Shade Tree Wisdom 8/19/11

        So, you have never even known there is such a place as Ausservillgraten, Austria. There are people who live there, call it home, and no doubt love it. And things happen there to make the morning news in far-off Houston. A German couple was hiking in the mountains around the town when they were attacked by a goat. You heard that right, a goat. For two hours the goat hassled them, till finally the man caught it by the horns and literally dragged it down the mountain where police managed to pacify it. No charges were filed, but the owner does have to pay for the lady’s torn slacks.

        That has really nothing to do with what follows, but it will sort of stick in your memory for a while because it is unusual, won’t it?

        Memory is wonderful, we have really two, short term and long term.

        But memory does play tricks, because often we remember what we really wish were true. So many people keep a diary or a sort of day book. I remember my father used the wall calendar for his record. This date I started the fall plowing, or planted the oats on this day, and the corn then.

        And this calf was born etc. So his wall calendar became a sort of running commentary on the daily farm workings, and it helped keep him on schedule. And this record helped him understand if certain crops were planted early, they produced more and brought a better return.

        The written record proved it.
 
        Much depends on how we read the record, either as written, or we add to it to make it say what we might wish it said. This brings me to a little Book. The title is The Prayer of Jabez. In religious terms we speak of eisegesis or exegesis. The first reads into the record of Scripture what we might want it to say, the second wrestles with the words written to find out the meaning.

        The little book sold millions of copies, the pastor who wrote it claimed he prayed it every day for half his lifetime. The problem is that much of what he wrote about the prayer is simply what he wished it said. One reviewer said that is like saying diamonds are found in this field of gravel, then placing one in the field, finding it, and showing that as proof. He called this way of reading the Bible despicable. For one can then make the bible say anything one wants it to say, and this sort of Bible reading is ‘rancid baloney’, in the reviewers words. It is misleading.

        I pray you read the Holy Word of God as He offers it, and therein lies rich blessing. Give God the glory, and watch out for goats in Ausservillgarten.

GPD 8/19/11