Shade Tree Wisdom 6/1/09

Lord God of hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget, lest we forget.

The Houston Museum of Natural Science has an exhibit of terra cotta warriors produced to guard the first Emperor of China in his afterlife. Emperor Qin Shi Huang completed the conquest of warring Chinese states in 221 B.C. He burned books and executed scholars opposed to his rule, but he also brought the newly united China into a new era. He undertook vast construction projects, and also standardized weights and measures, coinage, scripts, and even the width of axels for chariots.

His tomb – a monument to his obsession with immortality – took 38 years to build. More than 1000 people are thought to have been divided into 87 teams to produce the army of an estimated 8,000 warriors to guard him in his afterlife. Each warrior weighed between 3 and 400 pounds, and it took a team 12 years to complete 7.

The figures were discovered when farmers of China’s Yigang Village were digging a well when they faced serious drought.

This exhibit just emphasizes that mankind has always been concerned about the hereafter. So an emperor makes such provision as seems good in his sight, which is limited by what he knows, or doesn’t know. It points up that man’s sight is limited by the world he lives in, and the world he lives in is scary, isn’t it?

Well, look at it right now. GM went into bankruptcy this morning. GM, a major force for so long, largest car manufacturer, world-wide strength and power. Bankrupt?

And our own government, which always showed April as a month in which it took in billions more in dollars than it was spending, this year did not. And studies of cell phone use shows that the average teenager sends 2,700 text messages a month!

Another study shows children who were not allowed to watch endless TV programs and were set to play by themselves with simple toys developed more and better growth in activity, showing a better grasp of life, than those who simply were set to watch TV.

“Change and decay in all around I see, but Thou Who changest not, abide with me.” That hymn line is more true today than ever.

Especially in this day when man seems set on going his own way, throwing off all restraint, setting aside ancient land marks and guidelines, deliberately throwing out of his schools and places of instruction any teaching about God. The Psalm faced this. He writes: “Your foes roared in the place where you met us. . .they burned your sanctuary to the ground, they burned every place where God was worshipped in the land” Palm. 74,4.7.8.

They went so far as to say, “How can God know?” Psalm 73,11, “does the most high have knowledge?” But the Psalmist goes on to claim, “Thou art my God” and “I will remember” what Your hand did work.

So St. Peter, who also lived in a world of change and decay, writes those truths one more time and says, ”I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have. I think it right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body.” 2 Peter 1,12.ff. And so do I.

GPD 6/1/09