Preacher, a lot of people in the church are concerned. I’m not at liberty to use names. Even some who love you are not happy with the way things are going. I think you’d be surprised to know how widespread the unrest is. If you are the wise person I think you are, you will not want to jeopardize your family by risking a church vote and suddenly find yourself unemployed. If I were you–and I’m just saying this as a friend–I think I’d be looking for another church to go to.
The baying of wolves in the night can be disconcerting. But it’s also misleading. As this story from President U. S. Grant’s autobiography makes clear….
In the mid-1840s, Ulysses S. Grant was a Second Lieutenant in the war between the U.S. and Mexico, with the prize being Texas. Grant’s Memoirs make fascinating reading. The first former president to write his memoirs, Grant’s are generally conceded to be the best of the lot. (Note: Before reading Memoirs, I read Grant’s Final Victory, an account of the last year of his life when he penned his story to earn enough money to provide for his wife after his impending death from cancer. Great story. He was a far better man than he is often given credit for. )
At one point, Grant and some troopers were in west Texas, which was sparsely settled except by the Indians and plenty of varmints. One night, they heard “the most unearthly howling of wolves, directly in our front.” The tall grass hid the wolves but they were definitely close by. “To my ear, it appeared that there must have been enough of them to devour our party, horses and all at a single meal.”
The part of Ohio where Grant had been brought up had no wolves, but his friend Lt. Calvin Benjamin came from rural Indiana where they were still in abundance. He understood the nature of the animal and the capacity of a few to make believe there was an unlimited number of them.
Benjamin began moving straight toward the wolves, seemingly unafraid. I followed in his trail, lacking moral courage to turn back….
After a bit, Benjamin spoke. ‘Grant, how many wolves do you think are in that pack?’
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