CHARGE! I Kings 2:1-12

Yes, I know that I have failed to maintain the two-a-month pace I had hoped to keep upon pledging to return to blogging.  Still, it is only August and maybe I will still be able to make up for lost time.  To that end, I offer this entry.  

I have had a particularly rich time in I and II Kings recently while navigating through the Word of Life Quiet Time.  History, right, how compelling can that be?  Well there are still life principles that can be learned from the triumphs and failures of others and applied to individual situations these many centuries later.

Remember, this is just an observation...

It seems to me that in Western culture, we are missing the setting of landmarks in our lives and the lives of others.  That is, we often transition from one stage of life to another with nary a meaningful recognition of the passage of certain milestones.  Oh, yes, I know that we celebrate high school graduations with an open house party (though this is not true in some parts of the country, I have heard), we celebrate weddings with a ceremony and reception (the latter also not being universal), and we mark that final passage with the final acknowledgement—the eulogy, the postponed praise we give in honor of one who is no longer able to hear it.

These occasions are all great times—and there are likely others, such as the birth of a new child, for instance—for the passing along of accumulated wisdom from the oldest to the youngest.  (Whether the youngest are receptive is another topic for another day, perhaps.)  I am of the opinion that these momentous occasions call for charges to be given. 

Among the 15 noun and 21 verb entries found, a charge is defined as “an order, command, or injunction” (n.) and “to instruct or urge authoritatively, to command.”(v.)  A charge is not merely suggestive in nature, as if it was optional, but is a strongly motivational message with the desired effect of helping someone to know what the right thing is to do, and to direct them into doing it.

King David viewed the occasion of his impending death as monumental enough to give a charge to his son Solomon, instructions for ruling the kingdom.  After all, David would soon no longer be available for counsel.  David had one last shot to get it in.  David tells Solomon to be strong and to “prove yourself a man.”  Further, he says in I Kings 2:3,

“And keep the charge of the Lord your God: to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, His commandments, His judgments, and His testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn;”

Finally, David told Solomon there were a couple guys who needed to go on his hit list, namely Joab and Shimei (“…you are a wise man and know what you should do to him…”) while advising him to repay kindness to the sons of Barzillai who aided David when he was in peril.

I certainly am not the model parent and if I had things that I would do differently—which of us does not?—I think that I should like to have been prepared with words of wisdom and encouragement for my daughter during certain stages of life—certain birthday milestones, high school graduation, the beginning of college, and the like.  I should have had solemn charges the implementation of which would enable her to better prosper in the midst of various life changes.  Sadly, there are no do-overs in life.  One can only learn and move forward with the hope of trying to do better tomorrow, as Tony Kornheiser promises daily.

The wedding of one of her elementary school classmates recently reminds me that perhaps I should prepare something for the occasion of the daughter’s wedding one day that will be full of wisdom yet pithy and instrumental to her matrimonial success.

King David was fortunate in that he could see that he was near the end of his natural life and had the opportunity to make a final charge to Solomon.  We don’t always have that privilege—death may come suddenly and unexpectedly, and does to some.  Maybe I should be working on that charge now, too.

Whatever specifics may find their way into any future charges, the wisdom of I Kings 2:3 is a good universal starting point for anyone—live according to God’s Word in order to enjoy a life blessed by God.  

The Curse of Winter

Love it or hate it, winter seems to come at least once every year and so it seems that there is little to do but make peace with the season and try to get through the best that you can.  I said, “You.”  See, I don’t mind winter so much.  I like and dislike things about each of the seasons so I celebrate—and endure—each one. 

The start of each new year occurs in the winter and along with it come multiple resolutions for more good things (working out, saving money, finishing that degree by correspondence course) and fewer bad things (smoking, overeating, whining about how terrible winter is). 

