June 2011
It is so much more...
Amazing how we want to wrap our minds around everything... know everything about everything... understand all things... figure things out... be the answer person... especially when it comes to spiritual things... I mean like I had it all figured out at least a dozen times in the last 40 years... how 'bout you... got life all figured out?
called?... hmmm... to what?
Another word I use to throw around a lot was my calling? What had God called me to? That was a no brainer... I had learned pretty quickly that the highest calling was to be a preacher... to stand in a pulpit and preach the gospel... and if God was going to call me to something, I wanted it to be the highest calling... the best...
...then what is it?
So... if that is not a "testimony"... then what is ...? What is our testimony? I like to think of it as how much of God's own life has been worked into us... where other folks can actually see some little bit of Him... instead of a whole lot of me...
So... is it this... or is it ....
I always thought that my testimony was the latest miracle God had just worked in my life... is it this?.... really?... is that my testimony to the glory of God?...or is it... something else entirely...
suppose... just suppose...
Is my faith based on what God "promised" He would do for me... on my present need for yet another miracle...? ...suppose... just suppose... it never ever happens...? What then? Has God failed me? Maybe His word is not true...? Maybe He doesn't love me...? I always thought I was to just ask "believing" and it would happen... so what is wrong...
so...how long do I wait?
How long? ... so.... how long do I wait? I wait as long as it takes... I wait till whatever it is I think should happen... that thing that is so important to me... no longer matters... I wait until it simply doesn't make any difference any more.
...it takes time
One thing I've noticed... is that the only one in a hurry is me... unless maybe it is you too... but it seems to me that God doesn't ever seem to be in a hurry... to do anything... now... how come do you suppose that is...?... Philip says, "hurry up"... and God says, "wait"... how come is that?
...the cost
So what is it... this cost thing...?... What does it look like...? Well.... for each of us it is... or it can be different... but whatever it looks like... whatever the specific situation or circumstance that takes me there... that really doesn't matter... what matters is where it is bringing us... and whatever God is allowing to happen in my life...
Counting the cost....
Who doesn't count the cost ... before we start to build something? ...before we start to do something... do I have enough to finsh the task..?... to start that business...? ... to build that house...?... to buy that car....? What is that going to cost me...? What is the price I have to pay... ? what is it going to cost me to follow Christ?
in the beginning
We have been talking about this a lot lately... Ellen and me... and the folks we walk with up here in Vermont... talking about it a lot... talking about what was missing when we were first presented with the Gospel... some things that maybe should be said right in the beginning of our walk with God.... we wonder what it might be like... for instance... if we told people that from this moment on... every single step we take...
