It is interesting to see the different perspectives and different landscapes from one locale to another. One of the things we must enjoyed on our trip was seeing the different landscapes. New Mexico has beautiful red rock and is pretty all along I-40. I never knew that and would not have believed it. When you cross into Arizona it looks like Texas east of Amarillo on I-40 (dreadful) but then you get into the mountains of Flagstaff and it is gorgeous. After climbing to 7000 ft. you drop to 2000 ft. over an hour and a half as you come into Phoenix. Tall Evergreens turn into twenty feet high cactus. If you go the other way, north of Flagstaff you hit the desert just as quick. I find all that fascinating.
Perspectives are different too. We rode in rain from Birmingham to Greenville, SC last Wednesday. It was a dreadful, white knuckle, road construction, too much traffic, too much water, too much water on the road, kind of experience. When we watched the news that night the breaking news story was "Trees are down." They then stood reporters in front of the roots of about 5 trees that had fallen in people's yards across the county. Yes, that is right. Their top story was trees are down. In the great state of Mississippi we don't even consider it a rain unless some trees go down. I mean if your wife and children are not up walking the halls and looking at the windows to see your three dozen pines shutter in the wind then there has not even been a front come through. Until a tree destroys something you got, you are not considered part of Mississippi. (Pause now....for a moment of silence over the children's trampoline that was tragedically lost the first year I was here but allowed me to be inducted as a citizen of MS.) Trees down don't make the news here. It takes more.
Then I came home to MS and turned on the news and a black bear has wandered into a nearby area. No, I am not talking about the new mascot in Oxford. That is a whole other news breaking story. I speak of a black bear, not much bigger than my dog. that was seen by the road. The media ran out to the area and picked some of Mississippi's finest to say, "I saw it...I did." A black bear has wandered in. Come on! When I lived in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains it was like a petting zoo for some of my northern neighbors. They would go outside at night and shoe the bears away. It did not make the news until some good ole boy shot one and kept his paws. That don't go over too well. That whole story about catching his paw in the screen door and it falling off was not taken very well. My point: there are different perspectives on what makes the news, what is right and wrong, what is normal and what is not normal.
There are various spiritual landscapes in any locale in which God places you. Do you regionalize and seasonalize your message to satisfy what people want to hear? Scripture guides me to not try to change or marginalize the message of God's Word that speaks to any region, to any people, at any time.
http://www.lifejournal.cc/bible/ ' Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.'- 2 Timothy 4:2. People won't always like what you say if you stick to the Word. Sometimes they will feel offended, take it personal, or just not like it. My job is not to lick my thumb to get a sense of the spiritual climate so that I can condition my words accordingly. My job is to preach the Word faithfully and with patience and let the Holy Spirit work out the details. Whether its strong winds that tear them out of frame or black bears, they all need the Word. Let's be careful today to give it to them in word and in deed. Have a great day!
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