My son, do not let wisdom and understanding out of your sight,
    preserve sound judgment and discretion;
 they will be life for you,
    an ornament to grace your neck.
 Then you will go on your way in safety,
    and your foot will not stumble. – Proverbs 3:21-23

This morning, to follow up on yesterday’s “Snow Storm or Snow Job?,” here is the current situation in Tarboro. The weather app on my phone has been – and still is – much more dramatic about the conditions and excited about the forecast that simply stepping out onto the street would indicate.

But it is treacherous, I will grant that. Our front steps are one slippery layer of ice, as is the sidewalk and the street, with a thin cold sleet coming down to freeze on top. Temps are going to remain in the teens and the 20’s for several days, and we do not anticipate seeing much more than an occasional degree or two above freezing (and that only for a few hours) for a good week.

And so, even though anything is manageable when we are careful, I do understand why public events such as church services are closed down. The roads are going to be particularly dangerous for a couple of days and – as all those videos floating around illustrate so well – some drivers are not known for, as the text from Proverbs puts it, their sound judgment!!

I appreciate the way the scriptures suggest that we wear the following attributes like “an ornament to grace our neck”:

• Wisdom
• Understanding
• Sound judgement
• Discretion

Good grief I would like to see these attributes make a comeback in public life over the next few days and weeks.

They will, the text suggests, “Be life for you.” Life for all of us.

Life for this 250-year-old experiment in democracy and a beacon of hope for our oppression-weary world – DEREK