Llamas

ByHal Hammons

If you happen to find yourself in Sun City, Arizona, watch out for llamas.  At last report two of them were running wild, creating a great deal of havoc with local traffic and amusing any number of YouTube viewers.

Presumably, the llamas have a home somewhere, and they left it.  In retrospect, they probably regret that decision.  But in any event, we have to deal with reality, not the world of our own imagination.  And reality, in this instance, is two creatures running pell-mell from here to there, being chased by dozens of well-wishers who wouldn’t hurt the llamas for anything in the world.  And the longer they run, the more confused they get, the further they get from home, and the more unhappy they become.

Reminds me of some Christians I know.

Exactly what are they running from?  What are they running to?  Do they even know?  Or is their life so unsatisfactory in the moment that they have forgotten what a “blessed” life even is?

Jesus, thankfully, is always there to remind us.  Be warned, though; His notion of “blessed” won’t match ours very well. Matthew 5:3-12 says nothing about a living wage, or cooperative children, or a wife that won’t burn the biscuits.  Rather, it speaks of developing and maintaining a godly attitude of heart that manifests itself in godly behavior.

The good news is, you have complete control over those things.  Not so much with the wage, the kids, and the biscuits.  Lucky thing for the llamas. 

So quit running.  Quit blaming your brethren.  Let us help you find your way home.  

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Firstly, it’s no wonder Debs was so effective in his day with wordplay such as that.  Secondly, it’s “created equal,” not “born equal.” 

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ByHal Hammons

Mathematician David Hilbert had inscribed on his tombstone, “Wir mussen wissen. Wir warden wissen.”  He was German, in case you thought this was going to be a note about typographical errors made in granite.

“We must know.  We will know.”  That’s the translation, and a powerful commentary on mankind’s need — mandate, even — to advance the boundaries of knowledge. 

“It is wiser to find out than to suppose”

ByHal Hammons

We all love the story of Naaman from 2 Kings 5.  We may even get a chuckle or two out of the great Aramean general’s assumptions about how God’s prophet would cleanse him of leprosy, and how he appeared willing to go home in a huff rather than reconsider his preconceptions.  “Behold, I thought” — it has made for many a sermon title over the years, including one or two from me.

But are we that much better than Naaman?