Hello Dolly - Ain't it hard to be humble?

It has again come to my attention, from many of those who are inclined to view this blog, that providing another fresh entry is long overdue. What do you want from me? Didn’t I last write something right after Father’s Day?

I would remind those who visit here often enough to notice that I don’t change this text readily enough, that I do provide a downloadable “radio-style” audio program at this site as well – and that gets changed as regularly as a baby’s diaper. (Okay, not that regular…but certainly a lot more often than this does. Given that I’m apparently getting more hits here than there, I’d recommend you give that a listen during the intervening timeframe.)

Obviously the request for more writing than talking is flattering, and it indeed has been awhile since I’ve sought to coalesce a few of my more scattered thoughts into a collection of sentences but, all excuses aside, I’ve been a little preoccupied, alright?

Anyway, my in-laws are in town again from South Padre Island, Texas. Now don’t misinterpret my meaning, I certainly enjoy their company, but this visit was precipitated by an excessive amount of water, wind and varying degrees of what-not that was whipped about by a poorly predicted presence named Hurricane Dolly.

I’ve been around broadcasting long enough to remember the first radio station I worked at that installed one of the prototype models of a “Doppler” weather satellite. Back there in Lincoln, Nebraska we used the device to track tornados…and around Southeast Texas the vastly improved units are utilized in tracking hurricanes…along with providing our daily forecasts. But a really neat thing is you can look at satellite images of weather all over the internet now! And even though you can observe what’s occurring in real time…who among us can really say what will actually happen or the devastation that might ensue?

It turns out Dolly was something of an unprecedented hurricane in that it didn’t develop the way these things usually do and then it never bothered to stay on the path that the forecasters expected it would. Ergo, South Padre – more than Brownsville or northern Mexico – took a smack upside the head, a punch to the kidneys, and the ribs suffered a hook from the blind side that left it whacked, walloped and wind-blown.

Despite windows being blown out and lost roof shingles letting in more rain than your standard ceiling could be expected to withstand, among the more sustained damage to the region occurred by knowledge that the electricity couldn't be restored to the island until late in the week. Mind you, this is a place that I would consider uninhabitable were it not for the intervention of electrically operated air-conditioning. Just for grins and giggles sometime try shutting off everything you have that runs on electricity for, I don't know, maybe four or five hours. Then think what it would be like to be without any of these items for over a week. Suddenly you grasp why we have in-laws visiting. And we’re happy to be here for them, or they here with us…if you catch that drift.

So what actually inspired this new entry? For one, it occurs to me that humans are no better at predicting the weather than we were twenty-five years ago. Add to that the severest storms do give one the impression that along with becoming more frequent they are also showing increased violence. And given that in the last twenty-five years if hurricane and tornado predicting has not improved -- where in the recesses of a warped imagination do weather people get the absurd notion that they're qualified to predict elements reminiscent of a catastrophic global warming disaster three to seven decades from now? Just correctly inform me what the daytime highs and overnight lows are going to be for five straight days…then I might be a bit more inclined to listen. Eh, probably not.

Of course none of these weather practitioners, in their arrogance, probably even know that there are some really good weather predictions straight out of the Bible. A source many consider highly reliable. I don’t know if you're familiar with the forecasts Jesus made in Matthew 24? Or the multiple references to weather severity the Apostle John pens in Revelation, but clearly it seems only God the Creator has any real clue about what the weather will, or is, going to do.

This again provides evidence that arrogance remains one of the greatest follies of mankind. On the other hand, I don't think you can really even aspire to being humble – lest you’re already exceedingly arrogant. What person could say, I’m humble? Obviously doesn't a claim like that indicate this to be something their proud of and, correct me if I'm wrong, isn't that pride rooted in arrogance? Still in the prophecy of Isaiah you can read words like this in chapter 57, “The high and lofty one who inhabits eternity, the Holy One, says this ‘I live in that high and holy place with those whose spirits are contrite and humble. I refresh the humble and give new courage to those with repentant hearts. For I will not fight against you forever; I will not always show my anger. If I did, all people would pass away – all the souls I have made.’”

Now to get the context of this passage I’d encourage you to, at the very least, read all of Isaiah chapter 57, but there are some interesting points that God is making here. In verses 1-13 much is said regarding pride and lust (and we’re all pretty familiar with what those are). Then as we read on into verses 14-21 we get a clear picture of how God relates to those who are humble, repentant, and “contrite” these are the ones residing in heaven with Him.

Christianity proclaims that the high and holy God literally came down to our human level, in the person of Jesus Christ, to provide each of us the means for being reconciled, or restored to friendship, with God Almighty (Romans 5:8-11). This was absolutely necessary because there would be no other way for us to find a means whereby we could elevate ourselves to God’s level and standard. For more information regarding this concept spend a moment looking at; 2 Chronicles 2:6, Psalm 51:1-7 (Old Testament) and Philippians chapter 2 in the New Testament.

Basically as Hurricane Dolly reminded my immediate family – any one of us is essentially seconds away from having our lives ripped apart and shattered by a “natural” disaster, news of a terminal illness, or even something less dramatic but every bit as catastrophic. Hence I’ve offered these suggestions as to what I believe is at the heart of “bad things” happening to “good people.” Certainly I’d be interested in reading your take on the topic.

Ever yours regardlessly,

mike