"Only a few years are left before I set out on the road of no return."Job 16:22 (MSG)
I attended a funeral yesterday. Carl was a great ol' soul. His son was my youth pastor. He and his wife were chaperones for our youth choir when I was in high school. Carl had the wisdom of Job and the humor of Mark Twain. I remember his eyes would sparkle as he laughed.
As I sat with my parents and listened to Carl's family and friends step forward to share their thoughts and memories, I looked at the flag draped casket. A few weeks ago, one of the pastors at my church preached his sermon laying inside a casket (don't worry, the lid was open). It was part of a series of sermons on living with the end in mind, and it effectively made the point. We all, as Job said, will take the road of no return. It's worth considering where that road leads.
Carl's family were laughing through their tears yesterday. Carl knew Jesus. Carl walked the path with Jesus. He knew where the road of no return was leading him. His family knew, too. His funeral was not a farewell but a "see ya later."
Those who live by their own rules, not God's, can expect nothing but trouble, and the longer they live, the worse it gets. Job 15:20 (MSG)
In 1993, floods of historic proportions rose in Iowa. Towns were swept away and the city of Des Moines was without water for ten days. I was living in Des Moines at the time and my employer gave me leave to help work in disaster recovery with the Red Cross. One of the most interesting parts of my job was watching the press corp scurry about like an army of ants gathering video, conducting interviews and reducing the enormity of what was happening into a very small sound byte. I was surprised how often the press got things wrong. Situations were overstated. Mountains were made out of mole hills while an entire of range of issues were completely ignored.
I thought about that experience as I read Job and his friends entrenching themselves in their arguments. While each chapter contains a few true nuggets, on the whole they are all a bit short-sighted. In today's chapter, Eliphaz wants us to believe that those who refuse to believe have lives full of trouble and chaos. Yet, I don't have to look very far to know that's not true. I know many people who live by their own rules and are relatively happy. Eliphaz seems more interested in proving Job wrong than in speaking truth.
Come to think of it, that describes a lot of the talking heads I see arguing with each other on the news.
Wendy and I made a quick run to Lake of the Ozarks Thursday evening. We wanted to get the playhouse (above) open for the summer and this was our only window of opportunity before our annual weekend before Memorial Day getaway with friends' Kev & Beck. This was the first time Wendy and I have opened up the place ourselves. My folks usually do it. So, all we had was a list of to-dos and a cell phone handy to call mom and dad with questions.
It's been raining constantly for over a week and everything was wet and muddy. I got the water heater lit and the water turned on (below, top). We had two water leaks that required some clean up (below, middle) and maintenance. We made our way down the check list and got everything ready for the summer.
Of course, we had to make a requisite stop at Captain Ron's for dinner and to say "hello" to the guys at the bar (below, bottom). The sun finally came out on Sunday morning, so we were able to get leaves raked. Though, with the leaves so wet, my attempts to burn were for naught.
We got home late yesterday afternoon. Wendy and I are on video duty for church this morning. We have a dress rehearsal for the Tulip Time play tonight. Then, it's our monthly Sunday night dinner with the gang.
