Grandpa,
My wife surprised me recently. She told me to quit calling her homemade soups and stews “chlamydia chowder.” I have always had pet names for her favorite recipes; Ptomaine Tacos, Shigellas and cheese, coli cake, crypto-casserole. You would think that after all of these years, she would be used to me joking around. I think she is getting too touchy in her old age. What do you think?
Grandpa says; I am surprised you can sit with your head up your…. Let’s just say, your head in the way. Your wife has shown great restraint in not putting her boot next to your head. Insults are not a joke, they are not funny and can become overly annoying.
There is a cure for this cruelty. Grandpa suggests you take your wife out for breakfast tomorrow, lunch Sunday and dinner Tuesday. Each of those occasions needs to be accompanied by a different bouquet of flowers. Then make her this vow: Every time you crack an insulting joke about her cooking, you will cook and clean twice in the same week. I will be looking for a letter from her telling me she is being treated as an appreciated wife ought to be treated. As to “her old age”, who aged her??!
Grandpa,
Question about Job 42:10. Job had prayed for his friends after having lost his wealth and his family. I get that. In his praying for his friends he showed his faith in God. Then we are told, “And the Lord turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: The Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.” That sounds nice, but it is material things Job got. What about the pain in his heart for the loss of his children when the roof collapsed? Giving Job more children cannot undo the grief of a loving father. How do you see this?
Grandpa says; Having lost loved family members myself through death, I appreciate your point of view. Job knew that come the resurrection day, his children would be judged as will all mortal man. He can take comfort in the way he raised his children. Nothing in scripture tells us that Job was not comforted by the Lord. We do not know how the Lord may have comforted Job in this situation. I believe, and this is just my personal thought, the Lord allowed Job to work out this grief in his heart, knowing that Job loved the Lord. When I come to passages that I have a hard time comprehending, I turn to Deuteronomy 29:29. “The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: But those things which are revealed belong to us and our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.” In other words, God tells us what we need to know and what He does not tell us are things we don’t need to know. I want to thank you for posing this question. You offered me time to reflect on a topic I’d never considered previously.
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