1 John 4:16b reads “God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them” (NIV). The version you choose doesn’t matter much as the clear thought here comes through in each one, if you “Live in Love, you live in God, and God lives in you.”
But John is here stating the inverse of the truth he first stated eight verses earlier (1 John 4:8), “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.”
So how do we go about living in love? A few other verses provide a glimpse at the answer. For instance, “In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself” and “However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself” (Hebrews 5:28 and 33a). The more I love my wife, the more I live in love, the more I live in God.
Then there’s “love your neighbor as yourself” first in Leviticus 19:18b as a commandment from YHWH and then from Jesus, his second commandment, “Love your neighbor as yourself” in Mark 12:31. This is not just for the neighbor I like, but also for the neighbor who has done me wrong, who I could reasonably bear ill will towards. This is not near so nice or as easy as loving my wife as myself. Still, if (big IF) I persevere and “love my neighbor as myself” – the more I do so the more I live in love, the more I live in God. Not so hard if I remember my wife, my bride of 40 years, is my closest neighbor and I begin there.
Finally (for the purposes of this entry) there is the command to “Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength” or “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” first in Deuteronomy 6:5 then in Mark 12:30. Note the addition of “all your mind” in Mark when Jesus give this as his first command.
How can we do this, “Love the LORD our God with all of our heart, and with all our soul, and with all our strength?” Deuteronomy 30:6, provides a clue, “The LORD your God will circumcise your hearts … so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul.”
But that was Old Testament, how do are we to do this now, circumcise our hearts? I don't know, but I think Jesus provides the answer in Matthew 18:3, when “he said: ‘Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.’”
As an adult, I need to somehow circumcise my heart to have a heart like that of a little child. I think that is the answer. The first disciples, hard bitten fishermen, did this when they dropped everything to follow Jesus. They, at that time, had the hearts of little children.
With the LORD circumcising my heart, I become like a child living in love, living in God, with God living in me.
Showing posts with label god. Show all posts
Showing posts with label god. Show all posts
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Unfailing Love
Men’s Bible study following breakfast this morning at Calvary Chapel of Dayton, Ohio led by Pastor Dave Elkins. You can hear his teaching online here.
Working our way through Isaiah found us in Isaiah chapter 30 today. Very interesting, very powerful material. There is so much there, but I want to comment on what jumped out at me there in chapter 30 and some of the discussion.
It was the very first sentence (verses 1 and 2a) where my attention was first drawn: “Woe to the obstinate children,” declares the LORD, “to those who carry out plans that are not mine, forming an alliance, but not by my Spirit, heaping sin upon sin; who go down to Egypt without consulting me;”
Here I saw a repetition of Abraham traveling to Egypt without first consulting with the LORD and all the trouble he got into. It is the same in my life as well. When I consult with the LORD about my plans, doors open and close in very different ways. If I see doors closing after asking for His advice or approval, I take that as His answer. If the doors open after asking, then I take it as His approval or lack of disapproval. I have found I do not want to “go down to Egypt without consulting” God.
What follows in Isaiah is God’s curse on Israel for “look(ing) for help to Pharaoh’s protection, to Egypt’s shade for refuge” (v2b). The consequences go on for a number of verses, but in verse 15 we find “The Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel says, ‘In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength.’” Our Heavenly Father once again shows His love and mercy offered to Israel and by extension to the rest of the world – if only we will accept it. Israel at this time did not for the verse concludes, “but you would have none of it.” Like so many of us today (including me) Israel refused this wonderful gift from our LORD and they literally ran away (see verses 16 and 17).
Nonetheless, God through Isaiah makes sure Israel knows of his love even after they have run away, in the very next verse (18) “Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!” Like a loving husband or wife who forgives a spouse who has failed in their covenant vows, God demonstrates his unfailing love.
The measure of that love is noted in verses 23 and 24 after Israel rids itself of all its false idols as He blesses Israel greatly when, “He will also send you rain for the seed you sow in the ground, and the food that comes from the land will be rich and plentiful.” Even the animals of Israel will be blessed for “In that day your cattle will graze in broad meadows. The oxen and donkeys that work the soil will eat fodder and mash, spread out with fork and shovel.”
Take away: Wait upon the LORD, consult the LORD in prayer if you (I) want to experience the blessings and mercy in your (my) life through His unfailing love.
