Those wolf pictures make me laugh. He's so mean.
Anyway, today was OK. The best part was sitting and watching two hours of Mythbusters with Toni.
I had to drop my daughter off at her Mom's parent's house, which was nice because it saves me about two hours and about $15 in gas. Easter always stings a little because I remember (quite vividly) that I proposed
to my ex-wife on Easter. Quite obviously "happily ever after" didn't materialize, and it's just a reminder of something bad happening. Fortunately, she managed to taint Easter and Christmas, so the two holidays that commemorate God have that stink on them. On a scale of 1-10, though, it's down to about a two, like an ant bite from three days ago.Today our pastor said two things that really struck me in a good way.
#1) The more you get away from the Bible the easier it is to start believing squirrely things.
#2) The Resurrection proves that God is real and Jesus was who he said he was, so that's cleared up.
My brother asked a question that stuck with me, and that was this: how well do you know God? My answer, I think, is that I don't think I know God from a hole in the wall. I think I know a crapload about God, but that's not the same thing.
I figure I should probably read the Bible. I can say with absolute authority that I have read "Jurassic Park" many more times than I've read the Bible, so I guess it stands to reason that I really don't know God all that well. I think I've had some pretty good glimpses here and there, but nothing really permanent.
Our pastor was telling us a story in the Bible about a blind guy that Jesus was healing, and after praying a first time Jesus asked the guy if he could see, and the guy said he could see men walking around like trees. Jesus prayed again and the guy could see fine afterwards. I feel like the blind guy after the first prayer - some exposure, some experience, but no real clarity.
Then he told us the story of Peter, when Peter stood and very boldly spoke to all those people in the book of Acts. It was like Peter already had all the knowledge, he just needed the final key to ignite the conviction behind it, and after that there was no stopping him.
Toni says that she's glad we're going to this church. She says it's the first time she's really seen me try to dig in, even if it stems from me getting mad. She thinks that God is tilling up the soil in my mind (or heart, or something) and getting all the rocks out so He can plant some good stuff. Evidently I have a crapload of rocks.
Anyway, that's it for tonight. More tomorrow, I hope. I want to go into the concept of increase and make sure I'm not thinking God is promising me something He's not. I'm wondering if God doesn't want me to be poor but He doesn't have to give it to me - maybe that's closer.
2 comments:
The more you get away from the Bible the easier it is to start believing squirrely things.
This. And don't think I'm saying that like a jerk - this applies to all of us. This is why it's so dangerous to live in a cave. We need other folks around us to sometimes say "ummmmm, nope" because it all makes perfect sense in the echo chamber of our brains, doesn't it?
Those wolf pictures make me laugh. He's so mean.
Yes. Also the coke grizzly.
Everyone has rocks. Lots and lots of rocks. Varying sizes too. Some are even boulders capable of sapping any happy memory you can think up with soul crushing defeat.
However, Easter & Christmas are just days. That's all they are. Human interpretations of blessed events that shaped the course of humanity. Divine machinations that have allowed us one small, pinhole glimpse of what connected to God really means. That's Easter & Christmas. That's God.
In my church and small group we often discuss how, as westerners, and more specifically Americans, we have somehow lost our reverence for God and his divinity and grace. Our lifestyles are so far beyond the rest of the world and so alien to the people and cultures of the biblical age, that we take for granted the sacrifice of God's great, ineffable plan and the work of Christ.
My relationship with my heavenly father can be described, largely, as suspect. Though, through persistence and simple repetition I desperately try, every day to find the wonder that is our world and our creator. When one steps back from the drudgery of day the to look at the world (and universe for that matter) macro perspective, one realizes just what a profound place it is which we call home.
That's the whole point right:
"whether it is nobler in the mind to suffer the clings and arrows of outrageous fortune…to sleep, perchance to dream…for in that sleep of death what dreams may come, when we have shuffled off this mortal coil."
You are a smart guy. You know where that is from, but Bill somehow seemed to get this one right, right? It's not about the day to day. It' always about the bigger picture. If there is one single thing that has haunted me all my life, it is my temporal inability to step back, be patient, and take a broader look. I would encourage you to do this as well.
The words. "this too, shall pass" are some of the most important ever uttered. I wonder if Jesus ever said that very thing and it just got edited out. Is that heresy?
I truly enjoy your posts. I hope you keep them coming.
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