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In light of his father’s wise response back in 8:22–23, Abimelech’s treacherous power grab – involving the slaying of his 70 brothers – seems even more heinous. He takes the initiative to install himself as king at a time when Israel was governed as a theocracy – a direct rebellion against the rule of God. However, his youngest brother Jotham escaped the purge and delivers an insightful curse by way of parable that speaks to the issue of contentment with one’s divinely appointed role in life. Why should anyone attempt to exalt themselves in pride above the privileged station in life that God has already provided? You then cease being pleasing in God’s eyes and a blessing to your fellow men and become nothing more than worthless thorns ready to be consumed by divine wrath.

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This is the famous blue guidebook that every tourist on the island of Kauai carries with them on their adventure trips.  It is a wealth of information and a must for any visitor to Kauai.  It was actually recommended to us by my sister Chris.  We are using the 6th edition which must be very current.  Example: We followed the directions to a remote swimming hole location where there was reported to be an operational rope swing for the kids.  But just as the book advised, the parking area on the deserted access road was littered with broken glass from thieves breaking car windows to grab whatever they could.  The locals know just to leave the car unlocked and the windows cracked with nothing inside to discourage break-ins.  We decided to just move on to the next location (especially since I had not purchased the supplemental rental insurance).

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What kind of a person does the Lord use to accomplish great things? We are going to look at a quick overview of the life of Gideon from Judges 6-8. He was a man with many of the same fears and struggles as we face. The people of God in Gideon’s day should have been secure in their devotion to their theocratic ruler. But the book of Judges records the sad cycle of Apostasy and Idolatry / Discipline and Bondage / Plea for God’s Mercy / Deliverance through God’s designated hero. Despite the tremendous hymn of praise from the lips of Deborah in chapter 5, we find the Israelites back in bondage to the Midianites because of their unfaithfulness. The scene opens (6:11) with Gideon trying to salvage some of the remnants of the harvest from the grasping hands of the oppressors. It is a time of desperation and hopelessness. God seems distant from His people and unconcerned with their plight. Timid Gideon needs a lot of encouragement and reassurance to step up to the plate and obey the Lord in leading this mission of deliverance. But he finally responds and demonstrates that he grasped the important principle of victory and rulership that the Lord was trying to teach His people. But that significant success actually became the setting for carelessness as Gideon failed to guard every aspect of his life against the subtle encroachment of sin and recurrence of idolatry.

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Friday was the send-off for the much-anticipated trip to the Hawaiian island of Kauai for the Apple and Levin families along with Faith Leake.  The excited faces pictured here many months earlier had just received the surprise announcement of the upcoming trip.  But now the moment has arrived and the trip promises to be everything we had expected.  The logistics of the long flight were happily uneventful as the two families followed different itineraries (one through Chicago and one through Houston), but ended up together for the final leg of the journey from the main island over to Kauai.  The adjustment to the six hour time difference was no big deal.  After a quick pizza dinner at a local Pizzaria and lights out at 9:30 PM local time, the group was up to see the sunrise on Saturday and ready for an event-filled first day.

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Continuing this week on my Tire theme . . . Did you know that automotive tires have a date label?  Check out the last 4 digits on the DOT line.  You can see the week and year of manufacture.  In the picture here the tire was made in the 17th week of 2002.  (If there are only 3 digits at the end instead of 4 then the third digit represents the year in the decade of the 1990s — you have issues at that point!)  This is critical information in light of the shelf life of tires.  While there are no government regulations, you would not want to purchase an older tire which may have been subject to dry rotting.  There are many tragic accident examples where the cause of death was the separation of the tire tread.  This recent expose on TV documents the severity of the problem:

ABC News Video Report

Take a moment and check out the age of your tires — it is not only the tread depth that could be an issue.  This was news to me.  Maybe some retail outlets are not being totally up front with the consumer on the value of what they are offering.

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