This past week, I had the privilege of attending Percona Live, an open-source database conference held in Austin, Texas this year. It’s always tough leaving Charity and the kids behind, but I do enjoy the adventure of going somewhere entirely new!
I won’t bore you with the technical details of the conference, but let me share a few pictures instead.
Outside of the conference, I had the opportunity to enjoy traditional Texas BBQ and Mexican dishes. I was also staying right next to the Ann W. Richards Congress Avenue Bridge, and took the opportunity to view the bats — as hard as it was to actually see them at dusk. One minor regret: I didn’t take advantage of the many scooters around town!
As I was walking to dinner Wednesday night and enjoying the beauty of the many mature trees planted along the sidewalk, I came across a sad scene. I didn’t think to take a picture, but before me was a tree cut down to just a gnarly stump in the ground. Surrounded by its healthy peers, the following verse came to mind:
Give not thy strength unto women,
Proverbs 31:3
nor thy ways to that which destroyeth kings.
This verse comes from the final chapter of Proverbs, and complements the many verses warning a man to remain faithful to the wife of his youth and avoid the destruction that comes from laciviousness. The image of this tree before me contrasted with the the imagery of the opening chapter of the Psalms:
1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly,
Psalms 1:1-3
nor standeth in the way of sinners,
nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord;
and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water,
that bringeth forth his fruit in his season;
his leaf also shall not wither;
and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
I give God the glory for blessing me with the wife of my youth and — by His grace — preserving my strength and prospering my ways!
In Christ,
Jesse