Standing Together or Falling Apart?

We saw a good street sign today, and I couldn't resist stopping for a group picture:

From July 28, 2011

Yep, we're doing what the sign says. I guess I could've picked a better angle for the picture.

It was fitting to see this sign along the route today, because for the past month, I've been falling apart. Not that there haven't been bright moments, but in general, I've been lonely, depressed, angry, avoiding community, and experiencing something of

Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire;

he breaks out against all sound judgment. (Proverbs 18:1)

and needing to hear this warning:

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. (Hebrews 10)

In Greek, that's all one sentence (actually the latter half of one that starts in v. 19), the import of which is to suggest that "neglecting to meet together" is but a symptom of not "holding fast the confession of our hope" and not "considering one another unto the provoking of love and good works" (v. 25 literal). Thus the strong warning that follows

For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.

There are no explicit New Testament commands telling believers to gather together; it's everywhere assumed they will and do, but when some are drifting in the habit of neglecting fellowship, it's addressed in the strongest terms. It demonstrates an abandonment of hope in the gospel (and attendant apathy for the people of God), for which the alternative expectation is fiery judgment. "Falling apart" is no overstatement.

This makes me all the more thankful for two new forms of fellowship I enjoyed today. The first was meeting to speak and listen to the Word with John Croom and Randy Deas (they're in the middle of the picture below), and the second was meeting with some beautiful people who are part of Remedy Church in the evening for Bible study, prayer, and accountability. It's amazing how powerful God is to speak through such simple and seemingly mundane means.

In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:22)

From July 28, 2011

The Lord quietly thunders over the Tour through Thor's victory in Lourdes

I'm not sure what to make of it all, but I keep seeing conspicuous symbolic providential allusions to the word of God as I ride and even as I watched the outcome of Stage 13 to Lourdes in the Tour de France.

Thor Hushovd, the current world champion and former winner of the green jersey for best sprinter, and one of the heaviest riders in the field, won a mountain stage. As an athletic achievement, the press and other riders were in awe. Here's a sampling of tweets from other professional riders, some riding in the Tour:

Remember "Bo knows..."? Thor knows cobbles. Thor knows sprints. Thor knows TTT's . Now... Thor knows gigantic mtn passes!!! @tomdanielson

I think Thor Hushovd showed today why he wears the rainbow bands of World Champion. Incredible ride.. Nice work by my teammate Lars Bak too! @MarkCavendish

What's a pro cyclists worst nightmare? Racing solo for TdF stage win and knowing Thor Hushovd is chasing you. Fear of God of Thunder. @millarmind (David Millar)

Twitter haiku contest celebrating THOR's victory. Best haiku gets a free world champion jersey. Use #THORhaiku (cc @Garmin @Ride_Argyle) @Ride_Argyle (Garmin-Cervelo)

Hushovd, un ciclista impresionante (Carlos Sastre)http://fb.me/XxmN2pVj

Thor you a machine.... I done the pull in the gruppetto to get up the climb. I was already thinking on tom. Stage. It will be dam hard. (Fabian Cancellara)

Another stage done & dusted. I tried to make that break today, but couldn't get a move to stick. Congrats to Thor again, bloody impressive. (Simon Gerrans)

Fast start on some tiny roads today. HEAPS of Aussies out and about! Thor is incredible hey? #TdF (Cadel Evans)

Just saw highlights of todays #TdF stage. Legendary ride by Thor. Extra mtn training pays off. #GravityDefyingViking (Robbie McEwen)

Even Cycle Sport Magazine, whose (often cynical and always British) authors called Lourdes "our least favorite stage town in Tour history," adding "What works for religious pilgrims doesn't work for followers of bike races," called his stage win miraculous.

