tschram

“THEN, AFTER GOD warned them in a dream not to report back to Herod, the Wise Men returned to their own country on a different path.” Matthew 2:12 Matthew’s account of the appearance of the wise men, or Magi, covers a mere 12 verses - a blip on the radar screen of the narrative - yet there is so much truth to be mined that it would be impossible for this essay to plumg. Let’s at least look at the closing words of the text above, “they returned to their own country on a different path.” For years, the Magi were painstakingly trained in their art - how to read the stars and relate them to the Spirit-inspired predictions of the coming of Christ.

SURPRISE, I AM BACK. I had to take some time off to do a project here where we live. I really missed writing the columns. I never imagined doing something like this. Last Feb. I was wanting to put an ad in the Pratt Tribune when Jennifer the Editor asked if I would be interested in writing a regular column. I sure was lucky to have a good editor for my columns, even though one time I did not agree with her. I sure want to thank her for doing what she does.

THANKS FOR JOINING ME again as we take a deeper look into Good Trouble: Seek out the truth and not talking points. In my last article we walked alongside Laura Haviland, our Underground Railroad heroine from the 19th century and for whom the town of Haviland, Kansas was named. Laura had travelled undercover to Arkansas as a seamstress to get a special message to Ann, a slave woman. In the process Laura was almost torn limb by limb by vicious blood hounds trained to chase and kill slaves trying to escape. She also witnessed brutal beatings of young childhood slaves, who at the mercy of their grandmother was simply too sick to awaken them for their morning chores. The worst part of being undercover was she could not reveal the true purpose of her trip. Finally on her boat trip home, she free to come to the rescue of a sweet, grieving slave couple who were being sold down the river from their children. Often the opposite was the case for slaves. It was the children who were generally separated from their parents and sold down the river. In this case it was elderly parents sold away, and Laura was no longer in the difficult role of being an indifferent observer, so she listened intently to their plight and prayed with them. She also promised to continue to pray for them.

RECENTLY our family was visiting our hometown and, in trying to get from one location to another in Kansas City, we found ourselves in the middle of road construction. A sign appeared in the middle of the road stating, “NO THROUGH TRAFFIC.” Jeff turns to me and says, “Can we get through here?” and my immediate response was “Sure we can! We just have to cut through this subdivision,” as I pointed to the street to my right.