Sunday, July 31, 2011
First Gift
During creation, “God said, ‘It is not good for man to be alone. I will make a helper fit for him’” (ESV, Genesis 2:18).
It seems God wanted to make sure Adam knew it was not good to be alone and needed a helper, so He brought every living creature forward for Adam to name and Adam would have been hard pressed not to notice they always came in pairs – male and female. God also had Adam name them as Adam had dominion over them. The Bible says it this way, “And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him” (Genesis2:19b-20).
×¢ֵ×–ֶר
The symbols above occur in the Genesis 2:20 and are commonly translated as helper or help meet and you will find it in Strong’s Concordance with a transliteration of “ezer.” It is the very first time it occurs in the Bible. In Strong’s it is preceded by and followed by “Ezer.” In the entry that follows in Stong’s, it has the same exact markings below the letters, while the preceding entry has the three dots under the third letter as under the second letter above. Nonetheless, in both cases we are told Ezer = “treasure” and operates as a proper noun – a male name.
In Psalms 33:20, 70:6, and 115:9 the help provided is by or from God.
This is important because the woman, Eve, is a gift from God to Adam. She is his treasure. She completes him. She is no ordinary gift. She is a divine gift, from God to Adam.
When God made Adam, He formed him from the dust as a potter would create a pot from clay. When God made Eve from Adam’s flesh and bone, He built or erected her as a house is erected, so Eve was created much differently than Adam was. Perhaps because she would give birth to new life – this is implied in the use of the same word for her to build a family by giving birth (Gen 16:2 and 30:3).
Adam seemingly gets that Eve is special, built by God for him because when God brought her to him, Adam said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh” (Genesis 2:34a) is here. Note how he makes the statement, “This (Eve), at last, finally, is here” (paraphrasing). He knows. To state “at last” tells me he has been waiting for her, his treasure and helper given by God.
I believe the above has tremendous implications for us men (me) when it comes to how we view and treat our wives. It has changed how I look at my bride of 40 years and how I treat her now that I recognize her as a divine gift from God.
According to God’s word, my wife, a divine gift to me, completes me and with her I am made complete. This is a game changer in our marriage.
Monday, June 13, 2011
Glimpse of God
Sometimes, without realizing it, we are given a glimpse of God. It may be a blade of grass, a new born baby, the look in your son’s or daughter’s eyes when they understand something for the first time, a baby who looks at you with total trust and love and then smiles, the soft touch of your wife’s hand when you need it most.
It can be anyone of those things or something entirely different. The problem arises when we see something so often we become calloused, used to it, and no longer see God in the blade of grass or the look and smile from a baby or the touch from a loved one.
Then God sometimes steps in to remind us of his presence everywhere. The Old Testament tells us God “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1) and “then God said, ‘Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth’; and it was so” (Genesis 1:14-15). I believe that, every word of it. No doubt at all, but I kind of take it for granted as well. It was a truth I was used to and had become somewhat calloused about.
No more, for recently I got to see the evidence the ancients, those of the Old Testament, the ancient saw everywhere, but especially in the sky. I think it must have been the same for the plains Indians of North America.
Randy Halverson put together a time lapse video of the Plains Milky Way in the plains of South Dakota and for the first time I saw the Milky Way and had a sense, a real sense of the incredible immensity of God and His creation. In a video of 3 minutes and 17 seconds I got to see the Milky Way sweep across the sky a number of times in the South Dakota night sky.
After watching the video a number of times, I went back to Genesis and reread the verses above and understood in the Milky Way I was only seeing a glimpse of God, just as if I were looking at a blade of grass. You see the estimate for the number of stars in the Milky Way is somewhere between 200 and 400 billion stars. Let’s ‘spell’ that out, between 200,000,000,000 and 400,000,000,000 stars in the Milky Way. We are on the outside edge of the Milky Way galaxy with our sun. And the Milky Way Galaxy is only one of the estimated hundreds of billions of galaxies.
The numbers overwhelm me. It’s like when I read (#20) According to the America's Foundation for Chess, there are 169,518,829,100,544,000,000,000,000,000 ways to play the first 10 moves of a game of Chess I get overwhelmed too, after all that’s more than one times ten to the 30th power. That is likely one of the reasons I love the game of chess, but it is after all just a game.
