(Anonymous) - I used to go out in the morning to get the paper when we lived in El Paso. Our house was a good four miles from the main parade ground at Fort Bliss. On most mornings I could hear the whump, whump, whump of the 13-gun salute which was sounded every morning at seven o’clock. But on some mornings I could hear the sound of the drum corps as they rolled their cadences.

However, if the morning were clear and still, as in the winter when the air was crisp and cold, I could also hear the sound of the music of the army band, the blast of the trumpets, the wail of the clarinets, and the mellow tone of the horns.

But on the morning I could only hear the cannon, I knew the drum and the horns were there, whether I could hear them or not.

Our fathers, in their theology, heard the cannon and the drum, the stirring of the wrath of God. Modern ears have heard the soft music of the flute and the horn, but have not listened for the cannon and the drum.

But the music of God’s message demands the whole gamut of sound. He is just, but He is also loving.

He is strong, but He is also merciful.