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Saturday, January 29, 2022

The Parable of the Masked Man

 


It came to pass that one day I took my journey upon the road that leadeth from Rustburg to Brookneal that some call Route 501, but others call “Brookneal Highway.” 

Though it beareth the name of Highway, a speedy turnpike it is not.  For there pass many Log Trucks and slow conveyances that make it anything but, swift passing for those In A Great Hurry to get to Brookneal.

As I was travelling in my Pickup Truck I came to a small rise in the road.  As I crested the top of that little hill, I discovered that which had remained hidden before.  For, lo, a car was travelling rapidly in my lane, directly toward me, passing a Log Truck. 

I gazed at the highway and behold, I saw there was a double yellow line which speaketh wordlessly to the wise, “Do Not Pass!”  The hair on my arms did stand up a bit straighter for several seconds and I pushed speedily upon my brake pedal to slow my Truck that we might not have a Meeting of the Minds at 55 miles per hour.

As this car got back into its lane, I looked and perceived that truly this driver was wearing a mask of the surgical type which protects its wearer from viruses of all types, even from that which the scientists have named COVID-19.  And I thought me that it would have been some consolation to this driver’s mother, had he been pulled from the flaming wreckage of his vehicle, after passing on a double line, to have been found wearing a mask and also, perhaps, wearing clean underwear.

While I traveled on to my destination without further mishap I could not leave from thinking about the message of the Masked Man in the Toyota.

Those who wear masks speak clearly that they do so for safety. Yet, although the multitudes may practice safety in one area of their lives, they do not do so Across the Board.

Mayhap it was this same sort of inconsistency that the Pharisees struggled with.  They were the servants of the law, following it down to the tiniest details and yet the Master saw something more that was missing.  He told them, “Ye pay tithe of mint and anise, and cumin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law:  justice and mercy and faith.  These ought ye to have done and not to leave the other undone.”

There are many who Rise Early on Sundays and travel to a House of Worship, thinking that they will earn Extra Credit with their Creator and do not realize that they are missing out on some really important stuff.  For the One who speaks to us through The Word says that He loves mercy and justice and humility, not simply Church Attendance and Good Singing.

These things you ought to have done and not to leave the other undone.

Lo, there are too many Christians who travel the highways and byways of this life quite unsafely, even as they wear their masks to the glory of God.

Sunday, January 16, 2022

Winter Storm Izzy


 

"I heard that we might get two to three feet of snow!"  My patient told me with a shiver in her voice, as though she were getting ready to embark on an Arctic expedition bound for the North Pole.

"I don't think so," I said.  "I heard that Roanoke was going to get ten to twenty inches, but only four to six inches here."

"Well, that's great!"  She told me enthusiastically.   "I don't like snow.  They can send it all to Florida for all I care."

As the days churned away since that conversation, the forecast has dwindled.  Now, it is for two to three inches of snow, mixed with sleet.

I happen to like snow and wouldn't mind a blizzard, but that is neither here nor there.

More than anything, this conversation brought to mind the fact that weather forecasters are not prophets -- at least not in the Biblical sense of the word.  Prophets in the Bible claimed to have messages from God.  As such, they were not allowed to be wrong -- the punishment for false prophecy was death by stoning.

I am afraid that we have lost track of the Biblical imperative to speak truth.  It is particularly important when we speak things in the name of God.

Over the last couple of years, I have read many things from Christian people that were anything but accurate -- either about the present or predictions of the future.  Unlike with meteorologists, it is not enough for Christians to be occasionally right about things that are happening in a couple of days.

We must do better than those forecasters who are not really sure if we will get one or six inches of snow three days before the Winter Storm Izzy.