12 And after the earthquake a fire,
but the LORD was not in the fire;
and after the fire a still small voice. 1 Kings 19:12 (NKJV)
By Bro. John L. Cash
Susan and I have had the same morning routine for decades. On work mornings, the alarm goes off at 5:15. Instead of running headlong into the new day, we think it’s best to ease in gradually. We spend about a half hour or so drinking coffee together and watching the news.
One morning we were watching part of a very highly rated national broadcast. A female doctor has a regular segment about developments in health care. Susan made a very interesting comment. She said, “I just don’t understand why such a beautiful, smart woman would think she needs to wear a shirt with a ‘cleavage hole’ in it while talking about women’s healthcare.” She went on. “It’s especially confusing now that we’re in the middle of the ‘Me Too’ movement. It just makes all of us women look bad.”
Now, let me say here, Susan is not a curmudgeon. She has worn a bikini (a time or two) in her life when she was younger. She’s doesn’t dress like “the church lady” or expect everybody else to do so. “But,” she said, “here is this prominent female physician, talking about ovarian cancer, and her shirt’s got a large circular hole advertising her ample cleavage. Even the Pope couldn’t ignore it!”
Susan decided to send an email to the network news organization. It was a very nice letter that Susan composed. She told the station that she really liked her and the weekly segments she was on and thought she was a wonderful journalist. But, Susan wondered, what was the purpose for her to wear such a revealing choice of blouse? Susan said, in her opinion, that she was grateful for the movement that stresses the need for men to treat women with respect. And, she asked, wouldn’t it be better for women to dress in such a way that it draws attention to their ideas, instead of their bodies?
Susan emailed her polite note but never heard anything back. But several months have passed, and we’ve noticed a remarkable thing. All of her clothing choices since then have been very attractive—but very modest. No more cleavage holes!
Now you may think I’m very naïve to believe Susan’s one letter brought all of this about. I don’t think that’s the case at all. A dear friend of mine has spent his adult life working for major corporations. He said that when companies get a letter of complaint or correction, they take them seriously. They believe that for every letter that they receive, another 1,000 people felt the same way but just didn’t take time to write.
I have a feeling that a few dozen people may have written the same letter as Susan. I believe the broadcasters felt a few hundred thousand people felt the same way.
Have you noticed how much “outrage” there is in our country right now? Have you noticed how many people are screaming their views and how little seems to be changing? It may be the time for us Christians to quietly make our little suggestions. After all, the Lord Himself speaks in a “still small voice.”
Dr. John L. Cash is the “Country Preacher Dad.” He was raised in Stuttgart, Arkansas, and has spent the last 33 years being a country preacher in the piney woods five miles south of the little town of Hickory, Mississippi. He’s a retired Mississippi public schoolteacher with grown sons, and is now a stay-at-home-grandpa with his grandson, Landon Cash. He and his lovely wife, Susan, live in a brick house in town (where the “Blizzard of 2019” turned out to only be a heavy layer of frost.) You can send him a note at brotherjohn@ilovechurchcamp.com.
