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4A ®jje Heraltr Tuesday, August 31,2021
Opinions
Ruffin's Renderings: Imitating God
I’d like to begin this
week’s column with a
word to the reader—sev
eral words, actually. I
am a Christian. On top
of that, I am a Christian
preacher. 1 try not to be
too preachy in this space
because I want everyone
who reads my words to
find something to chew
on and maybe even
benefit from. But this
week 1 am talking to my
fellow Christians. That
doesn’t mean that others
shouldn’t read what I’m
about to say too. In fact, I
hope you will.
I was recently do
ing some work on
some words found in
Ephesians 5:1-2. Verse
1 begins, “Therefore
be imitators of God, as
beloved children.” That
sets a mighty high bar,
doesn’t it?
Jesus says something
similar in the Sermon on
the Mount. He says, “Be
perfect...as your heav
enly Father is perfect”
(Mt 5:48). If that doesn’t
intimidate you, then you
must be intimidation
resistant. It helps a little
to know that “perfect”
means “mature” or “com
plete,” but it is still quite
a challenge to hear Jesus
tell us that we are to be
complete in being who
we are as God is com
plete in being who God
is. It adds to the chal
lenge to hear Jesus lead
into that saying with his
instruction that we are
to love and pray for our
enemies because, Jesus
says, doing so will make
us “children of [our]
Father in heaven, for he
makes his sun rise on the
evil and the good, and
sends rain on the righ
teous and on the unrigh
teous” (Mt 5:46).
While I can’t say for
certain that Fuke wrote
his Gospel after Matthew
wrote his, I can imagine
why he might
have changed
Jesus’ saying a
bit to make it
more precise.
Fuke has Jesus
say, “Be mer
ciful, just as
your Father is
merciful” (6:36).
Fuke may have
succeeded in
making Jesus’
saying more
precise, but he didn’t
succeed in making it any
easier (which I doubt he
was trying to do any
way).
Still, Fuke’s more
focused terminology is
helpful. If we are to be
come the most complete
versions of ourselves
that we can be—if we are
going to be formed in the
image of God that Christ
makes possible in us—if
we are going to look and
act like who we are as
God’s children—then we
will practice mercy in our
dealings with
people.
So, what
does it mean
to imitate
God? Well, the
passage that
leads into those
words says
that we should
speak the truth
to each other,
that we should
protect our
relationships with each
other, that we should
work so we can help
people in need, that we
should use our words
to build each other up,
that we should be kind
to each other, and that
we should forgive each
other.
To imitate God means
to be the best selves that
we can be. It means to
love, to practice mercy,
and to forgive as best
we can—not because of
what we are able to do
on our own, but because
the love of Christ is work
ing in us.
The next verse in
Ephesians 5 further
explains that it means
to imitate God. It means
to “live in love, as Christ
loved us and gave
himself up for us” (5:2).
On one hand, it’s help
ful to have Jesus to look
at in order to learn how
we are to live as imita
tors of God—we are to
love each other with the
self-emptying, self-giving,
other-focused love that
Christ loved us with. On
the other hand, it’s still
a mighty high bar, isn’t
it? It still seems like a
challenge that is difficult
to the point of verging
on being impossible,
doesn’t it? It sounds like
something we can’t do,
doesn’t it?
I wonder how seri
ously we take the charge
we have to imitate God
by living in love, by giv
ing ourselves up for each
other, and by practicing
mercy and forgiveness. I
wonder how hard we try.
bet’s ask ourselves a
couple of questions.
First, do we Christians
really believe that Christ
lives in us and makes his
love available to us?
Second, when it comes
to being the best ver
sions of ourselves that
we can be, when it comes
to offering others the
kind of mercy and for
giveness that God offers
us, and when it comes to
living out the love that
Christ’s presence makes
possible, which is better:
to aim high and fall short,
or to aim low and hit the
mark?
Mike Ruffin is a Barnesville native
who lives and works in Macon. His
new book, Praying with Matthew,
is available at helwys.com and at
Amazon.
Kudzu & Clay:
Skunk
Fong ago,
my brother was
taking a walk
in front of our
house when he
noticed a small,
skin-colored
blob in the mid
dle of the side
walk. On further
examination,
this finger-sized
blob appeared
to be alive. Be
ing the dedicat
ed ward of nature
that we were all raised
to be, he scooped it up
and brought it home. It
turned out to be a newly
born squirrel that had
fallen from its nest, Often
referred to as a “pinkie”
or “squirrel pinkie” for
obvious reasons.
