From Gramps

The temperature today is somewhere in the mid-Arctic average in Cedar Hills. Snow lies heavy on the ground, in two-foot drifts. In Brookings, Oregon, it’s mid-fifties and sunny, the palm trees not swaying, the residents not bragging because they don’t want to be discovered by the rest of the world. I’m not dreaming of a white Christmas. We just had one of those. I’m longing to be in LA – or Cancun, somewhere really warm, on a beach where the sea water washing over my lazy body is about the same temperature as the air. But I’m not.

I’m in Utah. I’m fortunate, in spite of my longing for sun, sea, sand and solitude. I’m not in a war, although my country is. I am of the right age to have been just a little young for one war, a little too old for another and physically unfit for either. I haven’t seen, first-hand, the violence and carnage of war or felt the unimaginable pain that must be experienced by parents, spouses and children of those who go to war and don’t come back. I haven’t experienced the sense of needless loss and outrage suffered by relatives of those whose lives are snuffed out by drunk driving or mall massacres – and hope I won’t be called upon by the unkindness of fate to do so. We who are so fortunate should count our blessings. I do. Every day.

I mentioned that our country is in a war. It’s in several. The sites can be located on world maps. In each one, there are generals on each side, or, at least, individuals who have leadership roles. From some perspectives, it’s not always easy to distinguish the good guys from the bad guys. There are always some of each on both sides. The good guys take their orders from someone higher up, usually also good guys, people with apparently good intentions. In my not-so-humble opinion ALL the bad guys get their orders from the same source, directly or indirectly. That source would be the general who goes by many names, operates from any location he chooses and is not going to quit until totally defeated, certainly and finally. I do not refer to Osama Bin Laden.

The general to whom I refer carries on operations EVERYWHERE. Each one of US is an object of some campaign or other to bring us down. It’s what he does. Large and ugly or small and subtle, his tactics are designed to hit us where we are weakest – and we are each different in what they are and how we expose them to his advances.

We have an ally. Better than the US was to the British and French in two world wars and to the South Koreans in a smaller one and a more effective one than the US was in a Southeast Asian war, He also has many titles – King of Kings, Lord of Hosts, the Messiah, the Savior of the World, the Prince of Peace, the Son of God who, with a whip, drove the money changers out of the temple and, with tender care, gathered the little children around Him and blessed them with his love. Similarly, He blesses us, not by removing all our problems and challenges, for He knows we need them, but by providing that which we cannot provide for ourselves – reassurance that our adversary WILL be conquered at length and that we are not permanently denied His physical and spiritual presence or that of Him whose children we are.

I thought it worthwhile, for my own benefit if no other, that I make known my feelings and convictions on that subject. Why I got there by starting with the weather, I am unable to say. I guess it’s all part of a package.