The Blue Church

Winters in Minnesota are, well, different. For our family, after six years in Texas, they were very different. When snow falls in Texas, it’s gone next week. In Minnesota, it’s gone next April.

It all sounds so simple. On the other hand. . .

What is it to follow the science? For one thing, it requires that an idea (hypothesis) be rigorously tested before it is adopted and applied. Following science is searching for evidence, not lobbying for a theory.

The words would be humorous in another context. We heard them during a financial crisis, to justify the taxpayers bailing out banks. The banks had placed risky bets in hopes of big profits, but now that the investment had gone bad, the government was picking up the tab.

In ancient times, people longed for news from afar. It could be weeks or months before you learned that your loved one was safe, crops had failed, or a war had ended. How times have changed! In our own day, we suffer (and that is the right word) from a glut of information.

If the Bible is our Map, Jesus is our Compass. Consider how a compass works. First, it orients you to your location, and the map, and then corrects your heading, or direction, as you make your way.

Maps can be both confusing and comforting. While some folks love them, others find them too much work and frustrating. First, maps require orientation. That is, you need to establish where you are, and know how that relates to where you hope to go.

Nothing spoils the present like obsessing about the past. Solomon warns against this and even tells us why in Ecclesiastes 7:10:
Do not say “Why were the old days better than these?”
For it is not wise to ask such questions.

My favorite female Bible character is Abigail. For her story, check out 1 Samuel 25. You’ll see that she is a beautiful, bright woman married to a rude, crude fool. Sounds like a perfect storm, right?

I love the story about the Boy Scout motto, “Be prepared.” The founder of the world-wide scouting movement was asked the inevitable follow-up, “Be prepared for what?” Robert Baden-Powell, a British army officer replied, without hesitation, “Why, for any old thing!”