The prognosis was
not good, especially in
our house where squir
rels were a nuisance
and hunted on a daily
basis. The damage they
did to our pecan trees
and my father’s strange
fascination with skinning
animals like a western
fur trader of old put the
squirrel in a tough posi
tion. My brother did not
give up on this little thing
and spent weeks feeding
it baby formula with a
tiny eyedropper. Much
to our surprise the baby
grew from an amorphous
pink blob into a fuzzy
baby—thus began the
reign of Skunk the squir
rel.
Squirrels are not
something one really
thinks of as a pet. I know
many folks that have
rodents for pets and it is
undeniable that there is
a certain stigma attached
to this kind of behavior.
If you go to someone’s
house and they have
a cage of rats or mice
you often question said
person’s mental stabil
ity. I am not saying that
is an appropriate way of
thought, but let’s not kid
ourselves. I am sure my
parents felt the same way
when my brother came
home with this creature,
but over time this little
fella caused us to shed
our rodent pretensions,
at least for squirrels.
Skunk, having never
known the outside world,
adjusted very quickly to
our house. You would
think this animal would
be timid and scared of
humans, but he loved
us. He would run around
the house and find one
of us, crawl up our leg in
a spiral just as if it were
a tree, and then perch
himself right on your
shoulder. You had to take
special care you were not
wearing a sweater when
he would jump
on you or else
his little claws
would become
tangled in the
threads. Even if
that happened
you could
untangle him
easily. He never
became frus
trated. We fed
him right from
our hand and to
my knowledge
he never once
bit.
In many ways, Skunk
was like a dog. He was ea
ger to please and enjoyed
the company of humans.
He even knew when the
doorbell rang that a new
human was showing up
and he would run to the
door and wait to greet
them. If you can imag
ine going to someone’s
house and a squirrel
jumping on you the min
ute the door opened then
you can imagine the type
of fun we had with that!
He was a squirrel.
He had squirrel tenden
cies that Mother Nature
baked into his kind for
eons. He was slightly mis
chievous. He hid things
as squirrels do. He made
holes as squirrels do.
We had an old five-gallon
bucket filled with shelled
pecans collected from
our yard and when Skunk
found this all hell broke
loose. He hid every single
one of them. He dug
holes in the sofa. He dug
holes in mattresses. He
buried things in clothes
piles. Toilet paper pack
ages. Desk drawers. Any
where he could find. And
when he was done with
the pecans he started
taking objects around the
size of a pecan and hid
ing them as well. Toys.
Candy. Golf balls.
Believe it or not, Skunk
was allowed to roam
the house freely until
this point. When things
of value started getting
destroyed or someone
was pulling out a towel
and twelve pecans fell
on their head it was time
to restrict him. My Dad
made him a little ‘house’
where he spent the night
and any time we couldn’t
directly supervise him.
When someone let him
free in the morning he
would run out and sit on
every person still asleep
until they woke up. Trust
me, waking up with a
wild animal sitting on
your chest, staring you in
the eye, negates that first
cup of coffee.
Unfortunately, Skunk
had a tragic ending.
SEE KUDZU & CLAY 5A
r-
I ft
| * W'J \
KUDZU &
CLAY
Chris Walter
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
to Pedrotti column
Response
Mrs. Pedrotti recently
opined in an essay titled
“Government Control
is not behind neces
sity of vaccine”. You see,
according to her, you
exercise “common sense”
and are even smart if
you buy into the mass
media, government, and
tech censored narrative
surrounding Covid-19,
without questioning com
peting data.
Let’s dive right into
the headline: “Govern
ment control is not
behind necessity of
vaccine”. Even support
ers of the mRNA injec
tions, mask wearing, and
social distancing will be
hard pressed to make a
statement like that. The
Federal government,
many state governments,
and some local govern
ments are pushing hard
to get everyone “vacci
nated”. The highest paid
Federal employee, Dr.
Fauci, has said on many
public occasions that we
all must get vaccinated.
