.....The weather lady on TV said that a ‘system’ from the south was going to hit us first with wind and rain and thunder.  Then before we could dry off, a ‘system’ from the north was going to hit us with snow.  And I feel sorry for us:  all these systems pushing us around.  And after the weather systems finish their bullying, we’ll have to go back to contending with the banking system and the legal system and the education system and health care system and the government.  And in the middle of all that, some of us have to contend with turbulence in the circulatory system—or the reproductive system—or the nervous system--or the digestive system…  What’s a person to do?

      I go to church.  Yeah, I know—churches traffic in the muck of the religious system—and if you spend much time in a church—it will eventually louse up the system you use to be sweet and rosy.  But I go to church because it’s the one place where you can hear about the mother-of-all-systems:  the Kingdom of God.....

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