The Hungry Disciple

 “God changes caterpillars into butterflies, sand into pearls, and coal into diamonds using time and pressure. He is doing the same with you.” Rick Warren.   This was a recent post on facebook by the author of “The Purpose Driven Life” after his beloved son committed suicide a few weeks ago.. No one lives a golden life. Suffering is inevitable. I have truly sought God about many sorrowful situations and experiences in my life. I have received heart lifting revelation from Him many times; however my family and I have been traveling a path of emotional suffering the past few years that is unjust and beyond our control. You know how Paul the Apostle said he had learned to be content in all things? Well, I’m not there. People of faith have suffered for their beliefs for centuries, like Paul. Harder to accept are situations like that of Corri Ten Boom, who suffered innocently at the hands of a brutal government and cruel people, Of course, Corri Ten Boom had a magnificen...

I heard it again this morning.  "Your sin separates you from God."  I watch TV preachers sometimes on Sunday mornings.  I turn  on a  Christian station and just let it play in the background while I read the paper or check my email.  You never know what you'll hear. Sometimes, I like what I hear. Sometimes, I don't. One thing I'm sure I will hear, at least once, "Your sin separates you from God", or some paraphrase thereof.  I aggravates me every time. I've had a relationship with Jesus for over 64 years now, and when I hear that sentence there's still a tiny space in me that has a startle response, a quick intake of breath until I process what I've heard through The Spirit and say, "oh, but I'm not sin."  Our sinfulness does not cause God to separate Himself from us.  I know this, but I am aggravated that hearing it said still can cause that millisecond of anxiety.  Isaiah 59:2 says,  "But your iniquities have be...

Dice is a game of chance. To enjoy throwing dice something has to be on the line. It can be as little as being deemed 'lucky' or as great as all your earthly worth, but there must be something to win or to lose for it to be a game. For some reason, man has the need for risk, that is beyond competition to be the best.There is some twisted thrill in taking a chance. From shooting marbles in the playground to risking life and limb on a race track, we create games that can have tragic consequences. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is not a crap shoot.  As much as it seems right that a joyful life and eternal salvation be a result of the turn of a card or an unknown balance sheet in the sky, The Gospel of Christ is simple. God has laid all His cards on the table. He's played a Divine Hand. He's loaded the dice.  His dice spell "GRACE", no matter how many times you toss them.  He's said, "here, take the pot. All you have to do to scrape it all into your la...

I’m going to show my age here. How many remember the grade school reading primers “Fun With Dick and Jane”?  I remember them so clearly. Everyone, even the pets, looked so pretty.   They talked so nicely to each other. They were so encouraging, “Run Spot run. Look Jane. See Spot? See Spot run!” No one in my family talked that way. We certainly weren’t as attractive, or nice to each other. Of course, I soon learned about idealism, and illusion. Denial became more to me than a river in Egypt , but for a year or so, I remember very unsettling feelings, that I now know as isolation and longing.  I longed for a Dick and Jane life. Surely, my family must be the only one who did not have that. I was absolutely sure that school was a place where people who knew everything would teach me everything I needed to know, so I felt very quickly that something wasn’t quite right with me. Church of my childhood was a very loving and nurturing environment where I learned ab...