How are we to be righteous?

If we do our best to practice the love Christ told us to, how do we do so without hurting others? Those whose unrighteous acts were driven by their misunderstanding of that same love, or a secular but still innocent good Samaritan desire to help their fellows, or by their believing they are motivated by the Holy Spirit? How do we stand up for what is right without hurting others careers, families, reputations, feelings, or sensibilities? How can we speak the truth (in love) when the truth we must speak is considered obscene, prejudiced, discriminatory or a lie by those who must hear it? When others are trying their best to do what is right but fall so far short as to do what is wrong should the righteous write a book about the situation necessarily revealing all the unrighteousness of the others?

Sometimes it seems the righteous path is a very narrow ledge along a cliff face with a bottomless void on the other side; a difficult walk at best.

Praise God for his love and promise.

Sunday School

We decided last fall to study the general letters of the new testament. In a paroxysm of glibness, I suppose, the class wanted to pursue the study from the back forward so we started with Jude. We worked back to the pastorals, and now are finishing the letters to Timothy. It has been an interesting study. It seems the two primary themes that are hammered over and over and over in these letters are the admonition to personal holiness driven by love, and the caution to maintain the unadulterated truth of the gospel in the face of powerful efforts to add to it, revise it, or dilute it. Interestingly, it seems those letters are truly timeless and as valid today as they were when written.

We have decided to move on to the letters of Paul to the churches, and will be maintaining the bassakward approach we have started. It will be interesting, no doubt.

Rare horticulture

In between showers yesterday I was out in the yard. The mushrooms have given way to other, more unusual fungi like devil's cigars and round golden brown things. More interesting still are the molds I found. On a stack of two year dry milled mesquite is growing a blue-green colored mold that has the consistency of the dust from a vacuum cleaner bag. It is growing on the light yellow outer wood of the mesquite predominately, but has spilled onto the red heartwood as well.

On remnants of an old elm stump a black, gray tipped spiky mold is growing very well. It has covered the stump and the visual effect from a few feet a way is very striking. I can't describe it. I suppose I should take a picture.

Interesting things that grow in this wet, cool environment. Keeping an eye out for the mango trees and monkeys.

Fishing Delerium Tremens

The rain continues daily around here. Each morning I expect to see mango trees growing outside my window and monkeys swinging through them. Every day, sometimes morning sometimes afternoon, at least once a day there is a tropical downpour for half an hour to an hour. Some days it just winds up and rains all day. The weather radar is red and yellow and green all over, always a few thunderstorm cells travelling around looking for some place to dump a load of water. The creeks stay full. The little ones are lovely brooks and the larger ones become raging rivers within minutes of the start of the rain.

On the bright side, the lawn and gardens look like it is still May. On the dark side the grass needs cutting every fourth day, and the rain only allows it at its whim.

Needless to say getting out on the lake is impossible. Each time we try the radar suggests plenty of wind, lightening, and rain will join us.

The result - fishing withdrawal. Guess I will have to get into researching the history of weather around here. So far we have broken the record lows many days this summer, more to come.

Boats

The photo at right is one taken by Tom Lovett on a fishing expedition in the late 1950's. I really like the way it shows the recreational boat and the commercial oiler. The scene of a diesel powered tug pushing a fuel barge up the intercoastal somewhere along the wilderness of South Padre Island, probably just south of the Port Mansfield cut, could be repeated today. The tug and barge today would look identical to the one in the picture. The recreational boat is a very different story. If that were to be seen in the same location today, the coast guard would likely be called to round up the obviously deranged individual who would take such an inadequate and inappropriate boat on such an outing.

Imagine taking that old v-hull (marine plywood) boat pushed by a 10 - 15 horse Johnson outboard up the Laguna Madre for several hours! Thank goodness for fiberglass, dargel/shallow sport, and hi-power outboards.