A Soft Answer

A soft answer turns away wrath,
But a harsh word stirs up anger.

Proverbs 15:1

 

My Internet service used to be relatively unreliable when I was running it through a cheap, discount store-bought modem.  Due to my daughter's graduate school needs, however, I upgraded several months ago to a better system through my Internet provider.  Since that time, my Internet access has been mostly perfect.

 

Today my daughter went to the gym for her weekend workout with her trainer.  She discovered, at the end of her session, that some things that were promised to her when she signed the very expensive personal training contract were not, in fact, the current policy of the gym.  It appears that it was a "policy" to get her to sign on the dotted line rather than an actual reality.  This circumstance was going to cause some hardship for her over the next two months, and she did not take the news well.  In fact, she blew her top.  After spouting her dissatisfaction to the powers that be, she drove home - calling me on the way to berate the injustices of the system.  I had warned her about this particular gym from previous experience with similar problems, but I managed to keep my mouth shut and just listen.

 

After she arrived home, she grabbed her lap top and proceeded to write a letter to the head of the gym division that is at the root of her problem.  A few minutes later, she asked to read it to me.  When she was finished, I suggested that she wait a bit, calm down, then remove some (all?) of the harsh vitriol from her writing to make it more effective.  She was having none of it.  They deserved her wrath and were going to get it.  She punched the send button, and.... nothing happened.  She tried to send the email again.  It just sat there.  "Mother," she said, "the Internet is not working!"

We went in to the office and fiddled with the network settings on the main desktop, fiddled with her laptop, and then rebooted the modem.  Nothing.  I was leaving to go on a hike, so suggested she wait a while and then try again.  She waited a half hour and tried again.  No luck.  She went about some other tasks, then came back to the email, rebooted again and tried to send it.  As she stewed in frustration over the lack of service, she began to reread the letter, and my advice to tone it down came back to her.  She removed the harsh words and accusations, and added a paragraph apologizing for losing her temper in the gym earlier in the day.

 

When she had finished her revisions, she read through the letter once again, then hit the SEND button.  The usual movement of disappearing email flashed across the screen as her letter sailed into cyberspace.  The Internet was working just fine.

 

What's Your Hurry?

Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved,

clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility,

gentleness and patience.

Colossians 3:12

 

I was driving home today from an afternoon of banking and errands, driving in the fast lane of the parkway that is my most direct route home.  The speed limit had just increased to 60 mph (a speed most of us had been doing long before it changed), when we became backed up behind a driver in a little blue Kia Rio, going the speed limit in the fast lane (heaven forbid!).  I pulled into the middle lane, and gradually increased my speed to 65 (only 5 over!). 

I happened to notice in my rear view mirror a large silver car flying down the fast lane behind the Kia.  When the driver realized that there was a slowdown, she looked for the tiniest sliver of space to cram her car into in order to move over.  No such space existed.  She then moved up so that the front bumper of her Chevy Malibu was about two feet behind the back bumper of the Kia, and just sat there.  When that intimidation tactic didn't have the desire effect, she began to lay on the horn.  The lady in the Rio finally increased her speed so that she could pull into the middle lane, and the woman in the Malibu tore off down the road, quickly leaving the rest of us behind.

 

What in the world happens to human beings when they get behind the wheel of an automobile?  Where does the compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience go when we have our hands on a steering wheel?  What was so urgent for Ms. Get-Out-Of-My-Way-Now that would cause her to drive so rudely and so dangerously?  The experience certainly brought me up short - reminding me that every other driver on the road is just as precious to God as I am.  He expects me to love them the way I love myself ALL the time - including the times when I am driving.

Judgment

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ,

 so that each one may receive what is due

 for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

2 Corinthians 5:10

 

Yesterday, July 10, in a packed courtroom in Boston, the Boston Marathon bombing suspect, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, pleaded Not Guilty to each of the 30 charges against him, including the use of a weapon of mass destruction.  If those in the courtroom - including police, media, survivors, and the families of the victims - expected to see a young man who was scared, humbled and remorseful, they were sadly disappointed.  The suspect was described by those in observance as "bored, nonchalant, and smug."  His sisters were in attendance, and he had smiles and kisses for them. Those sitting behind him - the survivors of the Marathon bombings - never received as much as a glance. 

I am not surprised that this young man is taking a devil-may-care attitude.  The motivations for the attack were cemented in his character long before the bombs actually went off.  He knew exactly what he was doing, and he did it with terrifying efficiency.  It has been reported that he scribbled the why's and wherefore's for his actions on the inside of the boat in which he was hiding.  I'm sure these writings will eventually be revealed during his trial.  

At times like this, I think it would be wonderful if God could come down and take a seat in the courtroom.  We only have the outward actions of this young man to judge him by.  God, on the other hand, sees past the exterior into the issues and motivations of the heart.  He knows exactly what was going on in Tsarnaev's head - facts that both the prosecution and the defense would love to be privy to.

The Apostle Paul says that every individual on earth will eventually appear before God's throne of judgment to answer for what we have done in our time here on earth.  We will be judged by His Law - the law that He broke down into two understandable precepts:

1. Love God with all your heart and soul
2. Love your fellow human beings (neighbor) as you love yourself.

I have no idea what Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's relationship with God was or is, but his actions on April 15 reveal a young man who had no regard whatsoever for the lives of his neighbors:  the men, women and children on the streets of Boston.