​Blue Bell’s Hidden Demise

My family absolutely loves Blue Bell ice cream. I mean LOVES it! It’s all we buy at the store… well, until recently. If you haven’t heard, Blue Bell has now had to pull every single one of their millions of products off the shelves and stop production in all of their factories. Cases of listeria linked back to Blue Bell have now caused several deaths as well as sickness. It all started back in 2013 when Blue Bell found some non-food areas infected with listeria. Apparently, they did not take the appropriate measures to insure all was cleaned properly and would be clean in the future. Now, a few years later, people have died and a company we all once loved has an uncertain outlook.

I’m kind of sad to say that even if Blue Bell supposedly cleans everything they are supposed to and changes how they produce their ice cream, I don’t think I could buy it again. My trust in them is just too shaken. What’s even more crazy, is that the affected ice cream was only in products that go out to places like hospitals and nursing homes. The products they serve in the stores did not even have the listeria in it. However, even with that knowledge, my whole view of them is skewed and so is everyone else’s! Blue Bell hasn’t had to lay anyone off in the 108 years of their business, but this past month they had to lay off over 1,400 people and pay cut the ones they kept. This small case of listeria has hurt so many more people than even those that lost their lives from it.

Believe it or not, I have seen this happen long before Blue Bell. I have seen families torn apart from their own cases of bacteria. A spouse is discovered to have a “small” moral issue. Maybe it’s a few compromises here and there, maybe it’s some “smaller” cases of deceit. Nothing big… nothing that can’t be justified for this reason or that. It caused some hurt and distrust, but they were able to reason that at least they weren’t as bad as so and so and thus never really made any lasting changes.

Then it comes… it always comes. People lead themselves to believe that they can handle it and that the destruction they’ve seen other families go through won’t happen to them. But if they don’t get those “small” compromises out, the big demise always follows. Not always immediately, but always.

Can you imagine that the huge loss Blue Bell is facing right now could have been prevented if they would have done all they could to rid their factories of the bacteria in 2013? What if they would have not only cleaned better but did more to ensure that they changed the way they conducted their business? Three people would be alive right now and thousands of families would not be facing hardship over job loss.

The Bible tells us in Galatians 5:9 –

A little leaven leavens the whole lump.

You may be an all-around good person. You may be a nice parent. You may work hard. You may even serve in your church or community. But just like a very small amount of leaven spreads through an entire lump of dough, even the small compromises in your life will eventually affect every part of who you are. Just like a small amount of bacteria in 2013 left uneradicated, brought a “good” family business to its demise just a few years later.

Being a good family business could not save Blue Bell, but getting the filth out sure could have. Being a pretty good person can't save us and our family from heartache, but getting the filth out sure can!

Luke 11:36

“If you are filled with light, with no dark corners, then your whole life will be radiant, as though a floodlight were filling you with light.”

Don’t you want to be a person with no dark corners? No secrets, no compromises, no shame? To be a person who is the same no matter who’s around? I have lived a life with dark corners and I have lived a life with none. I can tell you that there is no comparison. To be able to look every person you meet in the eyes and never be afraid of what may be found out, is indescribable freedom. To be able to look yourself in the mirror and feel no shame about “small” compromises that most others don’t even know about. It’s a life that’s finally worth living.

Author Gary Thomas says, “One hole will sink a ship as effectively as ten holes. It may take longer, but it will still sink.”

Let’s not justify our one small hole with the 9 others we don’t have. Let’s not rationalize our sin because we think we are an all-around “good” person. There are others on our ship in our life. The ones we are called to love and lead and take care of. Let’s not fool ourselves into thinking we can handle the one small hole all the while the ship is sinking around us and taking our loved ones slowly down with it.

Father God, thank You for the example of how something small left unattended can turn into something disastrous. I can say that I don’t want this compromise in my life, but until I am willing to do WHATEVER it takes to get rid of it, I’m only fooling myself. I’m ready and I’m willing Lord, to live a life with no dark corners. Please show me what I need to do to get rid of the destructive behavior I have lived with and then please give me the courage to follow it out until I have no small compromises in my life at all! I want a life filled with complete light and a life where I can walk with my head held high. In You, I know I can!