The ground is level, but some piles are higher.
Ruth and I were driving home tonight after working on a house that we were repairing after Katrina disrupted life here on the Gulf Coast when a Spiritual truth revealed itself in a very profound way.
We had just driven past a church that had its parking lot filled with all of the furniture as well as the carpeting. The pews alone about filled the parking lot.
Next we drove by a marina where lots of expensive boats were sitting in mud. Apparently the boats rose up with the flooding and then mud was driven under them while they were elevated and now they are moored in muck. Some were across the road on dry ground. The covered slips were not covered any longer.
Then we drove through a neighborhood where lots of houses are still barely visible under several trees that are resting on them. As we drove down the streets every house had everything that they had in their houses piled next to the street. You can see all of their appliances, furniture, TV's, all of the contents including clothes heaped up in a pile plus most of them have stripped the sheetrock and insulation and piled that up as well and then they have cut up the trees that had littered the yard and piled those up next to the street as well.
As we drove past these houses Ruth turned to me and said something like this, "?You can tell the difference between the poor folks and the rich folks because the rich folks piles are higher." We saw where an old boy had hastily painted a sign in front of his pile that said, "?This is the result of 30 years of work."
My mind immediately went back about 20 years to a book that I had read by Francis Schafer by the name of "?Ash heap Lives."
The gist of the book was that Americans spend about 75% of their lives working to buy things that eventually end up on the Ash heap.
Of course you could imagine the scripture verse that rolled through my mind about then as well. Mathew 6:19-21 says, "?Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust, and flood waters, destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust, do not destroy, and flood waters cannot touch, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." I added "Flood waters."
We are so slow to learn and the sad thing is that some of us never do learn until it is too late.
One more story. We have a FEMA inspector living with us here at the church and he told me of meeting with a man who had lost everything in the hurricane plus his wife died just about the time Katrina hit. When the inspector met with him he said that he has lost everything but the thing that he is having the most trouble with is that he had nothing left to remember his wife by, even the love letters that she wrote him now are gone. The inspector said at that point the interview was over because he was crying just as hard as the man. He had to leave to regain his composure.
Ruth and I were driving home tonight after working on a house that we were repairing after Katrina disrupted life here on the Gulf Coast when a Spiritual truth revealed itself in a very profound way.
We had just driven past a church that had its parking lot filled with all of the furniture as well as the carpeting. The pews alone about filled the parking lot.
Next we drove by a marina where lots of expensive boats were sitting in mud. Apparently the boats rose up with the flooding and then mud was driven under them while they were elevated and now they are moored in muck. Some were across the road on dry ground. The covered slips were not covered any longer.
Then we drove through a neighborhood where lots of houses are still barely visible under several trees that are resting on them. As we drove down the streets every house had everything that they had in their houses piled next to the street. You can see all of their appliances, furniture, TV's, all of the contents including clothes heaped up in a pile plus most of them have stripped the sheetrock and insulation and piled that up as well and then they have cut up the trees that had littered the yard and piled those up next to the street as well.
As we drove past these houses Ruth turned to me and said something like this, "?You can tell the difference between the poor folks and the rich folks because the rich folks piles are higher." We saw where an old boy had hastily painted a sign in front of his pile that said, "?This is the result of 30 years of work."
My mind immediately went back about 20 years to a book that I had read by Francis Schafer by the name of "?Ash heap Lives."
The gist of the book was that Americans spend about 75% of their lives working to buy things that eventually end up on the Ash heap.
Of course you could imagine the scripture verse that rolled through my mind about then as well. Mathew 6:19-21 says, "?Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust, and flood waters, destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust, do not destroy, and flood waters cannot touch, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." I added "Flood waters."
We are so slow to learn and the sad thing is that some of us never do learn until it is too late.
One more story. We have a FEMA inspector living with us here at the church and he told me of meeting with a man who had lost everything in the hurricane plus his wife died just about the time Katrina hit. When the inspector met with him he said that he has lost everything but the thing that he is having the most trouble with is that he had nothing left to remember his wife by, even the love letters that she wrote him now are gone. The inspector said at that point the interview was over because he was crying just as hard as the man. He had to leave to regain his composure.
posted by Jim Burton at 7:49 AM
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