God in charge of our destiny

We always get a variety of catalogs in the mail. Last week was no different so I stacked them and then went through the bundle on Saturday.

The catalogs were the ones we receive periodically — clothing, hunting, items for the holidays. But one stood out. It was a catalog featuring children’s furniture. As I looked through the pages, I was amazed at all the options parents have these days for decorating kids’ rooms. There were study rooms, play rooms and boys and girls bedrooms. Bedding, drapes, rugs, sheets, pictures, lamps and chairs are also available.

Each room featured had a name or a theme. There was a bed shaped in the form of a pirate ship, canopies over fancy beds to promote the princess theme, rustic furniture to make like a cabin in the mountains, and rooms with train and safari themes.

There were all sorts of sports rooms, ranging from the 40s and major league baseball memorabilia to sports figures of today. Another section of this catalog featured study rooms. Beautiful credenzas with shelving and baskets to organize supplies and school work were shown stretching the length of a wall. Additional shelves were shown for computer and copier space.

Then something in contrast came to my mind. I was reading the story of Moses last week and his childhood and could not help but think of him as I flipped though the pages of this catalog on kids’ furniture.

Moses was born into a family whose parents were under the strict authority of the pharaoh. His first room was no doubt just part of a plain home, made of mud bricks and mortar with a dirt floor. Moses parents’ realized that they could not even keep him in this home because the pharaoh had ordered that Hebrew babies be killed. His crying at night might alert the authorities.