Thursday, October 23, 2008

The Sound of Sirens

Where we live we almost never hear the sound of a siren. It hasn't always been that way. There was Glendale, CA. on Garden Grove Avenue. Then of course, near San Bernardino, CA sirens sounded every day and every night. The police, the firetrucks, the EMT's; it got so we really didn't hear them unless they were headed straight down our street.
So what's the point?
Thank you for asking.
If one is witness to the sights and sounds of emergency that is real, and, if one watches enough television or sees violence larger than life in the movie theater, and, if one listens to enough music that celebrates violence ,their mind and spirit are soon immunized to where violence and emergency are accepted without question or concern as a part of life.
But they are part of life, aren't they?
Yes, they are.
But should we be so calloused as to not be bothered? In today's very uncertain world, shouldn't we be asking, "What's going on?"
What's going on with the economy? not just here in our home Town but across the face of the Globe. You probably heard (I believe it was Merck Pharmaceuticals) that cut 7000 jobs in the last few days. Maybe you or someone in your family has just lost their job. What do we do? How will we survive? Will we be able to pay our bills?
"Oh, this has happened so many times and we always bounce back; we just need a little time and things will be fine;" sure, everything is going to be just fine, every time. All we need is time.
Christ says. "As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the days of the coming of the Son of Man. They were eating, drinking, marrying and giving in marriage until the flood came and took them all away."
There is nothing wrong with eating.
There is nothing wrong with drinking (except alcohol of course).
There is nothing wrong with getting married and having a family.
There is nothing wrong in giving your daughter in marriage.
So what's the problem?
The sirens; their the problem!!
We don't her them anymore and this time they're coming straight down the street to our house. It doesn't have to be fire or a medical emergency; it doesn't even have to be armed robbery, or, God forbid, something worse.
Then what is it? What are supposed to be looking for?

"Watch therefore, for you do not know when the master of the house is coming--in the evening, at midnight, at the crowing of the rooster, or in the
morning--lest, coming suddenly, he find you sleeping. And what I say to you, I say to ll:Watch!"

[Mark 13:35-37]

Perhaps we're able to sleep through the noise of the city; the sirens, the screams, the traffic, the gunshots, the neighbors.

"Be still and know that I am God." [Psalms 46:10]

God Bless! e.c.


No comments: