Shade Tree Wisdom 6/25/09

One of the rites of early spring in churches throughout the South was fan delivery day. The day when the local Funeral Homes delivered the yearly supply of fans to churches. Everiss and Hackman-Baue and Precht and Baue were names familiar to me. I can see it now, standing in the pulpit. Facing a sea of fans slowly waving to move the air. And churches were full. Today we have air conditioning, and churches are often half empty.

I often wonder about that. One truth stands out, then people still believed there was a God, and they were close enough to nature to accept what was at hand for them. They believed what the Bible taught them because they could see and daily experience the handiwork of this God. Their very livelihood depended on the hand of God and they prayed, and believed what they prayed, “The eyes of all wait on Thee, O Lord, and You give them their meat at the proper time. YOU open Your hand, and satisfies the desire of every living thing”. Psalm 145,15.16. Now our food comes from Krogers and our other needs from J C Penney or Lowes. So our need for God lessens, and we can drop “In God we trust” from our newest coin.

Here is an example. In Harris County (Where Houston is), flood control is an on-going struggle. Engineers have usually relied on deepening and straightening the bayous and plastering them with cement. The result was ugly, and expensive, and useless, for floods came when heavy rains fell. So when the Sims Bayou project was being planned (Bayou is a slow-moving river), engineers planned to deepen and widen the channel, plaster it with cement, and carry flood waters safely to the Gulf. Sims would become more of an ugly drainage ditch.

Then landscape architect Kevin Shanley drew up a plan that allowed the Bayou to meander and remain a slow moving river. The engineers made a computer model and found the plan moved more water faster and more safely, and it provided a place for waters safe storage till the river could move them. The result, 30 miles of new beauty, a place for parks, wildlife thrived on the banks, and the neighborhood adored the project. So working nature’s way was the best way, and the Bayou projects planned for the future will always follow such a plan.

It’s hot, and the weather people speak of new records while sitting in their air conditioned places. But remember what the Lord teaches? “The heavens declare the glory of God and the skies proclaim the work of His hands. Day after day puts forth speech. Night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech, or language, where their voice is not heard.” Psalm 19, 1-3.

And let the heat remind us of the questions to JOB. “Who is this that darkens my council with words without knowledge, brace your self like a man, and answer me." And then follows a volley of “Where were you?” when the world was created. Job 38, 1ff.

Yes, Our God reigns still. Thanks be to this God for His daily benefits to us.

GPD 6/25/09