“There’s sign to be read on the ground, then there’s that in a man’s eyes.”      –Mike Blakely (The Snowy Range Gang)

“And in the morning, ‘Today will be stormy because the sky is red and threatening.’ You know how to read the appearance of the sky, but you can’t read the signs of the times.”      –Matthew 16:3 (HCSB)

People have always done stupid things, that’s a fact of life. However, now I’m beginning to believe that stupid is becoming the norm. For example, just go for a drive anytime, any place and you will see stupidity go rampant. Not only is it stupidity that is becoming the norm, it is arrogant stupidity. Take for example that journalist that fired an AR-15. He said it was like shooting a bazooka (I’m sure he has done that as well), and that it gave him PTSD. Maybe stupidity is a close kin to being an outright liar. Firing a weapon will not give you PTSD, unless maybe you’re a complete sissy, but it is also a slap in the face to those whose have the disorder.
Take this one from a few months back made by our pseudo-president. Remember when he said that Christians will have to stop clinging to their guns and religion? It might be time for him to say that about Muslims, ISIS in particular, or jihadists. Oh, excuse me, I read where that term in no longer politically correct, especially in meeting within the executive branch of the government.
Stupid!! Arrogantly stupid!!! In fact, much of what is happening is now beyond stupid!!!! I could rant and rave all day, but then that would make me stupid and I would be in a depressed, bad mood and that would make me even more stupid.
Not to make light of a stupid situation, but one thing I do know, and there are people who would call me stupid; I know that God has everything under His control. That is not to say that we do not have our part to play. If you think that you can sit back of a “spiritual couch” and just let the world go by, well, you’re stupid.
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The pastor where we attend church preached an excellent message for fathers yesterday. I said it years ago, that the family, next to God, is the key to keeping the nation strong. When the family is broken, when the family is sick, then the nation is broken and sick.
In the years that I spent as a school administrator I could usually tell the condition of the family by watching the kids. Sure there are exceptions to this, but more often than not if the kid was having problems, there were problems at home.
While I’m at it I might as well mention divorce and dead-beat dads. Want to see problems, well here are two of the biggest. There could be a major discussion as to why God said He hated divorce, but let it just end and recognize that He does hate it. Dads who are not doing their job, or are absent from the family, well, they are some of the lowest of the low type of people.
“‘For I hate divorce,’ says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘and him who covers his garment with wrong and violence,’ says the Lord of hosts. ‘Therefore keep watch on your spirit, so that you do not deal treacherously [with your wife].'” –Malachi 2:16 (AMP)
“If anyone fails to provide for his own, and especially for those of his own family, he has denied the faith [by disregarding its precepts] and is worse than an unbeliever [who fulfills his obligation in these matters].” –1 Timothy 5:8 (AMP)
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Oh my, looking at the next character trait in Peter might make some upset, especially any Postmodern Christians (if there is such a thing). After steadfastness Peter says to add piety. There are two aspects to piety: a) This is the person who always correctly worships God and gives Him His due, and b) This is the person who always correctly serve his fellow-men and gives them their due. James speaks much of piety, or he calls it “true religion.” The practical aspect of piety is a person who is sensible, wise, prudent, and self-controlled. If you want to truly worship properly you must have piety. Hmmmm, when was the last time you heard a person say that you were a pious person? This is the closest term that the Greeks had for the word “religion.”
Warde Fowler describes the Roman idea of piety. “He is superior to the enticements of individual passion and of selfish ease; [piety is] a sense of duty which never left a man, of duty first to the gods, then to father and to family, to son and to daughter, to his people and to his nation.” Duty, oh what a disgusting word in today’s society. Duty first to God! What did the “Preacher” say, “Fear God and keep His commandments for this is the whole duty of man.” (Ecclesiastes 12:13) That one verse sums up piety.
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No I didn’t forget the farmer:
“Sometimes you get, and sometimes you get got.”
“The biggest troublemaker you’ll probably ever have to deal with, watches you from the mirror every mornin’.”
“Always drink upstream from the herd.” (there’s a story I have from this one, maybe I’ll share it later this summer.)

“A man needs regular chores and a regular time to do them. Otherwise he loses the order of his life.”      –Elmer Kelton (The Man Who Rode Midnight)

“Those who work their land will have abundant food, but those who chase fantasies have no sense.”      –Proverbs 12:11 (NIV)

Sometimes pretty words just don’t get a person through the situation. Sometimes when the rains come you just have to hunker down. Think of the pioneers moving West. The storms came and it was too muddy to stay under the wagons, and the canvas cover was soaked and leaking. It was a miserable situation. The ground was turning into a muddy bog and it would be days before they would be able to continue on with their journey, maybe longer if the streams they had to cross did not subside. Then, in the back of their minds, they had the concern that with too long a delay they might not make it across the mountains before the snow came and closed the passes, or that they may get caught in a storm in those rugged mountains.
They longed for that land of promise for which they had started months ago. They had faced their share of troubles and toil, of sorrow and death, of sickness and pain, of heartache and trials. They wondered if it would never end. They wondered if they would make it. How much further, how much more trouble, how many more must die? The words of the old hymn were no longer just words, but had become reality to them.