One of my resolutions, I guess, is to blog at least bi-weekly, if not more often.  Because I have not been consistent, and my daughter has dogged me about it, more blogging falls into the “good things” category.  As this is the second Saturday of the month as I begin, I will have already broken one of my main resolutions if I don’t post something before retiring for bed tonight.  Never mind the time; the day is over when I am done with it.

Here, for your consideration, are the five worst things about winter (with the best things to follow in a separate post)—

 

5) Heating bills

The high cost of heating one’s house in an effort to keep the cold air outside where it belongs is one of the worst parts of winter.  It can be controlled somewhat by employing alternate sources of heat, such as wood stoves, pellet stoves, and the like.  Costs can also be managed by choosing to live in a cooler house, as my friend Lori and her husband Kevin do.  Still, for those of us who live somewhat normally, heating bills rise and it’s no fun to pay them. 

4) Weather Whiners

They seemed to be out in more force last year than ever before, and we barely had any winter at all.  We had a dreary, snowless Christmas here—as we did again this year—and still people complained about the cold and the snow and the cloudy days and the possibility of snow and the chance that it might be cold tomorrow and on and on it goes.  Get over it.  It’s Michigan, it’s wintertime, and the temperature tends to drop a little bit and the snow is likely to fly.  The weather is not as annoying as the people who bellyache about it.  Either stop whining or move to Cuba or somewhere.  If everyone does one of these two things, I can take #4 off my list and replace it with #6.

3) Whiteouts

Of course, I am not speaking of that most valuable tools of error correction for the era of typewriters but of the worst possible driving conditions—blinding snowstorms that prevent a driver from seeing beyond the 5.75mm of the windshield.  Dangerous, indeed, and nerve-wracking, too.  Following the wracking of nerves may often come the wrecking of car.  I don’t typically mind driving around town in wintry weather, but across open spaces in blizzard conditions so as to impair my vision is not on my list of The Best Things About Winter.  This would be higher if I regularly were forced to encounter them, but I am not.

2) Postponements and Cancellations

Maybe it is just me, but I don’t like disruptions.  If I have a plan, I like the plan to be carried out.  That is why having sporting events, church services, and such postponed or canceled makes my list.  I hate that I have to settle for doing whatever was going to be my second or third choice and that I may have to reschedule an event just because there was a surplus of weather one day.  There is weather every day.  So what?

How is it that church services are canceled more and more due to weather? This was not always the case. Who better than Christians to exercise their faith in trying to assemble for instruction and worship?  While the believers are bailing out, others somehow make it faithfully into work, to the grocery store, the restaurants, and that bastion of survival supplies, the video store.

Second to church and church-event cancellations, misusing the terms “postponed” and “canceled” drives me nuts.  Listen and learn: canceled means forever gone, never going to happen, not to be rescheduled to a later date; postponed means simply that something is not going to happen on schedule and will be reset to occur on a different date.  Two very vastly different meanings and people can be misled when one is (mis)used for the other.  Be clear.

1) Illnesses

Doesn’t matter if it is influenza or the common cold, I don’t like it.  Strep throat or sinus congestion or a maniacally wild coughing fit.  If it is something you can give to me and I don’t want it, then I am against it.  They are all unpleasant, sometimes painful, and to some degree debilitating.  I mean, few things knock me out like a sinus infection—makes me feel like I have been awake for three months straight.   Winter, with people being inside more and in closer quarters, seems to breed more illnesses than the other seasons.  Being sick is my number one worst thing about winter.

It may not be a coincidence that all five of these are things about which I have limited or no control.  Not that I fancy myself a control freak; the longer I live, the more things I find over which I have limited control.  Each of these, however, cuts into my enjoyment of life and hinders my capacity to do what I want when I want, with negative side effects all their own.

So, I will try to release my grip on “what I want to do” while in the grip of Old Man Winter and just let myself roll with his blustery punches.

My first entry of 2013 is complete!  Watch for more, both of a biblical nature as well as mere opinion pieces such as this.  If you agree, great!  If you don’t, well, just remember: it’s only an observation.

Coming soon:  The Blessing of Winter