He makes his living from salvaging furniture, appliances, lawn mowers and anything else that people discard. He repairs these things and sells them at a flea market.
The flea market that he does business at was severely damaged by recent wind storms and it hasn't yet reopened. So the fellow was attempting to sell his wares from his front yard. Normally his yard has some "junk" in it and his porch is impassible but for a narrow entrance to his front door.
He recently decided it would be a great idea to erect a festival style tent in his front yard, stock it full of his junk and set out a sign that announced he was Open For Business. The folks that live next door to him apparently had more than they could take, complained to our fair city and the city council ordered him to cease and desist.
The next day his yard was filled with handwritten signs proclaiming that the city council and his next door neighbors were all agents of Satan and that he would stand firm against this apostacy. The police were sent to explain his options and the tent came down as did most of the signs except for one small one ranting against the devils next door.
There is a lesson in all of this. "When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I felt as a child, I thought as a child. Now that I have become a man, I have put away childish things."
How many times in my younger days did I rally against the Lord because things were not working out according to my plans. I'm sure I even blamed my situation on Satan.
Perhaps I wasn't listening to the Almighty. My neighbor, the junk dealer, is aware that the law says you have to maintain orderly property and you cannot operate a business in an area zoned for residences. You also need to be licensed and pay appropriate taxes.
Our God is a God of order. We are blessed with free will. We, who know Jesus as our Lord, are blessed with God's Grace. This does not by any means discount His Commandments. We need to not just trust, but obey as well.
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