Thoughts from the Past - A Sun and Shield

 

I wrote this post shortly after we moved to Texas before my husband and I were married. We are experiencing a drought and fairly hot weather now too, and it isn't even July yet.

July 20, 2008 [edited 2022]

A Sun and Shield

Hot, hot, hot! Welcome to Texas. The land of heat, wasps and dead grass - well, at least it is this year since this area is presently having a bit of a drought.

Today I was walking down from my future house to the house of my brother and sister-in-law where I'm presently staying. The two places are next door and connected by a longish driveway which makes a great path for walking between them. There is more or less sunshine on this driveway depending on where the sun is in the sky, and since the sun is so hot here right now I generally try to walk in the shade as much as possible. Some people might wonder at my apparently erratic course when I'm walking between the two places because I don't follow the shortest distance between two points, but the shortest distance between two shadows. So, I tend to zigzag somewhat on my journey.

This afternoon the temperature here was apparently hovering around 100F when I made the trip down that path. I could actually feel the change in the temperature when I walked out of the sun into the shade, there was that much difference between them. In thinking about that it brought a verse to mind, and other thoughts as well.

I looked up the part of the verse I thought of and here is the passage it comes from - Isaiah 32:1-2 Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment. And a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.

I believe this is probably speaking of the Lord Jesus in the Messianic sense. He is a man who is a hiding place and so forth. He is also a shadow of a great rock in a weary land. In 1 Corinthians 10:4 the Rock that provided the Israelites water in the wilderness is identified as Christ Himself: And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ. On a day like this I can appreciate these thoughts. It truly is a weary land here today - one that makes us long for shade and refreshment. If you had to spend much time out in this heat it would make you tired. It would make some of us very tired.

I also think of this verse: Psalm  84:11 For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.

The Lord is both a sun and a shield because at different times we need both. Sunshine is very necessary to me in dealing with the anxiety disorder that I have. In the winter time in Tennessee it was not uncommon for me to struggle through days when the sun didn't shine and I could not get this important ingredient, especially if there were several cloudy days together. The sun's rays supply us with vitamin D and probably other things that are essential to our health both physically and mentally/emotionally.

In that respect, the Lord is a sun to us. He supplies us with necessary things that we need to keep us healthy spiritually, mentally, emotionally and physically. As it says in Malachi 4:2, But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. The Lord, in the role of providing spiritual sun for us provides us with the growth and health that we so much need.  The idea behind a calf of the stall is that it never wants for anything.

But, thank God that He is also a shield! He does not burn us up with His strength, glory and power as the physical sun would if we were subjected to too much of it. The Lord provides protection and comfort as well as light and growth. The shadow of a great rock, a covert in the tempest, water in a dry place, a hiding place from the wind - these are all things that represent protection and comfort for the weary and struggling. What a blessing that when the way is too long, the struggle too hard, the heat too great we can step into the shield of the Lord and find protection and a time of rest and refreshing!

Beneath the cross of Jesus I fain would take my stand,
The shadow of a mighty rock within a weary land;
A home within the wilderness, a rest upon the way,
From the burning of the noontide heat, and the burden of the day...

I take, O cross, thy shadow for my abiding place;
I ask no other sunshine than the sunshine of His face;
Content to let the world go by to know no gain or loss,
My sinful self my only shame, my glory all the cross.

Elizabeth C. Clephane

Psalms 91:1-4 He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust. Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.

----------------

Photo by Glenn Hoover, my grandfather. Taken in East Africa.

Quiz - Are You Countrified?

Photo: Near Kingston, Tennessee.

This was originally a "redneck" quiz, but in my opinion rednecks don't have an entirely good reputation and there's a bit of a prideful thing about being stupid for some of them. Being a country girl or farm girl is more what I'm used to, so I took the liberty to change the name. You don't have to be stupid to be countrified. :-)  Some of the wisest people I've know where country people.

Have you ever...

1. Owned a pellet or BB gun as a kid? Used my brother's as a kid. We have one now, though. It is mostly used for getting peafowl off of the truck and to discourage the peacock from screaming too close to the house from late winter through summer.

2. Owned a real gun? No. My husband does. I've never shot it.

3. Shot a real gun? Yes, I think so.

4. Gone squirrel or rabbit hunting? No.

5. Gone fishing? Yes. The most fun I ever had fishing was on the pier at Pismo Beach, California. We were fishing for baby red snapper and an old timer from out of town had given my dad a tip on how to set up our lines and how to bounce them to catch the most fish. My little brother and I were catching them so fast that my dad didn't have time to fish himself. The locals were not pleased to be out-fished by a couple of kids who didn't know what they were doing. hehe Otherwise fishing seems boring to me. I'd rather be reading a book without the bother of keeping track of a fishing rod. ;-)

6. Owned or used a slingshot? Yes, used one.

7. Plucked a chicken/turkey?  Yes, when we lived in Kenya I helped a Kenyan lady dress a chicken. I think we plucked feathers, among other things.

