Stories and other stuff

I had an interesting experience today. I felt led to take a road trip today, and through a confluence of circumstances and a substantial nudge from the Holy Spirit, I decided to go. I didn't want to, but I knew I needed to. There is a thrift store up the coast in the next large town that I like to go to. Sometimes I find really good stuff there and I just had a "feeling" that there was something there for me. So much so that I told a friend that I had to go there, that there was something for me. And there was. But there was something more....I was listening to a radio program and as I was getting ready to turn into the parking lot, I heard something I needed to hear about taking my feelings, or lack thereof, in this case, to God and talk to Him about them. I did, right there in the parking lot. And then I went inside the thrift store. I like looking for Christmass stuff at thrift stores. Sometimes you can find a lot of nice stuff and over the years I have foun...

Last nght, I saw a United States Congressman, on national TV call Christians the "forces of hate" and "relics of the past", in response to them declaring what God's plan for marriage is. I found the idea nonsense, but that's the time we live in. Right has become wrong, what used to be taboo to even talk about on TV is now the law of the land, and we can't expect God to bless America when we're living in outright defiance to His word. Think about that. Do we trust God, or does our money lie? If we trusted God, it seems to me that we surely would pay more attention to what He has to say on matters. But we don't. At least not our secular government. I don't hate anybody. There are people I prefer not to be around, but that's just life and if I feel that way about some, I'm sure the feeling is shaared by people who feel the same about me. I prefer these days to be not as controvercial as I used to be so there's that. But st...

One of the greatest conundrums of the Christian faith is wanting to do something for God, or wanting something (or someone) in your life, and God says "No." We think of God, sometimes, in light of our favorite attributes. He is Love. He is good. He wants to give us good things. And all of these things are ture, but like any good father He sometimes tells us no to things. He has reasons for that. One of them is that He is God and we are not. And either He is in charge or He's not. (Let me help you discern this simple truth, so you might avoid some hard and unnecessarily painful things by accepting this simple truth up front: He IS very much in charge and you're not!) In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul wanted to go lots of places. He wanted to go to Spain. He wanted to go to Asia, and the Holy Spirit told him no. Paul documents thes things in his Epistles to the New Testament churches. The no is a necessary part of being a Christian. I'm having...