"Give him enough rope and he will hang himself." I know you've heard the words. Maybe you have even watched it happen. More than once.

With much intensity I used to search the Scriptures for answers to so many "whys" of yesterday and "what ifs" for tomorrow. Then the time came when I found myself at peace with just living one day at a time, and trusting Jesus Christ with my past, present and future.

That peace has reigned for nearly two decades now. The peace, the assurance that Jesus is enough ... seems to be here to stay, and I am glad. However, thoughts about the past and the future are returning as we approach a new millennium.

I am thinking again of the Genesis account of the flood and how God promised to "never again curse the ground on account of man, for the intent of man's heart is evil from his youth, and I will never again destroy every living thing as I have done. While the earth remains, seed time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease."

There is some comfort in such a promise. Some.

But there is still that thought about the rope. Was God's heart so broken when He destroyed the earth that first time that He resolved to just give us enough rope to hang ourselves? Rope being symbolic for freedom, of course.

Faithfully watch the news for a week or so, and regularly observe mankind at work, at play, at church, everywhere ... then read John's Revelation again. And check out Peter's second book in the New Testament and Matthew's 25th chapter.

Then recall God's promise after the Great Flood, "While the earth remains ..."

Oh, I don't doubt for a minute that our Creator God loves us and longs for an eternal relationship with us. But can the creation ever crawl out of itself long enough to respond to that love? Can we really return it? Or will we destroy ourselves?

Those early writers of Scripture, who referred to an eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels and all the wicked, could not have imagined the capability we now have on earth to destroy ourselves by fire. Yet, we, the human race, are presently capable of starting fires that cannot be put out.

Just watch the news. Listen. Observe.

Oh, sure, I know about the asteroid speculation. We all have heard the comments about some massive body of fire hitting the earth and causing the explosion that will set the world on fire. But I don't buy it. I think God gave us the rope (the freedom) a long time ago to destroy ourselves. Does He want us to be destroyed? Shucks, no! Look at all he has done to try to redeem us. But the freedom is ours. The choices are ours. Today. Tomorrow. Every day.

The new millennium may be just around the corner, but maybe I ought to tell you what actually prompted this line of thought today.

It was Tuesday morning, Jan. 5, about 9:52 a.m. I picked up my car phone and dialed 911. I told the lady who answered that I was driving north on Interstate 285 west of Atlanta and that just south of exit nine there was a huge roll of carpet padding in the middle of the road. I explained that cars and big trucks were darting to the left and right in heavy traffic to avoid hitting it, and that it was large enough to cause an accident."

Her response: "Did you happen to notice what the name of the road was at that exit?"

"No, but it was exit nine," I said.

"Well, your cell phone is ringing in on the Atlanta exchange and I think you might be in Cobb County.

While I drove along wondering if anybody had been injured yet, I listened to the 911 operator think aloud about whose responsibility it was to respond.

When I hung up the phone I was under the impression that she had decided that if I was right and the debris in the road was actually south of exit nine it was probably her responsibility to dispatch someone to remove it.

I also hung up the phone wondering if there is any hope for the human race?

And remembered the words of Cain to God, "Am I my brother's keeper?"

And I recall the words of John, "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God ... Beloved, if God so loved us (enough to send Jesus to die for our sins), we ought also to love one another."

I am not different from the 911 operator. Everyday I wonder where my responsibilities begin and end. Everyday I confront barriers we all have erected to prevent us from responding promptly to the needs of others.