

Apparently, Wendy’s has a new kind of natural-cut French fry that is cooked with the skin still on them. I don’t eat things with skin so, sorry Wendy’s, you lost me.

So, there I am, wasting gas and nearing my home. But, alas, what do I see glowing in the distance? The beautiful golden arches of my beloved McDonald’s.

My heart begins to quicken pace — what if someone sees me? What if I have to stop in front of the glass where everyone inside will turn and see that Taylor Overhultz is buying McDonald’s? I begin to question my decision to stop until I spot the mouth-watering advertisement for a Quarter Pounder that will slowly and surely cause my arteries to clog, resulting in years of heart problems and an added bonus of love handles.

Going inside to order and eat is completely off limits. So I proceed to the voice-in-the-box. After ordering and paying, I shove the bag into the floor board of my backseat to ensure no one driving next to me will see what I’ve done.

Maybe I feel this way because I know how bad it is for me or because I know people will think that I don’t care about my health. Maybe it’s the reputation that McDonald’s carries, the one where you are talking to a group of people and someone scrunches their nose in disgust when someone else mentions McDonalds and you laugh and pretend you would never eat there. Hypocrite.

That is the McDonald’s effect.

As I write this, I am actually eating the before mentioned Quarter Pounder and enjoying every sinful second of it. Why do I label it sinful? Because doesn’t sin have that same effect?

Adam and Eve hid from God because their eyes were opened to their sinful nature and felt ashamed.

Genesis 3:8 says, “Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, ‘Where are you?’

He answered, ‘I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.’”

Just like the magnetic force that is McDonalds, sin is equally enticing. My heart rate increases and paranoia kicks in. Not only am I ashamed to see my friends, I am ashamed before my heavenly Father. While that sin may be momentarily fulfilling, it only leads to the hardening of my heart and excess baggage.