ameliorating

"Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation." 2Cor6:2

God is making things better. Period. And sometimes I don't see it. Actually, most of the time I don't see it. And I'm learning to understand that I am just looking through the wrong pair of lenses.

"Our hearts ache, but we always have joy." 2Cor6:10

I want the world to change, but is it God's plan? I want my life to change, but is it God's plan? It is certainly safe to say that God desires change, but is it the same change as I desire, that's the question. My heart longs for peace, for joy, but I think the vast majority of the time it is not what God has planned for me, and it is not what God has planned for all of those professing a belief in Christ. Certainly God desires us to live in peace and joy, but I'm learning to understand that God's definition of peace and joy is far different from the natural man's definition. In the letter written by James he admonishes those who will read it to not show partiality based upon someone's status quo, and this too is not what the natural man's first instinct is. Argh!, dumb natural instinct! So in every way I am learning, slowly, but learning, that I am screwed up from the core, all of me, all of my thoughts, and that only by the illumination and empowerment of the Spirit of God will I see and act in a way that is right and true. Oh, and I've known this, but I am also learning that I will always be relearning this. Learning to relearn, aching with joy...

freaky bones

Went to the orthopedic office the other day, for the fourth time, and my wrist is still broke. The Doc did say I could go without the cast, for some reason... he is the doctor though so I believed him. I took a picture of my x-ray and its the scaphoid bone (click for more info). Umm, yeah, the big crack is still there, after 12 weeks. No wonder it hurt so bad, ARGHH!!!

And on a similar note, I'm considering a career change. I think I will become a doctor myself... You see, there's this racketeering industry where you're allowed to charge people $40 a minute for work, and I simply don't think that's bad pay. When I first went to the emergency room to get my arm checked out, 10 minutes of time with ole' doctor, $400 bill = $40 a minute. Not bad. And then I've been battling a sinus infection too, so finally went to the "community" clinic to get some help there. Two hours in the waiting room, 1 minute with the doctor (really!, I timed it), $100 bill = $100 a minute. WHAT?!?! That's right, I'm going to become an extortionist, oh wait, I mean healthcare professional here to serve the sick and dying. ARGHH!!!

acribed to God

One week-night, when I was sitting in the house of God, I was not thinking much about the preacher’s sermon, for I did not believe it. The thought struck me, How did you come to be a Christian? I sought the Lord. But how did you come to seek the Lord? The truth flashed across my mind in a moment—I should not have sought him unless there had been some previous influence in my mind to make me seek him. I prayed, thought I, but then I asked myself, How came I to pray? I was induced to pray by reading the Scriptures. How came I to read the Scriptures? I did read them, but what led me to do so? Then, in a moment, I saw that God was at the bottom of it all, and that he was the Author of my faith, and so the whole doctrine of grace opened up to me, and from that doctrine I have not departed to this day, and I desire to make this my constant confession, “I ascribe my change wholly to God.”

-Charles Haddon Spurgeon