I was surprised to hear that no tour stage had finished in Lourdes since 1948. I remember hearing it mentioned several times while watching the Tour over the years, and now that I think of it, particularly in 1994, when the race took a rest day there after the previous day's finish at Hautacam. Knowing Lourdes is a destination for Catholic pilgrims because of apparitions of the virgin Mary, I was intrigued when I heard that the victor in 1948 was Gino Bartali, who as a devout Catholic acquired the nickname "Il Pio" (the pious) and whose rivalry with Fausto Coppi divided Italy in the late 1940s. As I thought more on the way the race played out in stage 13, I almost couldn't believe the conspicuous religious symbolism of it all. Here's a summary of events:

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It's fascinating that Thor Hushovd, nicknamed "the god of thunder", and who in the opinion of the world of cycling (see tweets above), lives up to the title, won the stage. Not only did "god" win the stage, but he did it wearing this:

The rainbow bands of the world champion. Since I've been thinking about rainbows and light lately, I was aware of their presence in manifestations of God's presence, particularly in apocalyptic visions of the "Son of Man" and Jesus the Messiah in his exaltation:

26 And above the expanse over their heads there was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like sapphire; and seated above the likeness of a throne was a likeness with a human appearance. 27 And upward from what had the appearance of his waist I saw as it were gleaming metal, like the appearance of fire enclosed all around. And downward from what had the appearance of his waist I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and there was brightness around him. 28 Like the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud on the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness all around. Such was the appearance of the glory of the LORD. (Ezekiel 1:26-28)

2 At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne. 3 And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald. (Revelation 4:2-3)

10:1 Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, wrapped in a cloud, with a rainbow over his head, and his face was like the sun, and his legs like pillars of fire. (Rev 10)

That verse almost sounds like it was written to describe the picture above. I'll spare you bicycle-related speculation over the fact that Ezekiel's vision also included mysterious wheels with "tall and awesome rims". I'm not sure about the identity of the "mighty angel" either, but his description is quite similar to John's description of the Son of Man, the living one who died and is alive forevermore, in Revelation 1, who is Jesus Christ in his exalted state.

The idea of a "god of thunder" may seem primitive and superstitious to us, and at best rather "Old Testament", if you will, but consider these descriptions of God's voice from Sinai to the Apocalypse:

Moses spoke, and God answered him in thunder. The Lord came down on Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain. And the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up. (Exodus 19:19-20)

The voice of the Lord is over the waters;
the God of glory thunders,
the Lord, over many waters.
The voice of the Lord is powerful;
the voice of the Lord is full of majesty. (Psalm 29:3-4)

The Hebrew word qol may be translated both "voice" and "thunder". Might this point to the nature of the original voice that spoke the universe into existence and is identified with the divine Son?

"Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. (John 12:28-29)

From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God. (Revelation 4:5)

All of this suggests not that thunder is God, or that God sits on clouds throwing lightning bolts, but that the elements of nature that stir in us the deepest wonder and fear, among which are rainbows and thunder, reveal something of the beauty and power of God. And so the "god of thunder" wrapped in rainbows riding victoriously into the sacred city was a subtle reminder of that powerful beauty.

In addition, Thor was pursued in the closing kilometers by David Mancoutie. This stood out to me because David is described in the Bible as "the man after God's own heart" (1 Sam 13:14; Acts 13:22), who said to God "my soul followeth hard after Thee" (Ps 63:8 KJV) or "my soul clings to You" (ESV). When it appeared Mancoutie and Hushovd might catch and pass Jeremy Roy, Mancoutie stopped helping with the chase. In cycling, riders take turns leading and letting the other man draft, and usually one rider doesn't stand a chance of staying clear of two riders working together. Mancoutie became a cling-on to Hushovd's wheel: he didn't want to help chase down his countryman, and he stood a better chance of winning the stage himself by sitting in the draft and waiting for a chance to attack if the race should re-group.

