I know what’s best
As I sat there I couldn’t believe my ears. The young lad really wanted the electric device. It was bad enough the father only got to see his son every other weekend. The father felt real bad, but he really didn’t have the funds to pay for it. Besides, he thought it would mean more to the child if he saved up his own money and then purchased it himself. After all, that is what his father did when he was growing up and he really appreciated the work ethic his father built in him. Then came the words: “That’s okay, Mom will buy it for me.” Heartbroken, yet still unable to afford to buy it for him, he had to resign himself to the fact that he was also robbed of the chance to teach his son one of the lessons his father taught him.
Earning a living wage has always been a battle. You want so much to be able to provide for your family, with maybe a little extra to spend on some fun things. Sometimes you work so hard, yet there is not enough money to go around for all the things you need, much less the things you want. Is it wrong to want to make a living wage?
The workers at Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company decided they weren’t making a living wage either. Their pleas for better pay and better working conditions were ignored by the owners of the company. Their union decided that the only way to get the owners attention was to send the workers to the picket lines by calling a strike. The only problem was the country was at war and the steel they produced was greatly needed for the munitions used in that war effort.
Charles Sawyer was a lawyer, at Dinsmore and Shohl, in Cincinnati, before he worked his way through the political system. He was a Lieutenant Governor of Ohio, but he also had an unsuccessful run at becoming the governor. He helped author the repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment (prohibition of alcoholic beverages). He was also a US Ambassador to Belgium and Minister to Luxembourg. But it was in his position of Secretary of Commerce that he would get his name up in lights.
In my opinion, one of the scariest issues in front of us today is religious and political extremism. We have people, who in the name of their god, capture the enemy and behead them in front of cameras for the sole purpose of provoking fear into people. “If you don’t believe exactly what I believe, you must die,” is their cry.
Even in our own country we have those diehards on the extreme ends of both political parties. You can be their wonder child one minute, but if veered off their chosen path on just one issue, you will quickly become an outcast. The way they talk, you would think compromise was a four-lettered word. Don’t get me wrong, there is a time to stand your ground, but there are also some times that require a little give and take.
Such was the case of this brother and sister team. For many years they had lived, like their fellow countrymen, in grave conditions. Even though the road was still a little rocky now, it was headed in a much better direction. One of the main reasons was that their brother was in charge. Even though I’m sure they were really proud of him, they were having a really hard time getting past one issue with him. So they started talking against their brother. The brother probably had no idea that they were upset because he seems completely surprised when he finds out.
It seems like their brother’s wife must have died, from most of the information that is available. So the brother decided he would get married again. Here is where the problem was. They didn’t like the wife he chose. His wife was a foreigner, a Cushite no less. They wanted him to marry within his own tribe. It doesn’t appear that the brother and sister said anything to him about their displeasure. It seems their way of handling it was to talk behind his back.
It was one of those Presidential moves that many questioned. But it was not just the fact people didn’t like the decision. The real problem was, did he have the power under the Constitution to act this way? The only real way to find that out was to take it to the nine members of the Supreme Court.
The Youngstown Sheet and Tube factory workers went on strike and President Harry Truman issued one of the dreaded Executive Orders that ordered his Secretary of Commerce, Charles Sawyer, to seize the steel mills and to keep them operating. We were in the middle of the Korean War and he did not want this to hamper our war efforts. The workers and the union were not very happy about this. They took their cause to the Supreme Court.
In the Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company v. Sawyer, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in favor of the striking workers. The workers continued their strike for 50 more days. It seemed, from most of the Justices’ opinions that the President’s job was to execute the laws, not make them.
God did not seem very pleased with Aaron and Miriam’s attitude toward their brother, Moses. He called them to stand before Moses and He voiced His displeasure. Moses seems surprised that they were talking behind his back like this. God was so mad that he made Miriam leprous. Aaron, remorseful and fearful, pleads with God to remove the curse place upon his sister. Moses, ever forgiving, cries out loudly for the Lord to remove the curse from his sister. God relents a little and tells them that she will suffer it for seven days outside camp and then he would remove it from her.
Sometimes someone flaunting their pride in front of us is heartbreaking. Sometimes we fall hard when our pride gets the best of us. One of the things I think God gets the most upset with us about is when we take more pride in our own beliefs than we do in His.
Prayer: Dear Mighty Father, Please help keep that dangerous beast called Pride far from me. Please let my greatest pride be reserved for You. Amen.
