Opposites attract
There is an old saying that opposites attract. I don’t think that is the case with my wife and me. A lot of the time she will start saying something and I will be thinking, “I was just getting ready to say that same thing.” But there is one area where we are on the opposite ends of the spectrum. That area is winter weather.
When I was younger I use to love when the weatherman forecast a big snow storm. There were many homework assignments that I put off because I just knew we weren’t going to have school the next day. Then the next morning, with no snow on the ground, my dreams turned into a panic state. Today, since my job requires quite a bit of travel, I have come to hate bad winter weather.
My wife is a teacher. If I thought I loved to be off school because of snow when I was younger, it is nothing compared to what the teachers think about being off because of bad weather. My wife also knows all the “tricks” to make it snow. There is the wearing the pajamas inside-out and the snow dance. Then there is the throwing of ice cubes in the toilet. Of course, I go right behind her with a little net and fish those little ice cubes right out because I don’t want it to snow. Yes, we are complete opposites when it comes to winter weather.
On November 19, 1834 he married Jane Appleton. Jane’s father was a Congregational minister and a former president of Bowdoin College. Jane’s father was also a Whig (the forerunner to the Republican Party). Jane was shy. Jane also suffered from Tuberculosis and depression. She was pro-temperance (believing in abstinence or moderation in alcohol drinking). Jane disliked politics and despised Washington DC.
He was her complete opposite. He was outgoing and popular. Some believe he was one of the heaviest alcohol drinkers of all the Presidents. He was very involved in politics and, of course, he eventually became President and had to move to Washington DC.
It is perhaps one of the strangest stories in the Bible. He is one of the Prophets mentioned in the Jewish Bible. He is called one of the twelve Minor Prophets in the Christian Bible. He was called the “Prophet of Doom” because his life mirrored the suffering Israel, the Northern Kingdom, was about to experience because of their disobedience to God. He was faithful, loving and very caring.
His wife was the complete opposite. She was unfaithful and seemed to only care about herself. They would have three kids. The first child was a son named Jezreel. The second was a daughter named Lo-ruhamah. The last child was a son, too, named Lo-ammi. She would leave the “Prophet of Doom” for one of her lovers because she was unfaithful.
Jane and our future President had three kids, too, but they were all boys. The first boy died when he was three days old. The second son died when he was four years old from epidemic typhus. Epidemic typhus had many nicknames like: camp fever, jail fever, hospital fever, ship fever and famine fever. The disease is transmitted by a little bug called the Body Louse. A vaccine wasn’t developed for it until World War II.
Gomer, the “Prophet of Doom’s” wife, would turn to prostitution. Despite this fact, he would send her food and other items without her knowing where they came from. Things got so bad for her that she was eventually sold into slavery.
The Democratic Convention of 1852 was one of those dragged out affairs. It took 49 ballots before he was declared the winner. The strange thing about it is his name was not even placed in nomination until the 35th ballot. The Whig side provided its own excitement. General Winfield Scott won that nomination, but their platform was almost the same as the Democratic platform. This upset the Free Soilers of their party, who split off and nominated their own candidate, Senator John Hale of New Hampshire. This friction resulted in an easy victory for the Democrats in the general election. He received 254 electoral votes to only 42 for General Scott. When the news reached him that he won, he was shocked. His wife fainted. He knew she wouldn’t like Washington.
God told Hosea, the “Prophet of Doom,” to purchase his wife, Gomer, out of slavery and bring her back into a relationship with him. God then told Hosea that his life was an example of what was happening to Israel, or the Northern Kingdom. God loved Israel so much, yet Israel was very disobedient to Him and they ignored Him, just like Gomer. Israel would leave God and live a life of prostitution or selfishness, just like Gomer. They would fall into slavery (the Assyrians would overthrow them and take them into captivity), just like Gomer. But God, with His great love for them, would one day take them back and redeem them despite their betrayal to Him, just like what God wanted Hosea to do.
On January 6, 1853 Franklin Pierce, his wife and their eleven year old son, Benjamin “Benny” Pierce left the Boston train station to head to Washington DC for his inauguration. A little north of Boston, in the town of Andover, Massachusetts, the train they were in derailed and rolled down an embankment. Little Benny was killed. Franklin couldn’t shield his wife from the little boy’s almost decapitated body. Both would now suffer from depression, but Jane more so than Franklin. She thought it was a sign from God that He didn’t want Franklin to be President. She would not attend his inauguration. Franklin would be only the second person to use the word “affirm” instead of “swear” when he place his hand upon the Bible to be sworn into the Presidency. In the first two years of being First Lady, Jane would hardly come out of her room at the White House.
Life presents interaction with people who some might consider our opposites or, at times, even those we are like may have a very different vision than we do. Sometimes, through those differences, God is trying to get His message in there, too.
Me? I still don’t want it to snow.
Prayer: Dear Mighty Father, I completely understand that there are individuals who cross my path who are my opposites. Please don’t let that ever interfere with the path You want either one of us to take. Amen.