The stars are not a game, they are clearly a creation of and by God. And if sometime, we ever get far enough out of the city to see them, we will clearly get a glimpse of God as we watch the Milky Way Galaxy sweep across the plains of South Dakota. Then we can be reminded (I can be reminded) we (I) serve “a great and awesome God” (Nehemiah 1:5), a God of great and “awesome majesty” (Job 37:22).
I think I will check out a blade of grass again as well.
It can be anyone of those things or something entirely different. The problem arises when we see something so often we become calloused, used to it, and no longer see God in the blade of grass or the look and smile from a baby or the touch from a loved one.
Then God sometimes steps in to remind us of his presence everywhere. The Old Testament tells us God “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1) and “then God said, ‘Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth’; and it was so” (Genesis 1:14-15). I believe that, every word of it. No doubt at all, but I kind of take it for granted as well. It was a truth I was used to and had become somewhat calloused about.
No more, for recently I got to see the evidence the ancients, those of the Old Testament, the ancient saw everywhere, but especially in the sky. I think it must have been the same for the plains Indians of North America.
Randy Halverson put together a time lapse video of the Plains Milky Way in the plains of South Dakota and for the first time I saw the Milky Way and had a sense, a real sense of the incredible immensity of God and His creation. In a video of 3 minutes and 17 seconds I got to see the Milky Way sweep across the sky a number of times in the South Dakota night sky.
After watching the video a number of times, I went back to Genesis and reread the verses above and understood in the Milky Way I was only seeing a glimpse of God, just as if I were looking at a blade of grass. You see the estimate for the number of stars in the Milky Way is somewhere between 200 and 400 billion stars. Let’s ‘spell’ that out, between 200,000,000,000 and 400,000,000,000 stars in the Milky Way. We are on the outside edge of the Milky Way galaxy with our sun. And the Milky Way Galaxy is only one of the estimated hundreds of billions of galaxies.
The numbers overwhelm me. It’s like when I read (#20) According to the America's Foundation for Chess, there are 169,518,829,100,544,000,000,000,000,000 ways to play the first 10 moves of a game of Chess I get overwhelmed too, after all that’s more than one times ten to the 30th power. That is likely one of the reasons I love the game of chess, but it is after all just a game.
The stars are not a game, they are clearly a creation of and by God. And if sometime, we ever get far enough out of the city to see them, we will clearly get a glimpse of God as we watch the Milky Way Galaxy sweep across the plains of South Dakota. Then we can be reminded (I can be reminded) we (I) serve “a great and awesome God” (Nehemiah 1:5), a God of great and “awesome majesty” (Job 37:22).
I think I will check out a blade of grass again as well.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Questions & Answers on God & Christianity
Not too long ago I was required to write a paper in a Question and Answer format via an imaginary dialogue between two friends for an online class. It was to begin with the first question found below and then to be followed by questions and answers I believed could naturally occur.
The setting
Two friends are sitting in their favorite coffee shop early on Saturday morning. Roger is sipping a medium cup of Sumatra with two shots of espresso floating on top – his favorite ‘wake me up’ coffee. Dean, meanwhile, is enjoying his favorite, a mocha latte. They have come together this rainy morning to discuss Roger’s questions about God and religion.
First Question
“I am going to start with one of my most difficult questions concerning God and religion”, Roger said. “How can you and other believers say God is loving and all-powerful, yet there is such evil and suffering in the world he made?”
Dean hesitated to answer. He wanted to get it right. “Well let me start at the beginning and then go past that. I’m sure you are aware of the story of creation and the sin of Adam and Eve leading man to a fallen state. Before you ask, a fallen state means that we are all born with a nature that will lead us to sin without God in our lives,” Dean said. Holding up his hand Dean continued, “Now no one really talks about it, but we don’t know how long Adam and Eve lived in the Garden of Eden before they violated the one command God had given Adam. I think we can assume it was a long time.”
Roger interrupted, “What does that have to do with anything?”
“Well,” Dean replied, “it shows they lived in harmony with their creator for some time with God as a normal part of their lives. Knowledge of that was part of their being and their memories. Are we okay so far?”
“Yes, but I really don’t know where this is going” Roger said.
