Up the Pole

The other day I was reminded – by a post at the side of the road – that this summer would have seen my ruby wedding!  The story is a simple one, but it also leads on to a Biblical link as well.

I’d been working late; although it was a main road there was no other traffic.  I was driving in thick fog.  At one point I was following a white line alongside the car ... but on its left hand side!  With a feeling of panic I realised I was going down the wrong side of the road, and started a correcting drift to my left.  Suddenly, crash!  The car came to an abrupt halt, and my near-side headlamp went out.  When I looked at the damage, I found that the lamp had taken the impact from a metal post that was now leaning at about 45 degrees away from the car.  At its far end was a sign saying ‘lay by’.  I had not only been on the wrong side of the road, but had been driving down a lay-by on the far side!

That incident must have taken place over forty years ago, because I sold that car soon after getting engaged.  What brought it to mind was the observation of some roadside posts coated with reflective paint – silver on one side and red on the other – and I thought how useful these are compared to the one I’d hit all those years ago.  If that one had been painted thus, I should have seen it, even in fog!  At the time, these thoughts offered a convenient illustration to the sermon I was (half-) listening to on my mp3-player.  The preacher’s text was Romans chapter 7, where Paul speaks of sin having no power were it not for the law, and asks rhetorically whether the law is sin (vv.7-8.) 

The next day I heard the story of Jim Thorpe, which provided another illustration for the same point.  Jim was a Native American who won gold medals for both the pentathlon and decathlon at the 1912 Olympic Games.  When, early in 1913, it was revealed that, in 1909-10 he had received payment (although only a few dollars) for playing baseball, his medals were taken from him.  In his letter of apology he pointed out that he “did not know all about such things.”  It wasn’t just that he was unaware of the rule about professionals taking part in the Games; he didn’t know that there were rules!

Whether painted or not, the roadside posts are there to mark the edge of the carriageway.  They don’t protect the carriageway from the invasion of the vegetation on the other side of that edge, nor from the cars that drive on it.  Whether known or not, the Olympic rules are there, not to protect the reputation of Games, but to define each competitor’s rights and entitlements.  In the same way, God’s Law isn’t there to protect Him – He has no need of protection!  It’s there to show us the limits beyond which our behaviour is unacceptable to Him.  If there’s any need for protection, it’s for us, against the wrath of God should we cross that boundary!

At the end of the previous chapter, Paul explained that “The wages of sin (one translation calls it the ‘pay-off’ of sin, because the original Greek word refers to the payment that would be made to a soldier at the end of his time of service; here it’s the end-result of our sin) is death, but,” he went on to explain the very Good News that is the basis of our Christian Faith, “the gift of God is eternal life in (or as a result of the sacrifice of) Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom. 6:23.)

Hang in there!

Do you remember cassette tapes?  Over a period of some thirty or so years, I accumulated a collection of over 100 of them ... and that’s after giving some away!  In time, I changed to CDs for my personal selection of recorded music that I can play to myself any time I like.  Long ago I bought two matching sets of drawers, some fitted out for tapes and some for CDs, to house these next to my stereo.  More recently I realised that the drawers were no longer fashionable, and anyway, they no longer housed a currently supportable means of providing a musical background to domestic life.  I obtained a cupboard to replace the drawers for the CDs.  

But I was still left with those tapes!  I didn’t want to lose them for, despite their low intrinsic value, many would be difficult or even impossible to replace.  I decided that they would have to be transferred to my computer.  I bought a unit from one of those catalogues that fall out of magazine deliveries, and set to work.  It was a tedious business.  Once the software had been installed, each tape had to be listened to in real playback time, and the extent of each track noted.  Then the tracks had to be isolated and labelled on the screen before they could be finally saved.  After completing only six tapes, I gave up, and the unit lay unused at the back of a cupboard.  When I changed my computer’s hard disk, I didn’t bother about re-installing that particular program.

What I really wanted was something that would just soak up the data, rather like a scanner soaks up a photograph, and - plop! - there it is on the computer with no more effort than the click of a mouse.  Last summer, I saw something that looked just right, and at little more than half the cost of the redundant unit in my cupboard.  It arrived bright, shiny and smart, and full of promise.  I set to unpacking it and setting it up beside the computer.  Then I installed the software.   Oh, no!  It was the same program I'd had before!  I should still have to go through that same painstaking process if I wanted to preserve those treasured recordings!

It was about then that news broke of the inner city riots and, like many people, I marvelled at the looting, the greed, and the something-for-nothing culture that seemed to be motivating at least some of the young people involved.  Instant gratification has become part of normal life today, whether it is the acquisition of goods, or seeing a whole project completed in ‘the click of a mouse’.  My prayer notes directed me that morning to James’s letter:  “Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord’s coming.  See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains.  You too, be patient and stand firm ... As you know, we consider blessed those who have persevered.  You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about.  The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.”  (James 5:7-8a,11.)