“No chilling winds nor poisonous breath
Can reach that healthful shore;
Sickness, sorrow, pain and death,
Are felt and feared no more.” (Samuel Stennet)

Oh to be at that place of rest where fears, torment, and testing will be over. With the exuberance of the prospect of the trip now gone; with the excitement now waning away, two things remained: hope and determination. Turn back? Hardly, they had come too far to turn back now. There were too many miles behind them.
No, the mud and storms will not stop them. Even those howling winds and torrential downpours caused by the storms of life will not impede the continuation of their trek. There will be more obstacles ahead, but they will be faced by the same dogged tenacity that brought them thus far. The enemy means to destroy along the trail, but instead faith has grown along with their trust in the heavenly Father. These folk were “bound for the promised land.”
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Faith, courage, self-mastery, and now there must be added steadfastness. We often think of steadfastness as patience, but it is more than patience. Within steadfastness there is always a forward look. The Roman orator Cicero said this of steadfastness. It is, “the voluntary and daily suffering of hard and difficult things, for the sake of honor and usefulness.”
To be steadfast means to hold on and look for tomorrow. It means to be useful today, so that tomorrow can come. Barclay writes that “It is the courageous acceptance of everything that life can do to us and the transmitting of even the worst event into another step on the upward way.” Steadfastness has the qualities of endurance and faithfulness.
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Okay, okay, a few more words from the sower and harvester of seed.
“Don ‘t interfere with somethin’ that ain’t bothering you none.”
“Timing has a lot to do with the outcome of a rain dance.”
“If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop diggin’.”

“Life was sunshine and storm–youth and age.”      –Zane Grey (The Desert of Wheat)

“When the storm has swept by, the wicked are gone, but the righteous stand firm forever.”      –Proverbs 10:25 (NIV)

The middle granddaughter, Kylee, asked me why I wanted to be a cowboy. The wife joined in that I should ponder that. First, it reminded me of a song, “Mommas don’t let your babies grow up to be cowboys,” but Ed Bruce was only writing about the “drifter-type.” If it was because of horses and cattle then that would not be right. I’ve never been around cattle, and I haven’t ridden a horse in at least 35 years. If it’s being simple and worn-down at the heel, well, those categories might fit.
We all grew up watching the TV shows that were primarily westerns, and the music at my house was country/western. Back then western was still part of the country scene. We heard Gene Autry and Roy Rogers singing and watched them in the movies. Also, Dad’s favorite singers were Eddy Arnold and Ernest Tubb with some Roy Acuff thrown in. None of that rock-stuff at our place. We played cowboys, and we had pistols and rifles and shot at each other. (Which is another point, there weren’t any terrorist shootings, at least not in Colorado and everyone had toy guns.) I read Zane Grey, Luke Short, Ernest Haycox, and Owen Wister’s “The Virginian,” and later grabbed Louis L’Amour.
Perhaps if I wasn’t so involved in baseball I might have wanted to rodeo. There was a time that it appealed to me. Grandpa would take me to the rodeo in town, and Dad would talk about Casey Tibbs and Jim Shoulders, but I was hooked on baseball. Perhaps the Code of the West is based on what was taught around our house and is surely based on the Scripture. Maybe, just maybe, I like the looks of a cowboy hat on the top of this ol’ fence post.
“I was born to be a cowboy and I will be till I die.”      –R.W. Hampton
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Speaking of the Code of the West, that is to an extent what Peter is telling us in his epistles. Remember we started with faith and to that added courage and to that we added knowledge. If we just had those three traits in our life we could do something, but then Peter says add to that “self-control” or “self-mastery.”
This is the ability to take a grip of oneself.
I like the way that is put. Sometimes, when kids acts up (or adults) I would just like to reach out and grab them, to get their attention and hold them. So think about doing that to myself is part of self-control, getting a grip on my actions and attitudes. Shame that in life most folk just can’t seem to get a grip on themselves and go about life sort of slip-shod. Then they blames booze, others, or the situation on their circumstances.
Aristotle said that there are Four Stages in Life (this is from Barclay) or Four Types of People. a) those whose passion has been entirely subjugated to reason (perfect temperance); b) those whose reason is entirely subjugated to passion (unbridled lust); c) those whose reason fights but passion prevails (incontinence); and d) those whose reason fights against passion and prevails (self-mastery). This the type that Peter is writing about.
Poor indeed is the man who has no passion, but the key is what happens with the passion. The goal must be to make passion the servant, and never the master.
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A person wrote back to me that they didn’t think they could read through that list of Christian Classics. That’s no problem. I haven’t been able to do so either, but as I wrote I have made it through about two-thirds. That was just a suggested reading list. I would say, take one, begin there, and read it. There are sure to be some theological differences but since you are mature folk and you surely have yours solid, then you can push those aside and find the deeper truths found in their writing. An good example of this was when I read, “The Dark Night of the Soul,” by John of the Cross. If you’ve ever experienced difficulties in life take hold of this one. It will take some effort. Here is another one that needs pondering by Pascal, “Pensees.” If you want something a little easier and one that teaches the necessity of trust in the providence of God to care for you, take on Daniel Defoe’s “Robinson Crusoe.”
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Some more from the farmer:
“Don’t judge folks by their relatives.”
“Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.”
“Live a good, honorable life… Then when you get older and think back, you’ll enjoy it a second time.”