Day 31 of Lent, Wednesday, April 9, 2014

"(Love) isn’t irritable, it doesn’t keep a record of complaints"

                                  Paul of Tarsus, 1 Corinthians 13:5 (Common English Bible)

A Lakewood, Colorado elementary school was evacuated on Monday as hazmat crews decontaminated students for...

Habanero peppers?

Really?

I mean, I know that they are hot but come on.

A picture of Sheryl cleaning up after
making some of her famous chili.

Apparently, the alarm was from students coming in from the playground with skin and eye irritants. After the hazmat crews were called in they found six of the offending peppers in the wood chips.

Sheryl has jokingly referred to her chili as "weapons-grade" when she makes it for the cook-off because it is orange from all the Habaneros she includes. Maybe this is more serious than we suspected!

I find this whole story amusing because a) I love Habaneros and b) I can see this metaphorically.

How many times do we make a big deal out of nothing?  There are times in my life when I've wanted to call in the hazmat crew for an emotional situation that was really not such a big deal.  After I took some time and gained some perspective, I actually felt silly.

It's not uncommon for people to make mountains out of molehills.  However, as we remember our faith in God, we trust that things are not so bad as they sometimes seem.

Let's pray today for perspective for all people and include ourselves at the forefront.

And just to clear things up, I was nowhere near Colorado on Monday!


Picture by U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Brandon E. Loveless. [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons