Paul's Passing Thoughts

We all have our Facebook friends, and the details of their lives on the news feed can be at times….well, surprising. But we live in an age of grace, no? So, when we get prayer requests asking for recue in situations often self-imposed, we remember the mantra, “But for the grace of God, there go I,” and quickly promise to beseech God on their behalf. I am guilty of this myself, even as I see my grandma Pearl, God rest her soul, scolding me in my mind’s eye for excusing behavior deserving of hell. As she used to say to me, “What goes around comes around.” “You made the bed, now sleep in it.” “If Ronnie (a childhood friend of the baser sort) jumped off a cliff, would you follow him?” “You done it, now take your medicine,” etc.

My grandmother would have made an interesting Facebook friend in our day. If she could have learned how to access it (she was very proud of her high-tech exploits on a manual typewriter), she could have stunned the Facebook world with her no nonsense interpretation of life. And I could have used her example; like many, I do not want people to think I am “judgmental.” I am probably too sensitive to that charge, and could use some of my grandmother’s penchant for Old Testament blood and guts.

Sometimes, I do not reply to these requests because I do not know what to say. This is because several people have already replied with abundant mercy: “Done!” “Oh you poor thing! Of course I will pray!” “:(,” etc. Obviously, I do not want to come across as unmerciful. My grandmother didn’t care much about that: “Right is right, and right don’t wrong nobody.”

So, I thought of my grandmother when I read about a prayer request on Facebook and a subsequent reply of the Pearl sort.  It seems, according the report, that a Facebooker and her husband were in jail and were granted one phone call, a tweet, or a Facebook post. Apparently, they chose the Facebook post. Not a bad choice; someone is always home at Facebook.

The specific request concerned the fact that her, and hubby had sex with their pets, videotaped it, and posted it on the internet. To answer your question: dogs; no, I do not know the breed. This wouldn’t have surprised my grandmother in the least. As I said, she was well versed in the Old Testament. But I think she would have liked one of the responses to the prayer request:

I like you Amber, but I cannot, and will not pray for stupidity! Sorry!

Ambers friend probably got that from Forrest Gump’s mom: “Stupid is as stupid does.” To answer your question: no; the dogs, not the posting of the video.

Facebook is way too long on comfort and way short on counsel. Amber’s friend deserves the Pearl Whistman award for Facebook discernment. “Right is right and right don’t wrong nobody.”

paul