“I know. It takes a bit. You see in the Garden, Adam and Eve directly experienced the love of their creator. It was not until after their fall, that people began to forget about God and went about doing more than eating forbidden fruit,” Roger explained. “You can see it when Cain killed Abel decades later. God was not involved. In fact God was excluded by Cain. Earlier, God had rejected Cain’s offering to Him, but accepted Abel’s. Cain became incredibly angry and when God saw Cain’s anger he lovingly intervened, explaining how Cain could make a proper offering and warning him about the great danger of letting his anger control him. It’s obvious Cain rejected God’s personal intervention and committed the first murder known to man,” Dean finished quietly.
Roger then asked, “Are you trying to tell me the evil and suffering in our world today result from us, humanity, rejecting God’s advice and love?”
Dean, looking directly into Roger’s eyes said, “That’s exactly what I am telling you.”
Second Question
After a long pause, Roger said, “Okay, I’m not fully convinced, but let me ask another question. Can you show one example in today’s world where the reverse is true? Where people accept God’s intervention and his love and He changes their lives?”
“Roger, that’s almost too easy. Almost, because it is so sad,” Dean replied and then turned quiet.
“What do you mean, “too easy” and “so sad”,” Roger asked?
“It’s because it is so common and because it happens even when folks don’t necessarily accept Christ, but accept God,” Dean began. “You see Alcoholics Anonymous has a twelve step program where their number one step is to accept they have no power to overcome their addiction, their alcoholism, their sin without help. The number two step, they accept a belief in God or some higher power other than themselves is necessary to restore them to a life without alcohol running their lives. In fact, I have often heard number two said this way, “There is a God and he ain’t me and I need him”,” Dean said quietly.
“Is that it,” Roger asked? “Or is there more to it?”
“Of course there is more to it. I only gave the first two steps of the twelve, but those two steps are the foundation for all that follow. I personally know individuals who have found God through AA and with His help have made a life of sobriety for themselves,” Dean said. He then added, “Some of them are relatives of mine. I would be glad to introduce you if you like.”
“Maybe later and I will give you credit for this answer, but it’s not what I expected,” Roger said.
Both Roger and Dean had finished their coffee. The rain had stopped some time ago and the sun was shining.
Roger asked if they could go outside and walk while they talked. When Dean said okay they headed outside and Roger asked, “Ready for the next question?”
“As ready as God permits me to be,” Dean smiled in reply.
Third Question
“This one is not going to be so easy,” Dean said and continued with, “Our fathers and uncles fought in World War II, the Korean War, and Vietnam. How can God permit such suffering and war on a scale never seen before? And why does man need God to set the rules so to speak instead of determining the rules himself for the best of mankind?” And then he stopped.
Dean rubbed his chin as they walked and he thought for a minute before answering. “Okay, I will grant you, your double question, if I can use the answer to the second to help answer the first one. Agreed,” he asked?
“Answer them in any order you wish,” Roger replied.
“Okay, here goes. Man can determine his own rules to live by, but they will never be absolute simply because man made them. Look around you. We see it in politics all the time. Rules made for one purpose used for another or twisted to mean something else. Man will always find some way, some excuse to do something he thinks is more important than the rules he is living by, unless they are God’s rules and they are absolute,” Dean argued.
With raised eyebrows Roger said, “Is that it? Is that all you have?”
“Nope, just getting to the point,” Dean replied. He continued, “Even with God’s rules man will twist them from time to time to try to make them mean what he wants in his fallen nature instead of what God wants. This twisting happened a number of times in the Old Testament and continued in the New Testament. In the Old Testament it led to the fall of Jerusalem because God was so disgusted with how His people treated widows, orphans, and the poor. God, in effect, divorced His people as a nation for a time.”
They walked a little further before Dean said, “It was worse for our fathers and uncles and the rest of the world during and after World War II. Nazi Germany had no God except man. Communist Russia had no God other than the state and a leader after the war. It was the same for Communist China after the war. God was the state and Mao. Then after the Korean War, North Korea shut down entirely. After Vietnam, well we know what happened to the people of the South and the people of Cambodia.”
Waiting for a light before crossing the street, Dean went on as they crossed over, “There was no brake on the evil committed. God was not there. It was Cain writ large across the world, acting on a scale unknown to man before. Nazi Germany’s killing of those thought not perfect enough to contribute to the ‘master race’ along with the gypsies, homosexuals, and millions of Jews is well known. Russia and China killed tens of millions in their death camps after the war. The camps were known as re-education camps or labor camps. Vietnam’s re-education camps killed or tortured anyone with an education. Cambodia killed millions, over half of their own countrymen.” Dean added for emphasis, “Over half! Do you get that? That is evil without God, without His love!”
