Shade Tree Wisdom 3/23/10

Sort of pleasant this morning, still, calm, some twittering of birds, not computers.

That’s the second time in a week that a shooting, random, done in anger, killed a child. This time age three. How long will this go on before we lose sight of what civilization is all about, law, order, common sense, decency and peace.

I want to remind us again what Scripture does say about government.
Romans 13,1. “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers, for there is no power but of God, the powers that be are ordained of God.”
Titus 3,1. “Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work.”
L Peter 2, 13. “Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, whether it be to the king as supreme;
14 “Or unto governors as them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and the praise of them that do well.”

That’s one of the reasons we have laws, and keep order, so that the citizens, you and I who live under it, may, as Luther said it, “Live a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty, and each love and honor his spouse.”

That’s sort of the kind of world it was when I was growing up. Oh, there were guns around, but they were used to hunt game food for the table, or to shoot pesky rats invading the corncrib, not other people. I remember Officer Schaeffer. He was around, but didn’t seem to have much to do. Always had time to chat. Until I understood that he nipped miscreants in the bud, as it were, kept his eye on things, and settled stuff before it got out of hand. Rarely did someone get into real mischief, because the good officer had been doing his job, and talked with the unruly ones, and settled things, before they reached a boiling point. And everybody liked him and respected him for what he was doing for us all. Government of the best kind.

Let us stand close to God, hear His Word to us, pray to him and bring our cares, concerns, worries, and needs to lay at His feet, and be content “with such things as ye have. For we have learned, in whatever state we are, therewith to be content.” May God bless your day richly.

GPD 3/23/10