Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Thursdays Child John 4:40-54 Blind Faith

When I read these verses I started thinking about the times we pray for something and the prayer is answered and other times it doesn't appear to be. There are some people who will tell you that it was answered, the answer was just "no". Well, that doesn't make the person praying feel any better. I have experienced both. I have been prayed for, and received healing. I have prayed for others and have seen them healed. I have seen the opposite. Our preacher is legally blind. He tells how he has prayed for, and has been prayed for his whole life for his eyes to be healed. The answer has always been no. He is an amazing musician. I always think of Stevie Wonder when I watch him play. If he was healed now, as an adult , I could see how that could mess up how he plays. So, why wasn't he healed as a child before he learned? I guess if we knew God's master plan we wouldn't need faith. Sometimes it's just frustrating not knowing. I do think God knows those times when our faith starts to weaken so He does something to give us a boost. Like Jesus said in verse 48 "Must I do miraculous signs and wonders before you people will believe in me?" Well, I say yes, sometimes. Not to really, truly, believe, but sometimes we need that boost. We need that confirmation. Like children needing confirmation that their parents love them. As children of God He takes care of us also. We teach our kids as they grow, then we have to sit back and watch them apply what they've learned. Sometimes we have to let them make mistakes so they can figure out the correct answer, but we naturally help when we see them becoming frustrated and discouraged. As we grow as Christians, God shows us He's there, then maybe He steps back to let us apply what we've learned. When we start to feel too overwhelmed He jumps in again as any good dad would do. Like a good dad, Jesus wasn't going to let the government official in this passage down. The official could have gone home discouraged when Jesus didn't go with him, but he believed, so his son lived. Why do some people die even when we pray for them? No one knows. Not even the most educated theologian, who would have you believe he has a direct link to God knows. Don't get discouraged. If you read the book of Psalm, you'll see how David became frustrated. There were times when he didn't hold back he just yelled at God and laid it right out there, and you see how God blessed him. Maybe that's the key-honesty. Being honest with God. I don't think we have to worry about being disrespectful with God as long as we're being honest with Him. He knows our heart anyway, why try to B.S. Him (sorry, I can't think of any other phrase that fits.) Trust in His master plan. Sometimes we may not understand it. We may need to yell and get things off of our chest. Blind faith is hard but remember as a child of God, your dad won't let you down. Keep searching with me, leave comments, maybe together we can make some sense of it all. Thanks for searching with me, Paul

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

The Edge:Update

Okay, for all you super historians I know you're going to think this is weird, and maybe I should feel embarrassed but I admit in high school I didn't memorize the Declaration Of Independence. I don't know that I would remember it anyway since that was a reeaally long time ago. I felt like I needed to defend myself right away because for the past few months I have been gettting the saying "When In The Course Of Human Events" in my head. This past weekend I woke up and I couldn't get it out of my head. So naturally what did I do? Google. It didn't take much of a search to find out that this is the first line of The Declaration Of Independence. The first line reads like this "When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another.... It goes on to say more, but most places I found stopped there because that states the thirteen colonies have decided to break all ties with England and form their own country. Each time this would come to mind I would try to put more thought to it and figure out where to go with it but nothing else would come to mind, so I would forget about it and move on. I don't know for sure but maybe this is one of the vision puzzles that is going to come together next month. Thanks for sharing my journey, Paul

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

The Edge

A few weeks ago I mentioned that we're going to Florida on vacation, and that I haven't been there on vacation for 10 years. I haven't lived there for over 30 years now. I have decided to make South Dakota my home, so the initial homesickness you feel when you first move away from home is gone. Naturally there are times when I still miss family. I have children my family hasn't met. My nieces have had children that we haven't met. Needless to say I'm getting excited. It's weird for me to experience anticipation. I don't usually think about an upcoming event. The more you think about it, the slower time seems to go by. This time I am thinking about it quite a bit. I keep finding little short videos of things we'll be doing to show the kids. I've also been having an intuitive feeling lately. This hasn't been just a normal feeling that something is going to happen. It feels more like when you're trying to remember something, and just before you remember, you lose the thought, and you just yell aarrgh. Like you're right at the edge but can't quite see over. It's almost like little visions in a puzzle that I can't quite put together yet. I'm sure it is going to be something I need to write about. Most of the stories I've written here, and now on Damsels, Ghosts, and Heroes have been along the fun, funny, fantasy, theme. This feels different, maybe a dramatic, emotional, love story type of story. I tend to lean toward writing childrens stories, but some of the stuff I've read lately regarding the art of writing says to write outside of you comfort zone. Maybe this is where these little visions are headed. One of the things I do miss frequently about Florida is the beach and the ocean, so this trip we are going to spend a couple of days at the beach. If you've ever spent time sitting, listening to the waves wash onto the beach, you know how soothing and therapeutic that can be. Hopefully my therapy will be putting these little visions together. Stay tuned for future updates, and the whole picture sometime toward the end of next month. Thanks for sharing the journey with me, Paul

Friday, July 2, 2010

Thursdays Child John 4:31-38 Patient Evangelism

I've been feeling a little guilty lately for unintentionally neglecting Thursdays Child. So let's continue on with John 4. As the Samaritan people came out to see Jesus the disciples were trying to get him to eat, He told them He gets nourished just by doing the will of God. That was great for Jesus but doesn't it really bug you when some of the holier than thou's try to pull that fake crap on you. Even though we could probably rant on that for awhile we'll keep it positive. He went on to explain that harvesting isn't just for the Fall season, and neither is planting just for Spring. Joy comes to the one who plants and the one who harvests. I feel like the people that try to evangelize others and push to get them saved in one meeting turn them off more toward Christianity. That's what Jesus is saying here. Just plant that seed. You'll probably get to bring someone else to Christ another day. If we just show the love of Jesus and plant the seed people will naturally wonder what is different about us. We'll eventually be able to respond to their curiosity and some days we'll experience the planting and some days the harvesting. So keep planting, keep harvesting, and most of all never stop searching. Thanks for searching with me, Paul