Spying a bench just a bit further up the sidewalk, Roger asked, “Hey can we slow down, sit down, and relax for a moment? You got pretty worked up back there.”
After sitting down and taking a few deep breaths, Dean said, “Sorry, but I get pretty intense about this. The twentieth century is an incredible testament of the evil man is capable of if he is not restrained or constrained by God. Now, did I answer your double question?”
“Yeah you did. But again not as I expected. Ready for the next question” Roger asked? Dean nodded his agreement.
Fourth Question
“Okay, then I will go for a double again. Homosexuality? Why does God make men and women that way and why is wrong for them to love one another,” Roger asked?
“I guess this is the question of the day, but my answers may surprise you even more than my earlier ones. You see, I don’t know why God makes men and women that way or if he actually does,” Dean replied.
Dean held up his hand again to stave off Roger’s objection. “I know, I know. Many say homosexuals are born that way. I don’t really know. I personally don’t accept that they are from the evidence I have looked at. However, for the sake of argument and your question, I will accept your premise that they are ‘born that way’,” Dean said. “With that as a given, they do not have to practice or perform the acts associated with homosexuality. Feelings and acts are two different things. I know the argument, if you are born that way why is it not okay to act out how you are born? That’s a fair question right,” he asked?
Roger nodded in affirmation. Dean continued, “Well, I know you and I know myself. Neither of us was born monogamous were we? I mean I KNOW the kind of life we lived before we got married. If we wanted, we could live a lie, a life without monogamy and practice our non-monogamous nature couldn’t we?”
After a long pause Dean went on, “Sorry about getting personal, but this is reality. I don’t know about you but I have been tempted many times. A few times I almost fell to the temptation. Only prayer and God kept me monogamous on those occasions. It can be the same for a homosexual as well. He or she does not have to do what we are told is only natural. I have had a homosexual man tell me that I just didn’t want to let them love each other. I looked him straight in the eye and said, “I love lots of men, but I don’t have sex with any of them.” He turned and walked off. We never talked again.”
Looking off into the distance, Dean asked, “Can I add a bit more before I let you ask your last question for the day?”
“Sure,” Roger replied.
“Imagine a world where any behavior was approved if it could only be shown to be how one was born. Ever been so angry you wanted to kill someone? I have. But again, I am glad I did not act on what I thought were my natural feelings,” said Dean. “Are we okay with my answer?”
Roger nodded yes, and then said, “Here is my last one for the day.”
Fifth Question
Roger added, “Sorry, but it’s another double one. Why does God care? And how do we know he cares, that he loves us?”
Dean had been staring down at the sidewalk between his shoes, now slowly looked up and smiled, really smiled for the first time that morning. “I’m glad to answer your double again. Once again the answers are related. Remember my answers started back in creation, right,” he asked?
“Yeah, yeah, I remember,” Roger answered.
“Good because the answer begins there. You see the biblical account in Genesis tells us God made us in His image. We were not made as His image, but in His image. He made us different from everything else he created. He made us with love. He breathed His breathe into us to make us alive. He did that for no other creature. In fact Adam got a wife, because he did not want Adam to be alone, he loved Adam just as he loves us. Why he did this I am not so sure. But he did do it and it’s true he loves us,” Dean said.
“Now about today, how do we know He cares? That answer goes back about 2,000 years. God’s only son, Jesus Christ, died on a cross for our sins so that if we accepted His grace through His son, repented of all our sins, we could be reunited with God as our Father. Compare this to what AA does with their twelve steps. It is similar, but very different as it involves a specific knowledge of what God is offering – the sacrifice of his son for our sins so that we might join Jesus in heaven with His Father, our Father,” Dean said with a smile now covering his whole face.
Next Question
Roger was quiet and so was Dean. After the silence had continued on for some time, Dean said, “Let me ask you a question now. Would you like to accept Christ into your heart, confess your sins to God – not me – and begin to know your heavenly Father?”
End or New Beginning?
References
McGrath, A. (Ed.) (2007). The Christian Theology Reader. (3rd
ed.). Blackwell Publishing, Oxford, UK
Online Bible (n.d.), http://www.biblegateway.com/
The setting
Two friends are sitting in their favorite coffee shop early on Saturday morning. Roger is sipping a medium cup of Sumatra with two shots of espresso floating on top – his favorite ‘wake me up’ coffee. Dean, meanwhile, is enjoying his favorite, a mocha latte. They have come together this rainy morning to discuss Roger’s questions about God and religion.
