Shade Tree Wisdom 7/3/08

Pleasant walking this morning, and the date reminds me that I am living in
“The land of the free,
And the home of the brave”.

So to begin this thought, in all my years of driving I have been involved in two minor accidents, each caused by a person running a stop sign when I had none. I remember the first vividly because it was on the Sunday morning I was preaching my farewell sermon at Immanuel in St. Charles MO and I arrived at church in a squad car. The other was in Mexico MO, dry pavement, sunny day, and an officer was coming along and watched the whole thing.

And, I had one parking ticket when time ran out on a meter. The cost was 25 cents, and that was returned because the meter was defective, and they believed me, and checked.

Other than that I have never even been warned not to cross the wide white strip when entering a freeway.

I say all this because I want you to know I am a law-abiding citizen. I respect the law, and I find laws are needed and necessary because men are sinners and often need to have restraint, or guidance about behavior.

That’s why I find this sort of report from the Houston Chronicle sort of disconcerting. It is well known that the city of Houston has code banning fire works, and there is good safety reasons for them. However, Harris County has no such restrictions.

Now in Harris County a youth bought some roman candles and stuff to set off in his front yard in Katy, and was headed home with them when a officer from Houston’s Fire Marshal’s Office stopped and ticketed him for transporting fireworks through an annexed area. It seems that the city had annexed one block of a road. There were no signs, there had been no special announcing of the fact. It was simply on the books, and the lad drove along that block to get home. Bingo.

A judge chided the Fire Marshal’s Office and suggested it was bad PR to ticket people who legally bought fireworks and also it might be well when the city annexed a short piece of land to post signs announcing the fact.

My question is, did the marshal see the lad buy the fireworks, or have someone spot him doing so and then target him? Is that what the law really is all about?
Land of the free,
And home of the brave.

But in all our celebration, let us remember what freedom really means, and misuse of that freedom results in losing it.

I pray that the Lord will continue to bless our land, and to favor us with citizens of wisdom and good sense, to help keep it so.
GPD 7/3/08