Hope you have great weather this weekend, because it’s one of the big cookout and picnic times of the year. As noisy as your picnic might be, it’s nothing compared to what may be the strangest picnic in American history. It was 1861…the Civil War had just begun and the Confederate Army was advancing on Washington, D. C. The battle with the Union Army would be joined at a creek in Northern Virginia called Bull Run. Meanwhile, the ladies and gentlemen of Washington left church and headed for a Sunday afternoon picnic on a hill overlooking Bull Run. Incredibly, they were having their picnic as soldiers were dying on the battlefield below.
It’s that “changing seasons” time of the year. About time to start changing clothes; to go through the wardrobe and put away the short sleeves, get out the long sleeves. It won’t be long before it will be time to break out the sweaters. At different seasons, different clothes, right, but same skin.
As I see kids heading off to school these days, I remember the days we were sending off our little Hutchcrafts. Their mother would tell them helpful things like “don’t forget your homework” and “avoid mean dogs.” I’d send them off with two little words, “Go MAD!” The neighbors probably thought I had, but this wasn’t about insanity. It was a challenge to live God’s way when no one else is. It might be what your kids need…or maybe even their parents.
It’s classic Charlie Brown and Lucy. Charlie’s charging down the field to kick the football that Lucy’s holding, and at the last second, Lucy moves the ball and Charlie goes flying. Now, few people know the name of the guy who holds the ball, but he really matters to the kicker.
Folks used to look at the sky and say, “The sun’s revolving around the earth.” They were wrong. Copernicus showed us that the earth revolves around the sun, and we should be glad. The other way around…we’d all be dead!
