The year was 1999 and the magnificent city of Lake Forest, Illinois was leveled in hail.  The city was literally sunk into the depths.   Hail bruises a roof and you don’t see the damage till years later when it dies an early death.  Our family moved to Lake Forest immediately after and my husband attended seminary, worked as a small groups pastor, and sold new shake roofs to the majestic dwellings in the forest.  Everywhere you looked the devastation from the hail was evident.  Ten years later you can probably still see damage they may never have repaired.  Like hail, gossip and the contempt for others consumes and shatters the lives we have decided are less valuable than our own.  The bruises are for others but the decay will be our own.

“I have found in the course of a long, public life that the things that I did not say never hurt me.”  Calvin Coolidge

Like hailstones the steady pounding of words, break through and destroy, some are small and some are large, all damaging.  Todd Southard

 Hail happens when hot air mixes with cold air to create a torrential storms.  Some storms swirl out of control and you get tornadoes.  Hail is the steady pounding of words that destroy your soul. Our family never saw the hail come down in Lake Forest, but we saw it come down rather shockingly in Texas hill country yesterday.

A  friend and I were talking about why someone would gossip.  Rest assured the two of us have enjoyed our fair share of scripture memorization on any text which includes the tongue. Do not perceive me as one in a perfected state, after all He is not done with me yet.

She enjoys A.W. Tozer’s “Renewed Day by Day” the following is from March 17th.

“Contempt is an emotion possible only where there is great pride.  The error in moral judgement that undervalues another always springs out of the error that overvalues ones self.  The contemptuous man esteems himself too highly, and for reasons that are invalid.  His high opinion of himself is not based upon his position as a being made in God’s image;  he esteems himself for fancied virtues which he does not possess.  The error in his judgement is moral, not intellectual.”

The car dealerships just south of us will not be able to sell one single hail damaged car, no matter how fancy the car.  We may have driven out with our shiny new fliver the previous week, perhaps even full of pride and a slightly higher opinion of ourselves because of our new ride.  Who will buy it with the windows busted out and 3 inch divots all over it.  Remember this visual the next time an acquaintance has a story about someone you must hear. They are not valuing the individual as they should and reflecting God’s value of human life. 

Be gracious, break away and head for the cover of your Father before the hail falls.

Have you ever held contempt in your heart for another.

Your verbal hail is leading you to hell literally.   

Sharing is helpful if the confidant or counselor is part of the problem or will be assisting you with the solution.

Tozer points to  Proverbs 16:5

“Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord;  though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished.”

“The result of righteousness will be peace; the effect of righteousness will be quiet confidence forever.  Then my people will dwell in a peaceful place, and in safe and restful dwellings.  But hail will level the forest, and the city will sink into the depths.  Happy are you who sow seed beside abundant waters, who let ox and donkey range free. 

 Isaiah 32: 17-20 Holman CSB

Rest in Him, Trish