I heard Ann Graham Lotz the other day
on the radio. She pointed out something very interesting, which I
should have seen myself, but hadn't. She was saying that as a mother,
she remembers labor pains as increasing in frequency as the actual
birth of the baby draws near; and that the passage where Jesus
relates end time events to a woman in labor pains should be seen in
that way. Events will be closer and closer together. So I'm wondering
if we're about to see another group of strange and disastrous
events.
I also wonder if this 'events in groups'
timing helps explain the paradoxical nature of Matthew 24, that is,
where people see strange things which should be a wake up call, but
are nonetheless caught off guard. People will become accustomed to the
lull in the storm, and will expect another break when a group of
calamities are happening; thus are they pacified into believing
everything is alright.
Be careful about details. I never quite
understood the saying “The devil is in the details”. Does it mean
that one can spend too much time worrying about trivial details; or
that overlooking details can be costly? Probably the latter, but I
want to relate some recent events:
I had a number of people contact me
about work, enough so that if all goes right, I'll be able to stay
working and paying bills for six weeks or two months, which isn't bad
in this time and place. All the requests came in within a relatively
short time. It probably wasn't a good decision, but I decided to get
all the related office type work out of the way at once, then I would
have weeks of productive work; or so the story goes. I took more than
a week to make sketches, get measurements, call suppliers, and bid
the jobs.
Then, It seemed as though they were
all evading me. Customers weren't avoiding me or turning me down, I
can tell when that's happening. It's that everything had a delay, an
interruption, it all stayed just out of my grasp. It was starting to
seem bizarre. Upon closer examination, I found that things were
stranger than usual, but not as bad as I had thought. A client that
I've sent emails to hadn't received my latest one. I should have
called to be sure they received it, or sent it in the way that
verifies it has been opened. Another client seemed to never answer
their phone when I called it. It turns out I was using his old
number. I talk to him every couple of months; one one of those
occasions he asked me if I had his number. Granted, he didn't say my
NEW number, but now I know that instead of saying “yes”; I should
say “yes, that's _ , right?”
However, I'm not alone in slacking at the details. One of the above
clients paid me with a check made out to my name with the word signs
added to the end. I looked at it and told him they wouldn't cash it.
He said sure they will. I said no, not at all, the always harass me
about stuff like this (they do). He said look, if you have any
trouble, have them give me a call. That folks, is banking circa 1969
or so. So it was, they wouldn't cash it, and they wouldn't call him.
When he called, they still refused. The bank is attentive to joint
accounts which use the word “and” or “or”; they're also
attentive to details like exact company names.
Perhaps one finds more paradoxes when
looking for them, maybe my life is this Twilight zone sort of thing;
whatever. You know your gears are getting a bit rounded on the teeth
when you're swimming in the weird, but can't expend the effort to
contemplate it all. That or you wonder how cool a nose hair mustache
would be. I'm kidding. I don't contemplate things like that.
Back to the paradoxical. We've been
really busy since we moved into this house; getting the appearance
better, making it ready for winter, and more. So the old electric
cook stove didn't make it to the top of the priority list.
It had its share of problems; a knob
was missing, so one had to shift them around in order to use all the
burners and oven. One of the oven elements was out, so one had to
guess at what temperature setting to use, and how long to bake . Not
easy, but add to that the door needing to be held closed with a strap
on the outside. Finally, the handle broke, and there was nothing to
attach the strap to. Answers to the name “lucky”. I had no
indoor work, and a rainy day gave me a chance to take in the scrap
metal; which pays decent these days. A medium load pays at least
$120. We had no replacement stove, or money to get one; but my wife,
being the woman of faith that she is, said to add this stove to the
scrap metal load.
Now me, being a skinflint that would
put the tightest Scotsman to shame; I would have maybe opted for a
tie down strap from the truck to hold the door closed. You know, the
kind with the little ratchet thing in the handle? But not her, she
said that being rid of this one would let us get another one sooner.
Bear in mind that she is masterful in the kitchen, she takes baking
to an art form. On the truck it went.
Two days later, she finds this listing
on Craigslist, in the swap section. All the ad said was “fs or t”,
which I guess meant for sale or trade. The guy had a list of things
he wanted to sell or trade, a stove being one of them. We had to
verify that it was an electric stove, not wood. The guy hadn't been
able to sell or trade his stuff, and had to get the stove out of his
daughter's garage. So he agreed to trade it for an electric leaf
blower vac thing my wife had bought at a garage sale. Turns out that
the stove was incredible. Digital clock and timer, glass top, burners
that heat really fast; by far the nicest stove we've ever had, and
the guy went ahead with the trade. He probably wanted to help the guy
in the 33 year old truck, whatever the case, we really needed that
stove. So it was, 2 days after the scrap run, she had this awesome
replacement.
So why not junk the old truck and the
old computers, with their big clunky monitors? Not so fast...It's a
matter of faith not physical action. That and I think our teen agers
needed to see a miracle right then. So what's the paradox? The Bible
says to be content with such things as you have. I like my 33 year
old truck, and my old computers. The truck is a Toyota, and keeps
running smooth. I suppose that when it gets in the condition of that
stove, I can back off in the contentment department, and have the
faith that I'm doing the right thing.
But not a minute sooner. New stuff
would hinder my status as King of Cheap.
