Shade Tree Wisdom 9/24/10

The weather doesn’t yet speak clearly that it is fall, but the markets certainly do. Tubs and pots filled with colorful mums that will soon grace patios and front doors and other spots around homes to say to one and all, “Welcome to our house”.

One sad bit of news one reads more often than not is home break-ins. Here is the story of a 12 years old girl and her sister, home alone, hearing the front door being smashed in and seeing a thief coming up the stairs. The girl went to her father’s bedroom, picked up a shotgun, and shot the intruder, wounding the second one. What they did not know was that this girl had been skeet shooting at a range with her daddy since she was seven, and had won championships.
Another, the son of a Deputy Sheriff, also shot and killed such an intruder, and such stories are becoming more frequent these days.

Let me tell you a story. When I was growing up in a farming community, I suppose most homes had a rifle or shotgun for shooting varmints that got into the chicken coop, and many went deer hunting in the Fall. We had a neighbor whose house had a dug out cellar under the kitchen for storage. This cellar had an outside entrance, and the mother complained of rats down there. So they set some traps, and got a few, but she still worried they would get into the stored produce. They also had a son, maybe 14 or 15, he meant well, but did not always think things through. One night after chores, without telling anyone, he got the shotgun, sneaked into the cellar from the outside, and waited for rats to show. He saw several come out of their holes, so he blew them away. As I said he did not always think things through, and when that shotgun went off in that confined space directly under the kitchen where his mother and sisters were doing the supper dishes, you can imagine the BOOM, scared them nearly to death. But he managed to shoot three rats with one shot.

Well, the story just came to mind when I was reading about the recent shootings - God help us when we live where life means so little, when what we want seems to be whatever I want I take, regardless.

May God give us His direction, His constant care, and His eternal salvation in Jesus Christ.

GPD 9/24/10