by Tim Kneezel

My driveway is probably the worst paved driveway that I've ever seen. There are cracks and bumps and jumps and rolls … and then there is the five foot by three foot patch of grass in the middle of it. Strangely enough, the grass growing here is probably the nicest grass in my whole lawn. It's lush, thick, and almost completely weed free. The thing that boggles my mind about this is that if you have plant growth that you are trying to prevent, the product you buy is basically a petroleum product and salt. Motor oil and rock salt will kill pretty much anything, and keep the ground sterile there for years to come. However, I have this great grass growing up through the petroleum based asphault of my driveway which I thoroughly salted during the icy Rochester winter.

I think that King Asa is a lot like my driveway grass. The most impressive thing about the goodness of King Asa, is that he seems to come out of nowhere. Not an obscure shepherding nowhere like David did as a youngster, but out of an actively oppressive environment where evil was encouraged. He grew up with a grandmother who was the queen mother of a pagan religion. The best thing that the author of 1 Kings can say about his father is that he only ruled for a couple of years. This was not an easy family to grow up in and proclaim faith in the Lord Almighty.

However, he is eventually able to depose his grandmother from her throne as queen mother. He also did quite a bit to clean up the messes left behind by his father and grandfather. More than anything else, this story is a reminder that no matter how bad things look, God can grow good out of it. Asa put is faith and trust in God and through Him, he was able to end a war and even build cities. No matter how the odds seem to be stacked against us, God can work wonders in our lives if we put our faith in Him.

Your fellow traveler,
Tim