Have trouble following God's rules?
Rev. Rory M. Hermann Good Shepherd Lutheran Church

A member of my congregation took my son-in-law and I on a fishing trip in the Gulf. We departed from a canal off East Bay, just west of the Garcon Point Bridge. We followed a marked channel through the bay, sailed under the three-mile bridge, followed the channel through Pensacola Bay and into the Gulf. Red and green buoys marked the channel and I remembered the old memory device, "red, right, returning." Once in the Gulf we followed a GPS device to our desired fishing spots.

Rules, rules, rules! It seemed like everywhere we turned on our little excursion there was a rule. "No wake" in this location. "Stay clear of less maneuverable craft." "Throw any snapper back smaller than a minimal size." "Render assistance to disable vessels."

Why couldn't our captain just sail across the bay any which old way? We could have cut some corners and saved some time. It's all water, right?

We rebel at rules, even when they are meant for our own safety and the benefit of others. We joke that if you want a child - or anybody for that matter - to do something, just tell them don't do it!

We rebel at God's rules also. We think somehow our creator knows less about what is good for us than we do. We have difficulty with just 10 simple rules, the first group which governs our relationship with God and the second group which governs our relationship with each other. We break the rules at our own peril. However, Christ fulfilled the rules in our place, paid the penalty for our inability to do so, and then covered us with his righteousness. Our rebirth in the Spirit enables us to look at the rules in a different light!

Good Shepherd Lutheran Church is located at 4257 Gulf Breeze Parkway, Gulf Breeze, Fla. For more information, call 850-932-3263.