The Hairs on Your Head

I cut my own hair the other day, for the first time ever. 

Because of shelter-at-home orders, all the hair salons and barber shops have been closed, and my hair's been getting rough around the edges. Granted, at my age, I'm just glad my follicles still sprout enough hair to worry about. But the sprouts are getting more and more grey and when I go a month without a haircut I look like an unkempt geezer who might need help to get home. That simply would not do. 

Besides, cutting your own hair is a sort of bucket list thing. 

So I took a haircut leap of faith and did the job myself. To my surprise, it was not as hard as I imagined. I just tried to mimic what I've seen barbers and hairdressers do a thousand times. 

First, I used scissors to clip, clip, clip the unruly, mostly grey miscreants. My, my, my. The fallen hairs made a mess. Here, at home, there was nobody around to sweep the clipped hairs into anonymity. Add, "sweep up own cut hairs", to my bucket list.

Still, as I surveyed the landscape of my freshly cut head, I pronounced it, "not bad", a clear-cut improvement. 

But what to do with my sideburns, or the stubble on the backside of my head? A skilled barber, wielding an electric razor, could finish the job, no problem.  

Then I remembered: I do in fact own a barber's electric razor! 

There is a story behind how I came upon it. 

In a time of financial uncertainty, I had been more than a little stressed about how to fit a haircut into my very tight budget. The concern was real and I brooded about it. In a sense, though, my worry was sinful. Jesus says that God is (likewise) concerned about even the slightest aspect of our lives. 

Just to prove that God can, in fact, count the hairs on my head, he did a minor miracle on my behalf. 

Within about a week (or two), a package arrived (from Walmart) with - drum roll, please - an electric razor, that I had not ordered. 

No kidding. 

I did, by the way, call Walmart to report the mistake, and offered to return the package. No, they didn't want it back. I could keep it. 

The irony, and the lesson, was not lost on me. 

God does in fact care, deeply, about the human race. He's a numbers guy. He counts the stars, and the hairs on your head, and nothing you even think about escapes his loving scrutiny. 

 Bigger picture, the Corona virus will not end the world.  Despite the threat, God is sovereign, and he is going to bring COVID-19 under control. Like that barber kit that showed up on my doorstep, someone will discover a vaccine. 

Headquarters can count the hairs on your head, man. Don't freak out. 

Happy T-scipling,

Jeff Criswell

Director of Teeology