The Law of the Land
I've been hearing these radio ads (I can't remember what for, so they must not be that effective!) using odd state laws. The one that's been on recently tells that one Alaskan state law is that waking a sleeping bear for the purpose of taking a picture is strictly prohibited. Why anyone would want to wake a sleeping bear is beyond me, but I have witnessed a woman trying to put her small child on a wild buffalo, so I guess you never know!
I decided to go looking for more of these funny laws and made a few interesting discoveries. In San Francisco you are not allowed to wipe your car with used underwear (which unfortunately means that's probably been done before.) And don't even think of making an "ugly" face at a dog in Oklahoma - you could be thrown in jail! If you're ever in North Dakota, and decide to take a nap, make sure you take your shoes off first, otherwise you'll find yourself on the wrong side of the law. In Gary, Indiana, anyone who enjoys a piece of garlic bread will have to wait four hours to attend the theater (that one's not such a bad idea!). Want to go parachuting in Florida on a Sunday? Better be married! Unmarried women who go on a Sunday might find themselves sleeping in a cell that night.
Even Ohio has a few of their own. Check your gas tank before driving through Youngstown, it's illegal to run out of gas there. And when you're in Columbus the stores are not allowed to sell you cornflakes.
When hearing these kinds of things, you have to wonder how they ever became a law! Completely ridiculous, right? I have to say; the first time I read through the book of Leviticus I thought the same thing. All the sacrifices - grain offering, burnt offering, fellowship offering and the details that one must follow while presenting an offering completely confused me. I didn't understand why they could only eat animals with a split hoof and that "chewed the cud" and were not allowed to wear any clothes made of two different materials. And all that stuff about what was clean and what was unclean. Women were unclean after childbirth? That's a nice "thank you" for the labor they endured!
Even though some of those things seem unfathomable, we know God had a reason for giving that set of laws to those people during that time. The good news for us is that God has chosen a different way for us - grace.
While I may not understand those "crazy" laws in Leviticus, I understand grace. Well, okay, that's sort of a silly thing to say. I understand a tiny, itty bitty fraction of grace and what it means in my life. It means that nothing I can do is good enough, but a way has been made for me in spite of that. It means I am free from living by a set of rules and free to live my life for my Savior.
Grace means that everything has changed.
Emily
I decided to go looking for more of these funny laws and made a few interesting discoveries. In San Francisco you are not allowed to wipe your car with used underwear (which unfortunately means that's probably been done before.) And don't even think of making an "ugly" face at a dog in Oklahoma - you could be thrown in jail! If you're ever in North Dakota, and decide to take a nap, make sure you take your shoes off first, otherwise you'll find yourself on the wrong side of the law. In Gary, Indiana, anyone who enjoys a piece of garlic bread will have to wait four hours to attend the theater (that one's not such a bad idea!). Want to go parachuting in Florida on a Sunday? Better be married! Unmarried women who go on a Sunday might find themselves sleeping in a cell that night.
Even Ohio has a few of their own. Check your gas tank before driving through Youngstown, it's illegal to run out of gas there. And when you're in Columbus the stores are not allowed to sell you cornflakes.
When hearing these kinds of things, you have to wonder how they ever became a law! Completely ridiculous, right? I have to say; the first time I read through the book of Leviticus I thought the same thing. All the sacrifices - grain offering, burnt offering, fellowship offering and the details that one must follow while presenting an offering completely confused me. I didn't understand why they could only eat animals with a split hoof and that "chewed the cud" and were not allowed to wear any clothes made of two different materials. And all that stuff about what was clean and what was unclean. Women were unclean after childbirth? That's a nice "thank you" for the labor they endured!
Even though some of those things seem unfathomable, we know God had a reason for giving that set of laws to those people during that time. The good news for us is that God has chosen a different way for us - grace.
While I may not understand those "crazy" laws in Leviticus, I understand grace. Well, okay, that's sort of a silly thing to say. I understand a tiny, itty bitty fraction of grace and what it means in my life. It means that nothing I can do is good enough, but a way has been made for me in spite of that. It means I am free from living by a set of rules and free to live my life for my Savior.
Grace means that everything has changed.
Emily
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