Of Windows and Frogs

No, This post is not going to have a go at microsoft, however tempting it may be.

Last night, as I was trying to drift off to sleep, I was faced with a dilemma:
There is a pond in our yard, in the pond live several frogs. These frogs are Very noisy at night. The air outside was cool, however, if I shut the window my room would become rather stuffy and uncomfortable, making it hard to get to sleep. The frogs made it hard to get to sleep.

I was stuck between a frog and a glass pane.

I chose to endure the frogs, and I did eventually get to sleep, but not after what seemed to be the recitation of all printed words in Strong's exausting concordance in three frog languages.

And so this minor ordeal (Whinge whinge) was forgotten until this afternoon, when It came back to me like a wet frog in the face as I remembered a passage of scripture I hadn't read in ages.

" Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us."
Romans 5:1-5

I don't really think that frogs croaking at bedtime count as a very impressive tribulation, but it was a good reminder about persevering on towards the goal (sleep) and that developing perseverance and character produce hope. I think there is sometimes a tendency in the Church to possess an attitude of "the easy way", "don't offend anyone" and "let's be wishy-washy so no-one will have a go at us for what we believe". These sorts of attitudes is what I think happens when Christianity is bled dry of all perseverance and character, because there is no hope in them. None at all.

There's my rant for today.

Slàn!