First Question
“I am going to start with one of my most difficult questions concerning God and religion”, Roger said. “How can you and other believers say God is loving and all-powerful, yet there is such evil and suffering in the world he made?”
Dean hesitated to answer. He wanted to get it right. “Well let me start at the beginning and then go past that. I’m sure you are aware of the story of creation and the sin of Adam and Eve leading man to a fallen state. Before you ask, a fallen state means that we are all born with a nature that will lead us to sin without God in our lives,” Dean said. Holding up his hand Dean continued, “Now no one really talks about it, but we don’t know how long Adam and Eve lived in the Garden of Eden before they violated the one command God had given Adam. I think we can assume it was a long time.”
Roger interrupted, “What does that have to do with anything?”
“Well,” Dean replied, “it shows they lived in harmony with their creator for some time with God as a normal part of their lives. Knowledge of that was part of their being and their memories. Are we okay so far?”
“Yes, but I really don’t know where this is going” Roger said.
“I know. It takes a bit. You see in the Garden, Adam and Eve directly experienced the love of their creator. It was not until after their fall, that people began to forget about God and went about doing more than eating forbidden fruit,” Roger explained. “You can see it when Cain killed Abel decades later. God was not involved. In fact God was excluded by Cain. Earlier, God had rejected Cain’s offering to Him, but accepted Abel’s. Cain became incredibly angry and when God saw Cain’s anger he lovingly intervened, explaining how Cain could make a proper offering and warning him about the great danger of letting his anger control him. It’s obvious Cain rejected God’s personal intervention and committed the first murder known to man,” Dean finished quietly.
Roger then asked, “Are you trying to tell me the evil and suffering in our world today result from us, humanity, rejecting God’s advice and love?”
Dean, looking directly into Roger’s eyes said, “That’s exactly what I am telling you.”
Second Question
After a long pause, Roger said, “Okay, I’m not fully convinced, but let me ask another question. Can you show one example in today’s world where the reverse is true? Where people accept God’s intervention and his love and He changes their lives?”
“Roger, that’s almost too easy. Almost, because it is so sad,” Dean replied and then turned quiet.
“What do you mean, “too easy” and “so sad”,” Roger asked?
“It’s because it is so common and because it happens even when folks don’t necessarily accept Christ, but accept God,” Dean began. “You see Alcoholics Anonymous has a twelve step program where their number one step is to accept they have no power to overcome their addiction, their alcoholism, their sin without help. The number two step, they accept a belief in God or some higher power other than themselves is necessary to restore them to a life without alcohol running their lives. In fact, I have often heard number two said this way, “There is a God and he ain’t me and I need him”,” Dean said quietly.
“Is that it,” Roger asked? “Or is there more to it?”
“Of course there is more to it. I only gave the first two steps of the twelve, but those two steps are the foundation for all that follow. I personally know individuals who have found God through AA and with His help have made a life of sobriety for themselves,” Dean said. He then added, “Some of them are relatives of mine. I would be glad to introduce you if you like.”
“Maybe later and I will give you credit for this answer, but it’s not what I expected,” Roger said.
Both Roger and Dean had finished their coffee. The rain had stopped some time ago and the sun was shining.
Roger asked if they could go outside and walk while they talked. When Dean said okay they headed outside and Roger asked, “Ready for the next question?”
“As ready as God permits me to be,” Dean smiled in reply.
Third Question
“This one is not going to be so easy,” Dean said and continued with, “Our fathers and uncles fought in World War II, the Korean War, and Vietnam. How can God permit such suffering and war on a scale never seen before? And why does man need God to set the rules so to speak instead of determining the rules himself for the best of mankind?” And then he stopped.
Dean rubbed his chin as they walked and he thought for a minute before answering. “Okay, I will grant you, your double question, if I can use the answer to the second to help answer the first one. Agreed,” he asked?
“Answer them in any order you wish,” Roger replied.
“Okay, here goes. Man can determine his own rules to live by, but they will never be absolute simply because man made them. Look around you. We see it in politics all the time. Rules made for one purpose used for another or twisted to mean something else. Man will always find some way, some excuse to do something he thinks is more important than the rules he is living by, unless they are God’s rules and they are absolute,” Dean argued.
