Watchman, what of the night?

"Watchman, what of the night?"

(i.e. How much of the night is left?")

--- Isaiah 21:11

well my dear ones,

This morning,

I took my bike out for the first time

since my accident 3 months ago;

I still have a pinched nerve in my back,

but my doc says it's OK to ride,

just as long as I don't do something stupid

like lay my bike down...

...he's a real card, that ol' boy. =)

It was a beautiful sunny morning here,

so I was out riding the back roads,

enjoying the morning sun,

and as I passed through an intersection

somewhere out in farm country,

I saw two watchmen off to the side of the road.

Thousands of years ago,

back in the days of Isaiah,

the watchmen would be posted on the city walls,

their job to sound the alarm in times of danger.

Today, cops sort of have the role of watchmen,

or so I was reflecting as I

passed those two cops in that intersection.

And as I was thinking about that

God put it on my heart

to go back there

and speak a word of encouragement to them.

I was miles away by then

but I went back, parked my bike,

and walked over to their cars.

When one asked, "What's up?,"

I told him it was my first day riding

since an accident wherein

my truck had been totaled

and I was out just enjoying the day,

just enjoying being alive,

when God laid it on my

to go back and speak a word of encouragement

to them, His two watchmen,

about the importance of the work they do

and to hang in there.

Well, the one who'd spoken thanked me,

said he 'got' the watchmen reference,

and acted like my coming back there

and saying what I said

was the most natural thing in the world.

His partner, on the other hand,

didn't say a word,

and had a look on his face

like he'd seen a ghost.

It's not my place to know

all their issues and problems

(except to know that whatever they are

 God is bigger than all of them);

it was just my place to speak my piece

and to then move on home.

Yet on my way home

I couldn't help but think

of what the conversation might have been

after I left those two.

A likely scenario is something like

the guy who spoke to me

now saying to his friend,

"Well, if everything is just nothing,

if, as you say, matter is all there is,

then who's the One who sent that guy

back here to talk to us?"

Mayhap that question will get his friend

to reflect on that awhile,

and eventually lead him to the realization

that that same One who spoke

and the universe leapt into existence

is the same God who cares for each of us

more than we can possibly comprehend

(in this lifetime, anyway => ).

Have a great week!

grace, peace, and love to you,
dave