They were chasing down Jeremy Roy, who was actually the main instigator of the ten-man break that stayed away for most of the stage, and amazingly, as of stage 13, had already spent over 600 kilometers in breakaways during the Tour. He was the sentimental hero of the day, and even of the entire race to that point, but his only rewards were a few "most aggressive rider" prizes (the Tour's equivalent of a pat on the back) and after Friday, the lead in the King of the Mountains competition. He was a picture of frustration: as he crossed the line, he beat his chest in agony as Paul Sherwen commented "I know, it hurts in heart". He'd repeatedly tried so hard, so many times, and came up short again:

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"Possibly in a couple of weeks - or even months - I will think that this was a super stage, but right now my disillusionment is too big. I am not a champion, so I have to play with the peloton to try and get a stage win. And again I failed today," Roy said in an overly harsh assessment of his bid. (Taken from: http://www.smh.com.au/sport/cycling/more-than-600km-out-front-but-stage-career-eludes-roy-20110716-1himh.html#ixzz1SRAIMucB)

Jeremy sounds like Jeremiah the prophet riding a bicycle:

I am the man who has seen affliction

under the rod of his wrath;

he has driven and brought me

into darkness without any light;

surely against me he turns his hand

again and again the whole day long. (Lamentations 3:1-3, see also the rest of the chapter)

Jeremiah's heart broke because he stood between God and his wayward people: God would not let him compromise his message, and the people would not listen. But that's not the end of Jeremiah's story; God spoke through this broken-hearted man to foretell the day when He would heal and renew the hearts of all his people:

31 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord.33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” (Jeremiah 31)

But even this renewal of hearts required a broken heart. Jesus said this new covenant was brought about "in his blood", that is, in his agonizing death on the cross, God's own heart was broken, quite literally, for the sin of His people.

What does this have to do with the Tour de France? More than you might think. Even though Jeremy didn't win the stage, his broken-hearted and futile initiative set the stage for the true champion. More than that, he learned a little more of the suffering it takes to be such a champion. Even for Thor, there was a time when he didn't chase down riders at will and triumph over the tour like a god. Read this report from stage 2 of the 2002 Tour:

After their lousy day yesterday, Credit Agricole was glad to have big Norwegian Thor Hushovd in the break. The powerful blond from Arendal was doing a lot of work in the break, but suddenly, after 113 km in Lockweiler, terrible, intense cramps seized the Norwegian's legs. As Berges and Chavanel hammered away, so began Hushovd's nightmare. Perhaps unused to the sudden summer heat, beset by severe leg cramps, the big Norwegian went backwards, straight through the peloton and out the back, where eventually he had to stop with 31 km to go and have his director sportif Roger Legeay massage his pain racked legs before continuing. (Taken from http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/road/2002/tour02/?id=results/stage02)

I remember watching his suffering on television and feeling the same sympathy I felt Friday for Jeremy Roy. Thor finished dead last that day, in 189th place, almost ten minutes behind 188th place, and almost 20 minutes behind the winner. Who won the stage? None other than Oscar Freire, who at the time was world champion and wearing the rainbow jersey:

That was the only other time the reigning world champion has won a Tour stage since 1981, when Bernard Hinault won five. Maybe we're onto something with this "God shows up with rainbows" idea.

It seems the god of thunder's experience in the Tour from then until now is rather illustrative of how cycling, and even all of life, works. Humility comes before honor, suffering before glory, the cross before the crown. On the surface, and in the news, all we see is the glory of a conquering hero, but rarely do we ponder the way to reach that glory. Maybe Jeremy's agonizing defeat this year illustrates the truth of his own name (which essentially means "Yah exalts (a) King"):

6 For not from the east or from the west
and not from the wilderness comes lifting up,
7 but it is God who executes judgment,
putting down one and lifting up another. (Psalm 75)

7 He raises the poor from the dust
and lifts the needy from the ash heap,
8 to make them sit with princes,

with the princes of his people. (Psalm 113)

Isn't it interesting that the Tour visits the city regarded as a holy site to many Christians, and the three top finishers race as if, and in the case of Hushovd, dress as if, they're acting out their biblical namesakes? Maybe we don't have visions of God like Ezekiel and John, but the same God who dwells in unapproachable light and speaks with earth-shaking force still drops hints.

On top of the roof on top of the state on top of the world

A car pulled up next to me at a light this evening, and the passenger immediately asked me with unusual boldness how I was doing. I said I was doing alright and looked off again; I was lost in thought before he said that. He continued, "I'm just trying to enjoy this evening; it's beautiful. I got up earlier and felt great. I'm on top of the f***ing world!" With that they sped off. That was odd, thought I. But he was right, it was a conspicuously beautiful evening.

