The Dec. 15, 1982, edition...
Illustration
The Dec. 15, 1982, edition of the Fort Myers (Florida) News-Press contained an ill-page headline which read: "Man who bit off bird's head sentenced to cleaning cages." A full-page headline for that? Of course -- such an interesting, true story!
You see, on the night of June 9, 1981, the owner of the pet cockateel, Pepper, went to the Swamp Buggy Lounge in Naples, Florida. On many occasions, the owner came to the bar with the cockateel riding on his shoulder, according to patrons.
This night, a man came over and asked if he could hold the pet. "He picked her up and just bit her head off and dropped her body in my lap," lamented the owner. When he tackled Pepper's murderer in the parking lot, the one who killed the bird simply responded by spitting the bird's head out on the pavement, then sped away.
Judge John P. Shannon said he handed out "poetic justice" by sentencing the man who killed Pepper to 100 hours of cleaning out animal cages.
A strange story with a strange ending; the truth is often that way -- stranger than fiction!
Our text tells about a similar situation, a very unusual time in history when God responded in a strange -- almost hilarious -- way, to accomplish his will and "do justice."
You cannot predict how God will act. He doesn't follow a script written for the Rev. Mr. God to follow. He loves and forgives, but he also "does justice," in his own unusual (often strange) way.
You see, on the night of June 9, 1981, the owner of the pet cockateel, Pepper, went to the Swamp Buggy Lounge in Naples, Florida. On many occasions, the owner came to the bar with the cockateel riding on his shoulder, according to patrons.
This night, a man came over and asked if he could hold the pet. "He picked her up and just bit her head off and dropped her body in my lap," lamented the owner. When he tackled Pepper's murderer in the parking lot, the one who killed the bird simply responded by spitting the bird's head out on the pavement, then sped away.
Judge John P. Shannon said he handed out "poetic justice" by sentencing the man who killed Pepper to 100 hours of cleaning out animal cages.
A strange story with a strange ending; the truth is often that way -- stranger than fiction!
Our text tells about a similar situation, a very unusual time in history when God responded in a strange -- almost hilarious -- way, to accomplish his will and "do justice."
You cannot predict how God will act. He doesn't follow a script written for the Rev. Mr. God to follow. He loves and forgives, but he also "does justice," in his own unusual (often strange) way.