President Biden just this
week insisted with FDA
approval of the Pfizer jab,
that there is no reason
for anyone to refuse the
vax. He demanded that
vax mandates filter down
to even the local level -
like here in Barnesville.
If this is not government
control, then how does
Mrs. Pedrotti define
“control”?
But of course Mrs.
Pedrotti is saying that we
have a pandemic - that
justifies the government’s
insistence on everyone
getting vaccinated and
that’s the “necessity”.
She presents the same
narrative as the local
health authorities - that
vaccination with a ques
tionable engineered prod
uct is the only way to
eradicate Covid-19. So, is
an engineered injectable
product the only way to
beat Covid?
The local health au
thorities strongly push
the mRNA injection but
are silent on safe and ef
fective treatments recom
mended by groups such
as “America’s Front Line
Doctors”. Despite the
mass censorship by the
media and tech compa
nies, there are brave doc
tors and researchers who
developed successful
treatment protocols and
published them despite
threats from the “non
controlling government”
that of course, “only has
your safety in mind”. I
submit they saved count
less lives including mine.
Mrs. Pedrotti then
goes on to compare Co-
vid-19 to small pox, polio,
and other diseases. Ac
cording to usafacts.org,
there are now 626,574
reported deaths in the US
out of a total population
of 332,677,836 according
to uscensus.org. Any
body care to do the math
on that - as in 99.7% sur
vival rate? Unlike polio,
smallpox, and other seri
ously debilitating diseas
es, Covid-19 has proven
to be very survivable and
without lasting effects
if treated early. Many
Covid related deaths
likely could have been
prevented if prompt care
had been administered.
Instead, little to no infor
mation on sound treat
ment was forthcoming by
local health authorities
who should have been on
the front line providing
up-to-date information. In
fact, they’re still silent on
any treatment options be
sides the mRNA injection,
mask wearing and event
cancellations.
Mrs. Pedrotti appar
ently while highly edu
cated and full of common
sense missed the pub
lished facts that vacci
nated people are getting
infected at alarming rates
- so much so that our
government is insisting
everyone wear masks -
even the vaccinated! In
Israel where vaccination
rates are among some of
the highest in the world,
Covid cases are skyrock
eting. Newsweek reports,
“Yet Israel currently has
one of the worst rates
of biweekly Covid cases
per million people in the
world”. This is evident
wherever you have a
large percentage of the
population that has been
vaxed at least once.
Yet implausibly, local
health officials say it’s
the unvaccinated people
spreading Covid.
Interestingly, the DPH
says only 27% of Lamar
County residents got the
jab. Yet if you look closer
at the actual numbers,
people 45 and up have
significantly higher rates
of vaccination. The lower
number largely reflects
the unvaccinated youth
and young adults. And
why were 10-14 year olds
included in the numbers?
Isn’t the vaccine off label
for anyone under 12
years of age? Maybe they
were included to drive
the vaccine percent
ages down. Children and
young adults statistically
shake off Covid espe
cially if treated early by
knowledgeable doctors
SEE LETTERS 5A
Aug. 29-Sept. 4
10 years ago
An Oldies Concert fea
turing The 5 Achords of
Thomaston was planned
to raise funds for the Mil
ner Library. The Achor
ds, which included Larry
Mitcham, George Ruff,
John Cox, Bill Woodall
and Phil Leverette, prom
ised to croon hits from
the 1950s and 1960s. The
concert was to be held
at St. George’s Episcopal
School.
25 years ago
The Lamar County
Trojans were preparing
for their first season
under new head football
coach Mark Wilson. The
Trojans competed in a
jamboree in Franklin, los
ing 7-0 to Heard County
and 13-0 to Central-Car-
rollton.
50 years ago
Cheryl Burnette was
one of 31 students to
receive the Masters of
Education degree during
graduation ceremonies
at Mercer University
in Macon. Cheryl, the
daughter of Mr. and Mrs.
Arthur O. Burnette, was
a 1968 graduate of Tift
College.
100 years ago
Master Herbert
Torbert, the 15-year-old
son of Mr. J. R. Torbert,
last week saved the life
of a negro boy, a son of
Lem Mitchell, on Potato
Creek near Mr. Torbert’s
home. The boy had gone
under several times
when rescued by young
Torbert, who risked his
life in the endeavor.
Hr iRralti #aRtte
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