Fear Not

My brother, and a few neighbors, call us about a fire-bug trying to light up Oak Glen.The local and state fire departments, and the community, turned out.The consensus seems to be: why can’t arsonists be burned alive, after tearful repentance, in the public square? (Can any rational person tell me why that isn’t the just response to someone who _purposefully_ starts a fire so as to burn children alive in their homes?)

My brother and I rant. He’s facing, as am I, a systematic, agenda 21 effort to keep farmers from maintaining their own wells. He has a grandchild who tried to close the doors for the day on a local open-to-the public farm. She was met with outright racist (though entirely PC) rhetoric and a demand to keep her property open on their terms, and their schedule.

We ponder Tennessee or Texas or Belize, but we both recognize that the sickness is theological:people don’t want to be changed by the gospel. They want to be pleasured by it. They confuse salvation with civil order, and justification with criminal justice. Christ forgave the thief — but he still allowed him to die on the cross. Misfit post-Christian social justice warriors want him taken down, given food stamps, and a job at the expense of the taxpayers.

And yet..

Two busloads of Rileys (no known relation) drove up here tonight to enjoy the tavern, and the anticipation of a wedding. We installed a new wrought iron rail on the staircase. The dancing, and the couples, at “Rockabilly” are beautiful. (Can an old man be forgiven for celebrating, in his heart, the utter beauty of gorgeous young mothers on the dance floor?) I rented a new fangle water sprayer to keep the dust down on harvest Saturdays, and I’m excited to share the smell of a wet apple road with our guests.

By far, MOST of the people I meet agree with me–on all of the above, and yet the enemy roars like a lion. He wants to devour us, and we would be fools to think otherwise. We ponder earthquakes, floods, fires, and the promise that our faith would be tested, and it is, constantly.

But we also remember His counsel. He is victorious. He wins. And we share His glory with Him.

“Fear Not.”

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