Being snowed-in in 2009 isn’t quite the same as it used to be. First of all those weather people on television told us it would start to snow at nine o’clock. It started at nine o’clock. They told us we would get a foot. Aha, they missed it. We only got 11 inches. Secondly the world comes to us via radio, television, Internet, e-mail, text messages and cell-phones. Land-line phones will soon go the way of the typewriter. I have a friend who is under house arrest. He wears an electronic device around his ankle to monitor his whereabouts. Some punishment! He has a house filled with electronics that transports his mind anywhere. But in actuality we don’t need those things for our minds to take us to far off places.
Some years ago a surgeon friend invited me to watch him do a heart bypass surgery. I was positioned at the head of the patient as he split open the man’s chest, reached in and held the beating heart in his hand. As I watched, I thought we could also hold a brain in one hand yet the brain can contain the universe. A good book can take us places electronics cannot. A good book not only creates the picture but fills in the smells and doesn’t need violins and soft piano music in the background to stir our emotions. Our minds graphically create all the details.
If you would like to spend an afternoon with Jesus take your Bible and slowly read Mark chapter one. We were snowbound today and today I watched Jesus go home with Andrew and Peter only to discover dinner wasn’t ready. Peter’s mother-in-law wasn’t well. That was no problem. Jesus took her by the hand and she was instantly well. Dinner was soon on the table.
Written by Roger Bothwell on March 3, 2009
Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574
Rogerbothwell.org