Changeable…

Things started off hot and sassy this week with temperatures in the 90s.  I finally got some reasonable pictures of our neighbor’s poppies…they really are to die for.  These are some of the biggest I’ve ever seen and in the bright sun they seem like they are just too bright to be from this planet.  Following the heat came some cold fronts that took us from sun and heat to clouds and temperatures 20 degrees cooler.  I actually was relieved for the cooler weather because I like to walk…and that just isn’t much fun with temperatures that hover just below 100 degrees.  I expected a lot of action with these storms  and as you know I enjoy taking pictures of violent weather.  My wife doesn’t much trust me when these storms come along…especially when it comes to going for a walk…I ride the wild side and go out even when it looks iffy out there.  My son was with me when this thing came our way.  The distant lightning came along and I found myself wondering (again) if this was such a good idea.  We made it home as the rain started to really come down.  Surprisingly or not as bad as this looked it was mostly bluster.  I would have thought we’d at least get some hail but it was not much more than interesting to look at and wind with some rain.  Almost two years ago now we were sitting in the garage on a hot Father’s Day thinking it was another day when a storm came along with golf ball size hail and a tornado that ruined our Metra on the fair grounds.  Once those things happen you don’t look at the sky the same way.  Any storm holds potential dangers.  There’s sort of a loss of innocence in that.  What didn’t bring fear now has a tendency to do just that.  I sense a total reflection of where our country and the world is today.  The elections in Wisconsin is having ripples that are still being felt.  I watch the effect on friends liberal and conservative alike and wonder what we’re coming to.  If if has been this wild over that…what is to come with the national election?  I know this:  Perfect love casts out all fear.  Fear is directly opposing faith.  Seeing the state of things where now it’s not just Jeffery Dahmer once in my life time I heard of that not just killed but ate his victims but now there are several cases of cannibalism and an continuing case of dismemberment where body parts were sent to a school in Canada.  I see all this and see my kids growing up in a world that I can’t even understand any more.  It’s easy to let the cold grip of fear take hold but you know what?  Life is a choice and the faith you keep isn’t just for you but for others.  Don’t be selfish with it.  Things can look pretty darkbut there’s no light like the one that faith brings!