Shade Tree Wisdom 3/2/11

What a fine morning for the walk. Cool, easy, pleasant, and the big yellow boxes seemed to do their job with muted noise. So just fine, and no wind either, R.

Texas was finally admitted into the union in 1845, so Happy Birthday, Texas, 175 years now.

But Texas did not produce that monster rattlesnake whose picture is making the internet rounds. That is Florida. I wonder just how such a monster escaped for so long without being seen. But somewhere I read that snakes in west Texas often do not rattle, for that is like ringing a dinner bell for the Feral hogs, who like them for lunch. That may be just a rumor so take it as such.

It does bring to mind Satan, who is called “the old evil foe” and pictured as a snake in the garden of Eden. He lurks, and is sneaky, underhanded, devious, and delights in working sort of underground.

St. Jude’s short letter is very fitting for the Church. A sickness is often easy to diagnose because we feel it. But sickness in the Church is often not detected because things seems ‘all right’ for the time being. Our physical illness shows up when we hurt, and we do something quickly. A dangerous, even deadly, virus in our spiritual communities can often go undetected for a long time.

So St. Jude’s brief letter calls for energetic, watchful care. St. Peter's two letters to the church under fire and in stress also calls for vigilance. He reminds them, “Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we have been given a new life and have everything to live for, including a future in heaven”. That life, Peter reminds them, came at the cost of Christ’s shed blood.

So St. Peter goes on, “In the last days mockers are going to have a heyday, reducing everything to the level of their puny feelings. They’ll mock, whats happened to the promise of His coming. Our ancestors are dead and buried, and everything is going on just as it has been from the first day of creation. Nothing's changed.”

So, “Because the stakes are so high, even though you’re up-to-date on this truth and practice it inside-out, I’m not going to let up for a minute in calling your attention to it. . .I am especially eager to have it all down in black and white, so that, after I die, you’ll have it for ready reference.”

The letter ends with “be on your guard lest you lose your footing and get swept off your feet by these lawless and loose-talking teachers. Grow in grace and understanding of our Master and Savior, Jesus Christ.”

The quotations are from The Message, and I am using them because they speak so directly and plainly to us in the life we are living at this very moment. May God bless the hearing and the doing to His glory.

GPD 3/2/11