So, it will be worth it after all!

Cures and Remedies

What’s your reaction when something breaks, or no longer works properly?  It might be big or small, but nothing lasts for ever, they say, and at times like that decisions have to be made.  Inevitably these will be broadly either a) ‘find the remedy/repair/spare part and fix it: it could be as good as new in a few minutes/days/months,’ or b) ‘throw it away and get another one/start again.’

Some years ago, when my first wife told me she was seeing someone else – and why – a friend made us a very generous offer: he and his wife would look after our children while we went off for a week to his holiday home on the Suffolk coast, to spend some quality time getting to know each other properly again, hopefully enabling us to sort out our problems.  At the time we both felt things had gone too far for that: we turned down the offer, and rejected the possibility of saving our marriage.  Our decision was firmly in the ‘throw away and get a new one’ category.  Sadly her new relationship lasted only a few months, and each of us then passed through several lonely years.

I was reminded of this a few months ago when I confronted the fact that my new mobile phone appeared not to be working properly.  I won’t bore you with the symptoms, but the upshot was that it had become unreliable.  I rang the phone company, and spoke to a technician who guided me through the necessary steps to return the phone to its original settings.  Despite many misgivings, and my certainty that what I really needed was a replacement phone, I persevered and tried to use it normally over the next week or so, to see whether the reset had done the trick.

As the days passed, and the phone did indeed seem to be working properly, I found my misgivings diminished.  It was a slow process, however; only gradually did I learn to accept that the remedy had worked.  This experience was the opposite of the marital situation to which I have compared it.  As I reflected on these ‘reject or repair’ decisions my thoughts touched on the Old Testament story of Jonah.  You will recall how, after first rejecting God’s instructions, the prophet eventually went to Nineveh and was so successful in his mission that the people turned to God in shame and repentance.  Jonah couldn’t really believe this, and found it difficult to accept the result.

So, what can I – indeed all of us, now I’ve shared the matter – take from this?  Well, we can resolve to turn to God in the first instance when trouble strikes, and not to leave it until other avenues have been exhausted; having done that, we ought to feel secure in the knowledge that He CAN change things – even people!

Eavesdropping

The other week, I witnessed an odd exchange on the supermarket car park.  The wife was overtaken by her husband at a gentle trot.  As he passed her she must have asked why he was running.  I caught just part of his response: that he was going to tell …. “I’ve already told her,” she protested, walking briskly to keep up with him.  Her husband didn’t ease his pace, “But I need to explain,” he announced, and jogged off to the far side of the car park.  The defeated wife turned back, presumably towards their own vehicle.

Now, what was going on here?  Several questions came to mind.  The wife was clearly puzzled.   She had already imparted the necessary information to the third party; what additional explanation ought she to have provided?   What had prompted the husband’s hasty mission?  Didn’t he trust his wife to inform whoever of the complete situation, or was he concerned that she might have misrepresented his part in whatever had made this message necessary?  Was some subterfuge involved?  Did he need to impart to this unknown and unseen female some detail of which his wife was unaware?  (Can you see the mind of the wannabe novelist at work here?)

Another completely different interpretation might apply, of course.  These two were of an age that they might have had a teenage daughter.  Maybe she had travelled with them to the town centre, and was meeting friends there.  Mother had told her that they would expect her home at teatime; father, however, wanted to dot i’s and cross t’s.  Maybe he wanted to issue strict instructions as to her behaviour, or tell her where they would be during the afternoon, should she need to call them.

When it comes to the variety of stories that have grown up around a definite set of facts, little can be more prolific than religion.  The number of so-called ‘Christian’ sects is scarcely measurable.  When we are faced with unfamiliar rituals or cults, or with another mainstream religion such as Islam or Judaism, it is all too easy for traditional Christians to reject them out of hand, and have nothing to do with them.  While this might be the right response, I feel we ought always to examine these differing beliefs, and discover on what they are based.  What are the basic facts behind them?  Do they coincide with those of true Christianity: Jesus the only Son of God, incarnate, sacrificed for the sins of mankind, resurrected, and returned to Heaven where He intercedes on behalf of believers?  Are some of these elements twisted or missing, or subject to inappropriate additions, further conditions and so on?  We are warned (Rev. 22:18-19) about adding to or subtracting from God’s Word, and surely the same applies to the teaching of His Church.

That supermarket incident is now some weeks ago; the couple were totally unknown.  And, even if they could be located, would they recall a minor exchange that, to them, was part the cut and thrust of normal life?  One thing is virtually certain, however.  They had no idea that their words would become a subject of Christian teaching!