With raised eyebrows Roger said, “Is that it? Is that all you have?”
“Nope, just getting to the point,” Dean replied. He continued, “Even with God’s rules man will twist them from time to time to try to make them mean what he wants in his fallen nature instead of what God wants. This twisting happened a number of times in the Old Testament and continued in the New Testament. In the Old Testament it led to the fall of Jerusalem because God was so disgusted with how His people treated widows, orphans, and the poor. God, in effect, divorced His people as a nation for a time.”
They walked a little further before Dean said, “It was worse for our fathers and uncles and the rest of the world during and after World War II. Nazi Germany had no God except man. Communist Russia had no God other than the state and a leader after the war. It was the same for Communist China after the war. God was the state and Mao. Then after the Korean War, North Korea shut down entirely. After Vietnam, well we know what happened to the people of the South and the people of Cambodia.”
Waiting for a light before crossing the street, Dean went on as they crossed over, “There was no brake on the evil committed. God was not there. It was Cain writ large across the world, acting on a scale unknown to man before. Nazi Germany’s killing of those thought not perfect enough to contribute to the ‘master race’ along with the gypsies, homosexuals, and millions of Jews is well known. Russia and China killed tens of millions in their death camps after the war. The camps were known as re-education camps or labor camps. Vietnam’s re-education camps killed or tortured anyone with an education. Cambodia killed millions, over half of their own countrymen.” Dean added for emphasis, “Over half! Do you get that? That is evil without God, without His love!”
Spying a bench just a bit further up the sidewalk, Roger asked, “Hey can we slow down, sit down, and relax for a moment? You got pretty worked up back there.”
After sitting down and taking a few deep breaths, Dean said, “Sorry, but I get pretty intense about this. The twentieth century is an incredible testament of the evil man is capable of if he is not restrained or constrained by God. Now, did I answer your double question?”
“Yeah you did. But again not as I expected. Ready for the next question” Roger asked? Dean nodded his agreement.
Fourth Question
“Okay, then I will go for a double again. Homosexuality? Why does God make men and women that way and why is wrong for them to love one another,” Roger asked?
“I guess this is the question of the day, but my answers may surprise you even more than my earlier ones. You see, I don’t know why God makes men and women that way or if he actually does,” Dean replied.
Dean held up his hand again to stave off Roger’s objection. “I know, I know. Many say homosexuals are born that way. I don’t really know. I personally don’t accept that they are from the evidence I have looked at. However, for the sake of argument and your question, I will accept your premise that they are ‘born that way’,” Dean said. “With that as a given, they do not have to practice or perform the acts associated with homosexuality. Feelings and acts are two different things. I know the argument, if you are born that way why is it not okay to act out how you are born? That’s a fair question right,” he asked?
Roger nodded in affirmation. Dean continued, “Well, I know you and I know myself. Neither of us was born monogamous were we? I mean I KNOW the kind of life we lived before we got married. If we wanted, we could live a lie, a life without monogamy and practice our non-monogamous nature couldn’t we?”
After a long pause Dean went on, “Sorry about getting personal, but this is reality. I don’t know about you but I have been tempted many times. A few times I almost fell to the temptation. Only prayer and God kept me monogamous on those occasions. It can be the same for a homosexual as well. He or she does not have to do what we are told is only natural. I have had a homosexual man tell me that I just didn’t want to let them love each other. I looked him straight in the eye and said, “I love lots of men, but I don’t have sex with any of them.” He turned and walked off. We never talked again.”
Looking off into the distance, Dean asked, “Can I add a bit more before I let you ask your last question for the day?”
“Sure,” Roger replied.
“Imagine a world where any behavior was approved if it could only be shown to be how one was born. Ever been so angry you wanted to kill someone? I have. But again, I am glad I did not act on what I thought were my natural feelings,” said Dean. “Are we okay with my answer?”
Roger nodded yes, and then said, “Here is my last one for the day.”
Fifth Question
Roger added, “Sorry, but it’s another double one. Why does God care? And how do we know he cares, that he loves us?”
Dean had been staring down at the sidewalk between his shoes, now slowly looked up and smiled, really smiled for the first time that morning. “I’m glad to answer your double again. Once again the answers are related. Remember my answers started back in creation, right,” he asked?
