Category Archives: Parables

Snow and Tornados

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XMAS-SNOW-BEAUTIFUL-SCENIC

Snow and Tornados

    This morning we awakened to a beautiful blanket of newfallen snow shrouding the bleak winter landscape where we have come for a few days.  Although I grew up in the mountains,  I find myself still feeling like a child, excited by the beauty of the snow.  Driving through the darkness, cold and downpouring rain to arrive, the world looked like a very different place from this morning.  The change seems amost miraculous.
About midnight we were awakened by a call from our son, unable to join us, telling us about the tornado which cut a swath of destruction through Morehead City, NC.  Inability to see brought by the darkness of the night and loss of electricity seemed to magnify the condition.
Thinking about these two places, miles apart – and seemingly worlds apart – reminds me of the rapidity in which change can come.
I am reminded of the words of the poet Rudyard Kipling in his classic poem, IF.  “Treat these two imposters just the same.”  The real world is not the world we see, whether shrouded in darkness or beauty.  The real world is the one in which our loving heavenly Father reigns on high with a miriad of angels.  There are no problems in that Kingdom, only plans.
Let us choose to live by faith and trust instead of by sight.  Then our darkness can be transformed to day, and the bleakness of our landscape to a wonderland of beauty.

Random Events?

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So Random!

So Random! (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Random Events?

 

I needed to get an early start to the day.  I woke up five minutes before the alarm.  Before departure there was my physical therapy routine for my injured knee, shower and shave, breakfast, conversation around the table.  I wanted to get away by 7:00.  The conference I was to attend started at 8:30.  I had never been to this location in the research triangle.  I needed to consider morning traffic, potential accidents and all the rest.
While traffic was lighter than I anticipated, some places I was a bit over the speed limit of 70 and other places I was going 35 mph in a 70 zone.  But now here I was pulling into my destination having been unsure of which building was the correct one.  There were several parking lots and I didn’t know which one to use.
I pulled into a parking lot with only one car at the far end.  I parked close to the machine which would issue the parking permit for the allotted time of the meeting I was to attend all day.
At the very moment, to the second, I finished paying parking and received my ticket, I saw the occupants of the other car walking up.  I recognized them as three of the leaders for the days’ workshop.
Reflecting on this later, I became lost in wonder.
For me the morning was full of all those ‘random’ events of the morning routine.
Yet in the moment I saw those leaders arrive at the precise second I was ready to leave the parking lot, I became aware of planning far beyond my petty human ability.  In the midst of my morning I became aware of a great Hand present, guiding my path in a magnificent way. Along my way, the events had seemed random.  But to the One who has promised, “I will be with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20) nothing had been random.
How foolish we are not to trust our hopes, dreams, and our very life to this amazing, capable, powerful, caring, loving, thoughtful, planning God!

Oil Change

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English: Australian 1962 Ford Falcon XL

English: Australian 1962 Ford Falcon XL (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Oil Change

160.002 miles on one and 113,500 miles are on the other.  It used to be every 3,000 miles but now I use synthetic oil and so changing the oil every 5,000 miles seems to work.  I once owned a 1965 Ford Falcon that had over 250,000 miles when I sold it.  As they say, the cheapest car you can get is the one you already have.

In less than six years Hugh and Tammy Pennington have driven their 2006 Silverado more than a million miles.  Irv Gordon’s 1966 Volvo passed the 3 million mile mark in July of this year.  He never ignores an odd sound, changes his oil every 3,000-3,500 miles, and generally babies that car.

My father’s 1938 Desoto was still running in 1972 and I can’t say if it still does.  I do know one thing though:  One day that 2006 Chevy, 1966 Volvo. 1938 Desoto and all the rest will stop running and end up in an automotive ‘graveyard’.

We too will all one day be there.  There has been no end of discussion in our nation over what has come to be called “obomacare”.  Instead of joining the fray, I would rather add this:  No matter how good or how bad, how cheap or how expensive our care is one day we too will stop running.  No matter how well we eat, how regular our checkups or how healthy our weight, we will one day end up in the graveyard as well.

Instead of fussing and worrying about whether or not I can get a million or three million miles on my car, I do the best I can but focus on the job at hand made possible by my 2004 Honda Civic.  Instead of fussing so much over healthcare laws perhaps we might make more progress by using the health we have to do the most good we can for as long as we can.  Whether we get 40, 60, 80 or even 100 years out of our bodies, the sights we see, the people and places we visit, the good that is done and the memories made are what counts.  May God grant us strength, purpose for living, light in our eyes and life in our heart all of days whether many or few.

“Prom? Yes”?!

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English: Duluth box car number 18052 on displa...

English: Duluth box car number 18052 on display at the Mid-Continent Railway Museum in North Freedom. Photo by Sean Lamb (User:Slambo), October 10 2004 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“Prom? Yes”

That’s what the train said.  It was early this morning.  On my way down Cumberland to have breakfast and prepare for the day ahead, I heard the sound of an oncoming train.  Just before I reached the crossing, lights flashing red, the barricade dropped, blocking my path.  One, two, three, four engines headed up the slowly moving freight train.
This is gonna be a while I thought.  What to do?  I started counting the cars but soon lost count.   I began trying to read the sides as one by one the graffiti embellished cars rolled past.  Were these graphic displays the work of gangs, an attempt to create art, or something else?  Then it caught my eye.  Amidst the graffiti on the side of the boxcar I could clearly make out, “Prom? Yes”.
I understood that.  A question.  From whom?  Was the yes an answer or was it a hoped for response?  I thought, “Why, in this age of seemingly unlimited means of wireless communication was the side of a box car used?”
We are told that the amount of information competing for our attention has doubled in ten years to something like 35 GB of data.  We are not built to process that much and the overload takes a toll on us. If we are going to pay attention then the communicator better do something special!
Golden skies, billowing clouds, autumn leaves, soft new fallen snow, the tiniest peep of a newborn chick, the cry of our own new baby, the anguished cry of His Son dying for all of us.  No one would or could have done more to get our attention.  Are we listening?