Minutes of Meetings with God
and with Myself

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Signs ...

Michigan's Upper Peninsula is a different kind of place, the kind of place in which at the end of April there are still 6 to 8 foot snow banks along the roads, and where part of the ritual of spring is, when the snow has melted, people sweep their front lawns.

On one of the few relatively warm, sunny days during a visit to the Keeweenaw Peninsula, I actually saw folks with their brooms out sweeping the grass in front of their homes. I am not kidding about this, now. It is a serious job for people in those parts. They have to sweep off "the black stuff" (some mixture of sand and chemicals that only God and the county road commission, well, maybe not the road commission, really knows what it might be) that is used to treat the snowy and icy roads in the winter and which gets thrown with the snow into their yards every time the road crews clear the snow off the roads and that will kill the grass if it's left on the lawn.

So, if folks there want to have nice green grass during their two or three days of summer, they have to take a broom, and sometimes, a rake, to their lawn to get as much of "the black stuff" off as possible.

I found the process of sweeping the grass so interesting and intriguing that I almost volunteered to help someone do it, so I could get first hand experience with this unusual ritual of Spring, but, thankfully, I came to my senses and contented myself with merely objectively observing. I do love work and could watch it forever.

Anyway, some things are very different in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

While we were there visiting some of my in-laws, we got to go out to eat for breakfast, and have some really good food, eggs, and ham and American fries with onions and cheese and cinnamon toast. We had a chance to show our pictures of our trip to the Holy Land to about 20 people of the church where my brother-in-law, Ken Toth, is pastor. They seemed to enjoy the program and asked us good questions, some that we were even able to answer.

And, we got to go out to eat for lunch, at a lovely Chinese restaurant that makes delicious General Tso's chicken. We got our annual vacation dose of television (we don't have a TV at home and mostly only watch it at friends' homes or when we're traveling). And we got to sleep in most mornings

And, did I mention that we got to eat out, several times, for supper, some really good food, fish and steak And my sister-in-law, Lillian, made great taco salad and a couple of fabulous cheese cakes. My brother-in-law (the one that's the pastor) made terrific milkshakes and malts.

It's a wonder that my wife and I didn't gain a ton of weight while we were "Up North." Maybe we gained just half-a-ton.

Some things in Michigan's Upper Peninsula are, sadly, too much the same as things are around where we live.

We had been in the Keeweenaw only about two days when the local community was stunned by the news that one of its teenagers, a 16 year old, died while "huffing". "Huffing" is a way to get "high." It is similar to what people used to do several decades back by "sniffing glue". "Huffing" tends to be particularly dangerous because it starves the brain of vital oxygen with potential for causing permanent brain damage; and, it greatly stresses both the lungs and the heart creating the possibility of heart or respiratory failure. And "huffing" is dangerous because it is done with items that cannot be easily controlled, a towel or large cloth and especially any household air freshener that comes in an aerosol can. The stuff needed to "huff" is available in almost every home.

While most of the community was shocked by the young person's death and the way that the person died, it was pretty clear from the reaction of some of the local authorities that they were aware that a substantial number of teens in the community have been experimenting with "huffing". The "signs" were there indicating what was going on. Sadly, it has taken the death of one of that area's children to goad people into doing something about the problem.

When Jesus walked this earth, he got into a heated exchange with some of the local authorities of his day. The controversy was about "signs"and proof that Jesus' Gospel is true, that people needed to listen to Jesus' teachings and warnings, that people needed to repent, to change the direction and quality of their lives because they were destroying themselves and because the Kingdom of God is at hand.

"The Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus and tested him by asking him to show them a sign from heaven. He replied, "When evening comes, you say, 'It will be fair weather, for the sky is red,' and in the morning, 'Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.' You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. Matt 16:1-3"

The people back then did not want to heed the signs of the times. They did not want to admit anything was wrong. They did not want to admit there were things in their personal lives, and in their lives together as a community, that desperately needed to be changed because those things were killing them physically and spiritually. They did not let themselves see all the indicators all around them that told them explicitly they were in great danger. Jesus told them they had all the signs they needed, what they had to do was heed the signs

. We need to interpret the signs of our times, the signs that can lead us to save ourselves and our children. Just as there were signs in that Upper Michigan community that there was a serious problem with "huffing," especially among the junior high and high school aged young people, there are signs that too many, especially youngsters (not even teens) in our local, rural communities know about and are experimenting with "huffing", too. We will pay the horrible price, the lives of our dear children, if we ignore the signs.