After work I was eager to get in a second ride after doing 40 miles with the group in the morning. I've remembered each time I've ridden the past two weeks just how good it is for my mindset and mood, especially when my spirits are otherwise sinking. I decided to head up to the north end of the section of county east of Lake Wylie, the "rooftop" as I've always thought of it since seeing it on maps as a child:

Along the way there were some amazing sights:

Crepuscular Rays at sunset, near state line on highway 51. I'm so privileged to be able to get out and see such glorious beauty.

From there I ventured over to Carowinds, where I realized how close the entry road comes to the actual corner of the county. It was out in a field according to the Garmin. I had to venture out to find the actual corner.

Back wheel in one state, front wheel in another.

Wider view for context. The grass is 2-3 feet tall, and there were plenty of large grasshoppers and locusts. FUN!

View from the rooftop of South Carolina. The Intimidator looms large. The White Rose (that's what I call my bike) actually handled quite well in the tall grass. A flower at home in the fields I guess.

I was reminded by all this "rooftop" thinking of how for a time when I was in 9th grade, I would come home from school and climb a tree beside the house and hang out on top of the roof for an hour or two. I'd forgotten about that.

The sky continued to offer more sights that directed my gaze upward. The crepuscular rays I'd seen earlier were strong enough to do this:

Anti-solar rays. I don't see these too often. Actually the only times I've seen them fully visible from one side of the sky to the other have been during my mom's Walker family reunions: Missouri in 1998 and Arizona in 2000. I saw some intense anti-solar rays after our reunion last summer, but after I returned to Rock Hill, but I don't remember if they visibly connected with the crepusculars in the middle of the sky. Interesting that I just returned from another family gathering earlier this week. We gathered in Black Mountain, the site of last summer's bigger family reunion, to celebrate my mother's 70th birthday (I know, she doesn't look a day over 55). It's fascinating to me that the only time I've seen the rays connect is when I've been together with my family from the west coast. Seems rather fitting. Things like this make me have hunches that nature is more personal than we tend to think. I'm reminded of how both of my father's parents were buried on February 20, one in 1990, the other in 1998. Both days were dreary, overcast, and rainy, but on both of them, after the burial, the clouds parted to reveal a rainbow. Maybe coincidence, but I like to think there's more substance to ideas like Paul's (and God's, if we believe the scriptures are inspired) in Romans 8 than we often allow ourselves to think:

18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees?25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

One of these days I want to write more of what I've observed in Scripture on the connection between the gift of the Spirit and the redemption of all creation. That might be more of a book, though.

My cheap phone camera doesn't do them justice. They were quite well-defined.

As I stood in the middle of Carowinds Blvd lost in wonder, these words came to mind . . .

Psalm 113:3 From the rising of the sun to its setting,
the name of the Lord is to be praised!

And particularly verse 4 of

Psalm 19:1 The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above [1] proclaims his handiwork.
2 Day to day pours out speech,
and night to night reveals knowledge.
3 There is no speech, nor are there words,
whose voice is not heard.
4 Their voice [2] goes out through all the earth,
and their words to the end of the world.

And Paul's mysterious quotation of this verse in Romans 10:

13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? [3] And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” 16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” 17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

18 But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed they have, for

“Their voice has gone out to all the earth,
and their words to the ends of the world.”

Paul says that those who've not heard the gospel have heard it on the basis of the "words" and "voice" of the heavens and the skies? What? You're losing us, Paul. Or maybe if my speculations about the personalness of nature are correct, and nature is speaking to us, interacting with us, like these crepuscular rays and the bear my brother saw last Monday, there's something going on in nature that calls for closer attention and more sensitive ears and hearts.