8. Eaten poke weed? No.

9. Eaten deer meat?  Yes.

10. Eaten frog legs? Yes.

11. Fed a baby farm animal with a bottle? I don't think so.

12. Gathered fresh eggs? Yes, but very little.

13. Driven a stick shift? Yes. My brother tried to teach me to drive his VW Bug. It was not a big success. I never did it enough to really get comfortable with it. That's the kind version of the story. ;-)

14. Started a vehicle using a manual choke? No.

15. Rode in the back of a pick-up truck?  Yes. 

16. Shucked or shelled corn? Yes. I've also eaten field corn when it was still soft enough to cook and eat off the cob.

17. Waded barefoot in a creek? Yes, but I managed to never get a leech attached to me.

18. Caught fireflies in a jar at night? Yes.

19. Tasted wild honeysuckle? Yes.

20. Gathered wild blackberries? Yes. And I had the poison ivy rash to prove it.

21. Used an outhouse?  Yes. In leopard country and once on a very cold and snowy day in Michigan.

22. Rode a horse? Yes.

23. Smelled the scent of cured tobacco hanging in a tobacco barn? No. But my dad uses tobacco to make insecticide for his plants. That stuff has its own "unique" smell. <insert eyeroll here>

24. Taken the ashes out of a wood stove or wood heater? Yes.

25. Carried in firewood? Yes.

26. Walked barefoot down a gravel or dirt road? Yes.

27.  Slept in a tent? Yes.

28. Been attacked by a rooster? No.

29. Eaten raw apple, potato or turnip off the blade of a pocket knife? Not directly into my mouth. It was someone else's knife.

30. Dipped skoal or chewing tobacco or had it applied to a Bee sting? No. We used baking soda mixed with water on bee stings, I think.

31. Eaten homemade snow Ice Cream? Yes.

32. Used a pump to draw water from a well? Yes, but not the old timey type.

33. Been on a hayride? Yes.

34. Jumped into a pile of raked leaves? Yes.

35. Carved your initials into a tree? I don't think so.

36. Sucked on a piece of water hose to siphon gas out of a gas tank? No.

37. Been shocked by an electric fence? I don't think so, but only because I was chicken. ;-) 

38. Split wood with an ax? No.

39. Hung laundry outside on a clothesline? Yes

40. Eaten fried bologna? No. Well, I have eaten cooked Lebanon bologna (and that is not a Middle Eastern thing. It is a Pennsylvanian thing.). Lebanon bologna is another whole thing than the usual type of pre-sliced American stuff.

41. Eaten grits for breakfast? Yes.

42. Eaten wild hog, racoon or opossum? Yes - racoon. It was terrible. And wild hog, which was meh. And I never did cook the second piece that was in the freezer. The dog(s) got it. 

Other things I've done as a country girl:

1. Picked corn and fruit at you-pick farms.

2. Picked up apple drops at an orchard.

3. Made apple cider. Made maple sugar candy from syrup my brother cooked down.

4. Canned and frozen vegetables we grew and fruit from our own tree (as well as purchased produce).

5. Picked wild raspberries and I think strawberries.

6. Found a bird's nest and watched baby birds grow up.

7. Notified the sheriff's department as to who the owners were of the loose pigs they found. (Not us. ;-) )

8. Had stray animals on our property (before we got a fence). White donkeys one time and goats another. Oh, and that miniature bull.

9. Had wild animals living under the place I lived (woodchuck in Michigan, skunks in Tennessee).

10. Had to think about running across wild animals in the dark and take appropriate precautions.

11. Started a kerosene heater.

12. Been broken down on a country road in the winter.

13. Found abandoned apple trees growing wild in the woods.

14. Cultivated a wild rose.

15. Started a fire in a woodstove.

16. Eaten dandelion flowers and greens and dandelion jelly.

17. Eaten daylilies.

18. Eaten bantam chicken, duck, and peafowl eggs. (Not all at once.) I used to feed green grass to the neighbor's bantams trough the fence too - when I was a kid.

19. Laughed at a city slicker. ;-) (I'm sure I've been laughed at by city people too!)

20. Harvested wildflower seeds.

23. Gone to a country church where there was no air conditioning for hot, humid weather. Played the piano for an old fashioned "sing" in one of those too.

22. Picked pussy willow. 
(I don't remember if I picked this bunch, but I picked a bunch the day I took this photo. It was our neighbor's bush/tree in Tennessee. She let me pick some.)

23. Stored an old appliance behind the house or shed. haha Keeping it real, folks. ;-)