Over the Rainbow

In the southwestern Kansas town of Meade, there has been a flap over a flag. The owners of the local hotel had received the flag as a gift from their young son, and flew it because it was pretty, with a colorful rainbow pattern. But soon some locals who equated the rainbow with the gay rights movement made a fuss, and some over-zealous do-gooder tore down the flag. The incident made some of the area papers, and I sent the following letter to a few editors in response.

Dear Editor:

How sad that those folks in Meade are unable to enjoy flying a rainbow flag, a gift from their 12-year-old son, just because in these “enlightened” times the rainbow flag is seen by some as a symbol of support for homosexual causes. And sad to realize the natural beauty of the rainbow is being co-opted, as the word “gay” has been, to mean something quite different than it did originally.
Sadder still, the real rainbow, originally intended to remind people of God’s promise to never again destroy the earth by flood, now arches over a world full of people who, for the most part, apparently either don’t know or don’t care that God will one day destroy this sin-corrupted earth by fire. Even worse, they seem to exhibit the same disregard for the eternal state of their own souls.
Fortunately for all of us, we live in an interlude between flood and fire (may I call it a “grace period?”) when judgment is postponed, allowing us time to respond in faith to the mercy of God shown through the gift of His son Jesus. Please don’t make the eternal mistake of delaying your own response too long.

Karl Detrich
Chapman