All of these things I've been thinking and writing lately are leading me back to something I remembered while riding Monday in the Swannanoa Valley of North Carolina. This took me back:

Warren Wilson College. I was intrigued by that school my senior year of high school. I wanted to study environmental science or geography at a Christian college. Thinking about that made me realize how it's been a nearly lifelong quest of mine to understand the non-human parts of nature and creation in light of what I believe as a Christian. It's why I thought I wanted to pursue that course of study in college (it didn't happen; when my mom and I read the catalog from Warren Wilson, I was stoked that they required students to serve on the campus farm, but a little troubled that they didn't seem to take the exclusive claims of Christianity very seriously. I never pursued other options, I think because I was just depressed and lacking motivation.); it's why I used to annoy my friend Craig by reading Bible verses when we were looking at astronomical phenomena through his telescope; it's part of why I decided to research and write about the curse of the ground in Genesis 1-11 for my master's thesis, and lately it's been manifesting itself in this blog. I feel like I'm coming home to myself, though I've never really been gone, I'd just hidden these things in my heart for a long time.

I feel like I'm getting perspective on this, on myself, and on the world. You could say I'm close to being on top of the world. Maybe the guy next to me at the traffic light was on to something. If I can bring together his rather crude but comical comment with the word of God, here's the next part of Psalm 113, which I didn't remember when I saw the anti-solar rays tonight:

4 The Lord is high above all nations,
and his glory above the heavens!
5 Who is like the Lord our God,
who is seated on high,
6 who looks far down
on the heavens and the earth?
7 He raises the poor from the dust
and lifts the needy from the ash heap,
8 to make them sit with princes,
with the princes of his people.
9 He gives the barren woman a home,
making her the joyous mother of children.
Praise the Lord!

The God who made the rays I saw tonight sits high above them, on top of the world, but also lifts those at the bottom of the world to sit on top of it. On top of the f***ing world indeed.

Prudence to the Simple and Spiritual Bears

I've been reading Proverbs lately, and the main thing I've been learning is that I'm a fool.

Several themes have stood out to me, all of which are hammering home my lack of wisdom:

1. The wise are careful in speech and their words lead to salvation, life, and fruitfulness. I'm reminded of my carelessness in speech, particularly on the internet where I don't have to face the immediate consequences of my words, and with close friends and family, where there often is no disapproval or disagreement to make me carefully weigh what I say.

13:3 Whoever guards his mouth preserves his life;
he who opens wide his lips comes to ruin.

See also Proverbs 10:8,11,14,18-21,31-32; 11:9,12-13; 12:6,13-14,18-19,23; 13:2; 14:25,33; 15:2,4,7,14

2. Diligence

These are making me re-evaluate my goals for the year, even this riding and writing thing. Am I working my land or following "worthless pursuits"?

Whoever works his land will have plenty of bread,
but he who follows worthless pursuits lacks sense. (Prov 12:11)

Also Proverbs 10:3-5,26; 12:24,27; 13:4; 14:23; 15:19,21

3. A person's righteousness preserves and saves him/her. As a child of the reformation and Augustinian "miserable sinner" spirituality, I don't like to think in these terms about my righteousness, but these speak rather plainly. Still a balance to be found with other wisdom texts such as Proverbs 20:9 and Ecclesiastes 7:20, and the fulfillment of wisdom in the wise man Jesus, whose life and message are folly to those who trust in their own understanding (1 Cor 1:18-31). Still, the idea of righteousness cultivated becoming such a force in life that it can preserve and save us . . . wow, I'm made aware of how I lack it and drift the other way in bad habits and patterns. But in other ways I've been preserved by righteousness, and as I consider it, all of it is a gift.

11:3 The integrity of the upright guides them,
but the crookedness of the treacherous destroys them.
4 Riches do not profit in the day of wrath,
but righteousness delivers from death.
5 The righteousness of the blameless keeps his way straight,
but the wicked falls by his own wickedness.
6 The righteousness of the upright delivers them,
but the treacherous are taken captive by their lust.

Also Prov 13:6; 14:27,30

4. Desire and Expectation

15:15 All the days of the afflicted are evil,
but the cheerful of heart has a continual feast.

