“GET ME SOME BARBWIRE!”
Good Morning Friends,
Last night I went out to dinner with a couple of guys and we talked about the Southwest Florida of the 1960’s and 1970’s. Our wives were discussing whatever they discuss about life and family at a Pot Luck Circle meeting of the woman at Church. I am pretty sure that our discussions had some similarities but on the surface were very different. The guy’s talk was about stories of the old west with a setting in Florida… the place that started the cattle industry in the United States. Back forty to fifty years ago we had restaurants where people arrived on horses and as they entered had to hang up their guns and take a numbered tag they showed as evidence to identify which weapon was theirs as they settled their tab.
It was a time when law enforcement rested in the hands of a few and often they had to become creative in not so much reconciling love and justice…the topic of yesterday’s devotional…but in just maintaining order and deciding what was worth prosecuting and what was not. It was a time of extremes. Killing people was a management tool and yet back then Deputies would pick up drunks and take them home instructing their wives to have the guys pick up the keys to their cars the next day at their office. That probably would not happen today. Then my friend Jim told a story about which he had some firsthand knowledge for he was always out in the community making deliveries of building and farm materials. The snap shot of his story we will come to in a minute. First let me give you the back story. One of the landowners in the Bonita Springs area had a poacher on his land, so he went to the Sheriff and told him that he was going to kill the (insert your favorite angry phrase here) when he caught him. The Sheriff said “Billy, whatever you do, don’t kill him.” Billy replied with emphasis and growing agitation, I am gonna kill him, I am gonna kill him! He is killing my deer and shooting and stealing my cattle. I’m gonna kill him!” “Don’t do it Billy,” the Sheriff reiterated, “whatever you do to him don’t kill him.” Now here is where my friend Jim enters in the story for he happens to arrive at the Sheriff Substation just as Billy arrives in a truck with this guy in the back all tied up, bloodied up and kicking and screaming and moaning all at the same time. He dumps this Florida Cracker, who did not want to change his hunting habits out of his truck as the Sheriff looks on and Billy says, “Here is the poacher. See, I shot him but I didn’t kill him.” Then as he is driving off he turns to my friend Jim and says, “GET ME SOME BARBWIRE!”
Scripture: The words of Nehemiah son of Hakaliah: In the month of Kislev in the twentieth year, while I was in the citadel of Susa, Hanani, one of my brothers, came from Judah with some other men, and I questioned them about the Jewish remnant that had survived the exile, and also about Jerusalem. They said to me, “Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.”
Nehemiah 1:1-3 (NRSV)
There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that hurry to run to evil, a lying witness who testifies falsely, and one who sows discord in a family.
Proverbs 6:16-19 (NRSV)
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
Philippians 4:6 (ESV)
Message: There are a lot of stories in the Bible about how things change. Most of them ask us to the state the problem…identify the inequity. We need to verify how we know it is the problem and then identify who has the answer. Much of life is in the making of one decision after another. Stories help us to see how this plays out and Nehemiah is good for reading about the process and the journey. But the problem of problems started way before him with the crunching of the apple in Eden. Friends, the problem is sin. We know it is a problem because our cattle are being stolen and our fences are down. The journey to a solution starts with a walk with Jesus from the garden to the cross…from the cross to the grave and from the grave to the sky. Friends it is not about barbwire as much as it is about a crown of thorns… walk with the person with the answer and know it is Jesus. Know the God of History…the God who changes culture and transforms community.
Pray we ask the right questions. Pray we know the person with the right answers. Pray we have an abundance of Grace on the journey. Pray we share our problem with others who can help resolve the issue. Pray we take the right steps to resolve the problem. Pray we focus on the task at hand until the problem is resolved even if it takes a while. Pray we realize that God is always the person with the best solution. Pray we realize that things can change for the better even if it means we have to change too.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 