No Sparks!

 September 30, 2020

Last night’s debate went pretty much as everyone thought it would, which is to say, disappointing. That’s politics for you—lots of bluster with more heat than light. I used to think people needed to hear my thoughts on such matters, but usually even I don’t need to hear them. Most people live in their own little echo chambers, hearing people just like them reinforce their own biases, listening to the other side just only enough to be formulating a rebuttal. 

My personal musings have often felt somewhat unimportant in comparison with the great issues of our day, but more and more, I’m becoming convinced that being faithful in the often smaller circle in which we find ourselves has significance far beyond that of the talking heads of the media. Take today, for example. My day began with the reading of Scripture; Deuteronomy in particular. It got me to thinking about how we determine which parts of the OT Law are to be taken literally and which we can leave behind. I read today about the punishment for a woman who intervenes in a physical altercation between her husband and another man. If she grabs the other man’s genitals, she was to have her hand chopped off—shades of Sharia! Yet there are other parts we Christians still observe. I’m still working on that one!

The rest of the day was pretty ordinary; hosting our Dunkirk pastor’s prayer group, moving topsoil, showing grass seed where we took down the cherry tree, then picking up a window for our granddaughter’s bedroom before finishing the wiring. I consider it to be a good day when after wiring a room, we flip the breaker and don’t see sparks. Everything worked just as it is supposed to, and I don’t think I’ll need to worry about burning down their house.

So it was an ordinary day. Tonight I am praying for friends dealing with cancer, for others whose marriages are in jeopardy, for teachers and kids struggling with COVID-induced educational chaos, and for my brothers and sisters in Cuba who are dealing with shortages far beyond what we are experiencing. The world keeps turning, the power brokers keep scheming,  the devil keeps whispering, but God is still God, choosing the least, the forgotten, the humble; and for that, I am thankful tonight.