Newton Hills State Park, Canton, South Dakota
Then Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done? You’ve deceived me, and you’ve carried off my daughters like captives in war. Why did you run off secretly and deceive me? Why didn’t you tell me, so I could send you away with joy and singing to the music of tambourines and harps? You didn’t even let me kiss my grandchildren and my daughters good-by. You have done a foolish thing. I have the power to harm you; but last night the God of your father said to me, ‘Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.’ Now you have gone off because you longed to return to your father’s house. But why did you steal my gods?” ~ Genesis 31:26-30 Laban is angry. He accuses Jacob of kidnapping his own family. And am I mistaken, or did Jacob try to leave before, but Laban kept tacking on years of service (20 total) for Jacob to work off? I don’t hardly think he would’ve celebrated had Jacob gone to him, but it sounds good, and isn’t that often what evil does when discovered? Portend that they only wanted what was best? Laban also believes that he has the power to harm Jacob, and claims to have been ready to do just that. He gives the impression that he’s a godly man, listening to the Lord’s command, but as with the other things, it’s just a ruse. He’s forgotten that God is with Jacob. And as far as the reason, it was God’s decision that Jacob should return home. In the end, it seems that he’s most upset about losing his household gods. There’s an entire section of Isaiah 44 that speaks to the difference between manmade idols and God – idols that are created from wood – part of the wood used to create an idol to worship, and part of it used to burn in the hearth for warmth and cooking. This is the futility of idol worship. Such is our futility today – there is nothing and no one that can take the place of God in our hearts and lives.
I didn’t expect to have anything to say about today, but as it turned out, we ended the month of August just on the outskirts of becoming famous! About 10 am, a news crew showed up and ended up interviewing our neighbor who was out getting ready to walk his dog. We don’t know what they were talking to him about, but we had fun speculating. And now we’ll have to watch the news really closely for the next day or so! 😊
Blaine went out on his bike this afternoon and brought back a couple of pictures of the observation tower they have here. Not very high, especially compared to most we’ve seen. 😊
We got really tired of dealing with the WiFi situation – not able to research, taking hours to upload pictures, using the phone for calls out at the Jeep’s fender . . . so Blaine called our next place and asked if we could get in early. We can! Yes!!!!! We leave in the morning! No time’s too early for me! I miss talking to my mom and sons.
And since we’re leaving early, we may never know what the news story was about . . . .