Lots of Rain

 

Lots of Rain

If I look at rainfall totals in June through today we’ve had about 13.3 inches. The drought definitely is over for the time being. A couple of months ago all we talked about were the proliferation of Florida fires.  Hard to imagine more than 33,000 acres burned in May. CNN has some nice video on the fires. 

Fire as Narcissism

Carl Hiaasen often talks about Florida as a haven for every sort of wacko. He was interviewed by a former Florida journalist on 60 Minutes two years ago:

the craziness of Florida provides a certain anonymity to all sorts of wackos, even terrorists. And if the place wasn’t so dysfunctional, Hiaasen says maybe something could have been done about that. 

He offers a number of examples

“The court had ruled it ‘Gators In Bed is Bad Idea,’” says Hiaasen, referring to one clipping. “This was a story about a guy who was sleeping with two full-grown alligators. And a court ruled that he had no constitutional right to sleep with an endangered reptile. And that happened in Florida.” 

And

“Here’s a guy who was stealing medical equipment, He surrenders. It’s — he was unhooking patients from their heart monitors and stealing the heart monitors. This was in West Palm Beach,” says Hiaasen, referring to another clipping. “That’s quite a crime when you think about it. The guys on a heart monitor. ‘Excuse me while I take the machine.’” 

Florida invites wackos into their midst:

The tourists eventually go home. But for Hiaasen, the larger problem is the thousand people who move here every day. Most of them, he says, are either running to something or from something. Many of them are retirees looking for a slice of paradise, and some are predators who consider them prey. 

“Half the guys who get booted off of Wall Street by the SCC are now working in Boca Raton, Florida,” says Hiaasen. 

Another reason Florida has become so desirable for undesirables is it has the most generous bankruptcy laws in the country — so people facing the prospect of jail or civil judgments buy houses here knowing they can’t be seized. A number of former executives from Tyco and WorldCom have already moved here, along with a few down and out celebrities. 

Even OJ is here

“You know, after the second O.J. Simpson trial, I see his lawyer being interviewed on the steps of court house,” says Hiaasen. “You know, ‘Mr. Simpson may have to leave California. He doesn’t have this kind of money, and he may have to leave California.’ And I turned to my wife and I said, ‘He’s coming to Florida.’ And here he is, you know.” 

And this has WHAT to do with fires and narcissism?

Bob Jones in Florida where fires reflect God's Intentions.

Bob Jones toddled down to Lakeland recently where he described to Florida revivalists 

 how profound it was that the Florida Healing Revival and fire of God was soaring throughout Florida to the world, and in conjunction with that, the forest fires in Florida are also tearing across the land.

Certainly, the forest fires are a trajedy, but we noted how much of a confirmation it was that both spiritual and natural fires were ablaze.

Fires = the success of Jones’ revival and the strength of his followers’ faith. Can I be misinterpreting this?  Well, Jones also suggests

in one of his prophetic encounters…Bob was told that the enemy is vigorously working to steal the “dreams” of God’s people. Primarily, the dreams consist of hopes and aspirations birthed in the spirit of Christians that motivate them in prayer and set them on their prophetic journey. 

The enemy is trying to steal dreams which are manifested in the spirit. Spiritual fires are confirmed by the tragic Florida fires this spring, thus fighting fires facilitates the victory of  God’s enemies.

I’m sure if this was explicated to Jones he would say that is ridiculous. But in his own focus on his personal expression of belief he allows the tragedies of others serve as a marketing hook for his own business.  I think this can be defined as narcissistic (excessive self-admiration and self-centeredness). 

We do attract wackos. Of course I am not talking about myself here.

 

God Loves You, And So Do I

Because it is what he says always, to anyone
(the dull girl in the tollbooth at the Triboro Bridge,
the wrong number who calls every night at nine,
the lamed colostomist who checks his colon,
even the stone-faced trooper who stops him
for driving 30 on the New York Thruway), my father,
the old Hassid from Frankfurt, passes through this life
in the vague service of some deific love,
and now I-having passed through hate
and back into love again-find myself saying it too
as we scud down the turnpike from Bar Harbor to Boston,
and a vague, generalized tenderness comes over me
in which I am the large man who carries his father
like unleavened bread, the one appointed
to shake the seeds of his ancestry into the day,
and, as we cruise down the highway
of tollbooths and diners, I become once more
the wild ideologue of my father’s life-a man
waiving a white handkerchief into the air as he
plays the harmonica, calling out
to anyone who will listen:
“God loves you, and so do I.”

            ———————–from The Wages of Goodness by Michael Blumenthal