Spring
Well, spring has sprung. And that means a host of new articles in this space about Hal’s lawn maintenance. Those who have been reading this column for a while have gotten used to this, I suspect.
The early signs are good this season.
Why we left Egypt
Throughout the Old Testament, “Egypt” is used as a metaphor for slavery. The Israelites spent 430 years in Egypt, much or most of which was spent under the Egyptians’ thumb. The kind behavior shown to Joseph and his family was not continued by the Pharaoh “who did not know Joseph” (Exodus 1:8). Life soon became intolerable for the nation, even to the point of being forced to kill their own male children. But God was watching over His people the entire time, even and especially during the worst days. And when the time was right, God intervened. Pharaoh was humiliated, Egypt was crushed and looted, and Israel emerged on the other side of the Red Sea as a nation to be seriously regarded and respected.
But the story was not yet over.
Hope
The advent of the new year is all about hope. We hope the good things we have experienced in the outgoing year will continue and increase. We hope the bad things we have experienced will diminish or disappear.
But hoping is far different from wishing.
Nervous
Coach Gene Stallings (who was a Texas Aggie long before he hooked up with the University of Alabama) likes to tell the story of a young kicker who was struggling in practice. “Coach, you make me nervous,” he said.
“Son,” Coach Stallings replied, “I’m going to be at every game. If you’re nervous now, you’re really going to be nervous on Saturday.”