I've known that feeling before. Have been knowing it some these past weeks. Also Prov 10:24-25,27-28,30; 11:7,23,28; 13:4

5. The wise listen; fools speak. I've been on a speaking kick since the beginning of the year. Okay, writing kick, but I'm challenged by this, especially as I consider how my writing has been degenerating into speculation and sulking.

15:14 The heart of him who has understanding seeks knowledge,

but the mouths of fools feed on folly.

What fools speak becomes their food. I'm noticing a lot about the importance of patterns, habits, and character. I fall so far short. Also Prov 14:23,33; 15:5,10,12,28,31-32

On the subject of words, I was with my family in Black Mountain over the weekend to celebrate the fourth and my mother's birthday. Monday afternoon my brother opened the door and yelled "Bear!" The men of the house ran out to see it, but it had already scampered into the woods. The women huddled inside and got all protective and hesitant about going to the evening's fireworks display. I went downstairs to poke around where it had gone into the woods, as my brother-in-law commented on how stupid I was. He was right, but it was the most exciting thing I'd heard of in a while, and I was high on endorphins from a hard bike ride, feeling a little invincible, and in the mood for more adventure. Plus, I figured the bear had run off not to return; that if it did return, it would be scared of me more than hostile toward me; and if not, then I could run. Then he told me they can run 35 mph. I picked up some rocks.

We were all on edge, looking up information about on iphones and the like, but since I'm old school and don't have such gadgets, naturally I started reading the Bible. What can I say? I take cues from nature as reminders to listen to what God says about things. My dad mentioned David killing a bear with his hands, and I'd been intrigued in previous months by David's sense of divine intervention in his earthly task of tending sheep, so I turned there again.

1 Samuel 17:32 And David said to Saul, “Let no man's heart fail because of him. Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.” 33 And Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for you are but a youth, and he has been a man of war from his youth.” 34 But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep sheep for his father. And when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb from the flock, 35 I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth. And if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him. 36 Your servant has struck down both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.” 37 And David said, “The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” And Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you!”

What previously stood out to me was that David's confidence that the LORD would deliver him from Goliath was based on his understanding the He had previously delivered him from lions and bears. What struck me this time was the phrase in verse 34, "Your servant used to keep sheep for his father." Why? Because it reminded me of

John 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. 30 I and the Father are one.”

Jesus uses the phrase "My Father" five times in John 10, where he also calls himself the "good shepherd" three times, and continues on the theme of his followers as His sheep and a gift from the Father for the whole chapter. David had confidence that God was at work in his shepherding not just because of his personal greatness or piety, but as a foreshadowing of the greater work his descendant would do in shepherding the flock of his Father, the people of God. This got me asking the question, "If that's true, what are the bears and lions our good shepherd defends us from? How does David's striking them down illustrate something greater Jesus does?" Scripture speaks of the devil as a lion:

1 Peter 5:8 Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

Interestingly, that too is in the context of addressing both Christ and ministers in terms of shepherds (1 Peter 5:1-5). But what are the bears? Are there bears that Christ defends us from? I couldn't think of any texts that used bears figuratively to teach truth, but in the meantime we were all suddenly thinking a lot about bears. What kind of bear was this? What do they like to eat? Why do they become dependent when fed by people? What kinds of bears live in the in the Blue Ridge?

Polar bears?

Panda bears?

Koala bears?

Chicago bears?

gummi bears?

Berenstain Bears?

Grateful Dead bears?

Sorry. We'd had a few bears at that point. Beers I mean.

An answer came to me the next morning as I thought more about Proverbs and what it says about the effects and consequences of words, especially after enough time with the family to remember how harsh we can be with each other, and how anxious we all still were at the thought of a 300 lb bear strolling across the yard as we loaded up to leave.

James 3:5 How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! 6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. 7 For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, 8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 9 With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. 10 From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.

Almost sounds like a sermon that could be preached by this guy:

Here's the point: we were hyped up over the danger presented by this untamed beast, but all the while oblivious to the untamed beastly words flowing from our mouths that are "full of deadly poison". And how often are we all terrified of those things and creatures that can kill the body, but have no fear for those forces of evil within ourselves that can destroy our souls, and the God who warns us of them who can destroy both soul and body in hell?