Cooler, But Still Stormy

9/28/22

Is it just me, or is it possible a “junk” drawer can fill up with a strange assortment of things some of which nothing comes to mind as to from whence it came? I’ve been searching for a small piece of note paper which has a name and address I need to find. When I got as far as the dresser “junk” assortment drawer, I pulled it out and decided to clean, throw away, and organize the remainder. Small drawer but no small task. I have left a couple of things on the kitchen table to ask my wife, “what the heck is that?” I’m sure she’ll say, “It’s something you said not to throw away.” (She’s not a collector of useless items, if you get my drift. Makes me a bit surprised she hasn’t yet discarded me!)

I discovered coins from another nation, 2—JFK 50cent pieces, a small adjustable wrench I’ve been wondering about for almost 3 years, and various golf bag items and multiple knives (knives?) You can guess without thinking very long what I didn’t find: right, I didn’t find the small piece of paper with the address I need. So, I’ll try another tactic to find that factory address. But, the “junk” has been thrown out and the drawer is cleaned, and that’s worth something, I hope.

As you can see it is nearing the end of September when I’m writing this and we are so glad to finally be getting cooler weather. Sort of a hot Summer here in NEAL. Most people from here say it was very hot, but we still have close memories of Texas hot so we didn’t suffer much. We do love these cool mornings, sitting on a covered patio with a fire pit fire, Bessie running around chasing the neighbors two dogs, and our morning talks. (When I first wrote about early morning talks, I referred to them as “square table talks,” now I guess they are “fire pit talks.”) This morning we sat in the front yard due to the two dogs I mentioned causing our little Bessie no end of consternation (they run the fence line and she believes she must 1.) keep up with them, or 2.) protect us from their invasion, or 3.) show them she will not give up—she will run longer than the big dogs!) We’re worried she might die of exhaustion if it keeps going the way it’s been since they’ve moved back.

I like the front yard, it is close to the street and I get to see the neighbors go off to work and wave at them as I am not going off to work. One neighbor has two dogs who do very interesting things when they come out for their morning constitutional. Neither is a bother to us at all, but cute to watch. The older and smaller of the two will walk down the hill to our front and if I’m out there he comes over to me, let’s me pet him, then goes around my chair to let me pet him with the other hand, then just goes his way (across the street to the woods and hides his morning do-do, then goes home.) The younger and larger of the two will not pay any attention to me at all. He just goes his route and returns home, no nonsense like getting petted or paying any attention to his name being called. Dog personalities are very interesting, aren’t they? Bessie is beginning to be use to our front yard, stays off the street and close to our chairs. Seems to like the quieter existence.

There never seems to be a time when we are not out of the political season, Have you noticed? I respect and am enamored by the right of Free Speech, but it is frustrating to see the preponderance of politics as the time consumer it has become.

It doesn’t surprise me to watch politics at any level. Locally, you can hear it in the voices of people looking to get an advantage somehow. You can never hear politics in an individual just trying to do his/her best who have no agenda of which to attend. Seeking an advantage to gain one’s hopes isn’t automatically wrong or bad, just noticeable and just about always centering on their particular political advantage. 

But this morning the focus is on Hurricane Ian charging its way across Florida, looking at the devastation in its wake, and wondering whether it will regain strength and then return to hit the land again before fizzling out. Having gone through the direct hit of Frederick in 1979, then watching several more before moving to Texas in 1986 and, of course, the multiple weather channels and 24/7/365 news channels, we know first hand what all is possible and how devastating these things are to the private lives of millions of people. Here in our area the likelihood of tornadoes is great each year. In fact, just a few years before we moved here tornadoes (about a dozen) ripped apart several small villages and much of the suffering is yet to be gone from many people we’ve met, loss of lives the greater mournful memory, but also property and even historic landmarks gone.

These storms are most often referred to by insurance companies as “an act of God.” Let me say the God of the Bible, God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ is not the perpetrator of such storms. It probably is a “god” who has caused the wind’s cycling to cause all this devastation, but it is a “strange god or gods” —little g—as the Bible refers to them and they are whom the Lord God Almighty has determined an end. But not yet.

Living in the “dispensation of the grace of God” has given us His grace as being sufficient for us, even in storms and the raging of all the rest which is constantly causing people to stop seeking the truth of God’s Word.

Thanks for reading,

The Elder