“Yeah, yeah, I remember,” Roger answered.
“Good because the answer begins there. You see the biblical account in Genesis tells us God made us in His image. We were not made as His image, but in His image. He made us different from everything else he created. He made us with love. He breathed His breathe into us to make us alive. He did that for no other creature. In fact Adam got a wife, because he did not want Adam to be alone, he loved Adam just as he loves us. Why he did this I am not so sure. But he did do it and it’s true he loves us,” Dean said.
“Now about today, how do we know He cares? That answer goes back about 2,000 years. God’s only son, Jesus Christ, died on a cross for our sins so that if we accepted His grace through His son, repented of all our sins, we could be reunited with God as our Father. Compare this to what AA does with their twelve steps. It is similar, but very different as it involves a specific knowledge of what God is offering – the sacrifice of his son for our sins so that we might join Jesus in heaven with His Father, our Father,” Dean said with a smile now covering his whole face.
Next Question
Roger was quiet and so was Dean. After the silence had continued on for some time, Dean said, “Let me ask you a question now. Would you like to accept Christ into your heart, confess your sins to God – not me – and begin to know your heavenly Father?”
End or New Beginning?
References
McGrath, A. (Ed.) (2007). The Christian Theology Reader. (3rd
ed.). Blackwell Publishing, Oxford, UK
Online Bible (n.d.), http://www.biblegateway.com/
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
What To Do?
The year was 1983. I was working at PMEL, pronounced "'P' mel." The acronym stands for Precision Measurement Electronics Laboratory, a metrology laboratory and no, metrology is not misspelled.
At the lab I was the in house instructor for digital electronics and microprocessor controlled test equipment plus the basics of assembly language programming. We were leaving the era of tubes and discrete electronic components and moving headlong into test equipment loaded with solid state digital electronics and integrated circuits.
I was asked if I wanted the job because while serving in the Air Force I had been an instructor and a StanEval team member on ARIA aircraft for the antenna tracking system. But I really did not know digital electronics except for a correspondence course I had taken from the Cleveland Institute of Electronics (CIE). Thus, many a night was spent working on digital circuits until I fell asleep with my face in a maze of jumper wires connecting various integrated circuits. But it got me off the lab bench for a few hours three times a week and looked good for my annual review. Plus promotions were coming up.
About those promotions, there were three openings. I was the number one candidate with one other lab technician close by and then three or four right behind us. When the names came out, my name was not on the list. It was Friday. Boy oh boy, I am glad it was Friday. I was so angry, I was kicking doors all day Saturday, scaring my bride of 12 years and our two children.
Finally, I calmed down and then Sharon and I talked and talked. We may as well have been praying. The question came down to, "Will you quit the extra curricular work (teaching) and back off on how hard you work?" I had been asked the same question by a half dozen coworkers who wanted me to 'punish' management because I had not been promoted.
What to do? A decision from the recesses of my soul came out. I would not quit teaching and I would not quit performing on the job. That would be a lose/lose proposition with long range negative consequences. Instead I would work harder on the regular part of my job and also on the instruction portion. Part of me wanted to embarrass them by my positive performance after not being promoted. The decision had been made, I would not back off, I would perform.
Monday, I was back at work and instructing digital electronics. Many of my coworkers shook their heads in bewilderment. A few came by and shook my hand admiring the choice I had made.
Then nothing for about six weeks until my direct boss, the one who chose not to promote me offered me an opportunity to attend a ten week course on calibrating microwave test equipment. He had been instructed by his management to offer me the class. To his astonishment (I can still recall the surprise on his face) when I immediately accepted the offer. I was an honor graduate of the class.
Months later, I had decided to quit playing and studying so much chess. I was looking for a way to better invest my time for myself and my family ... there was no money in chess for a player like me who could (maybe, probably) become a National Master. In my casting about I found an Engineering Science University Program at our local community college. A college algebra class was available, but would require an extra 30 minutes for lunch to make it happen.
I asked my boss (yeah, that one) if I could have an extra 30 minutes three days a week for the quarter. His answer was not unexpected, "No." However, when he told me to go ask the front office (his management) to see what they would say, that was unexpected. He surely didn't think anything would come of it.
Thinking the worst that could happen is another "No" I went to the front office. What a surprise, they said yes. Plus they added, "You have done everything we asked you to do, even when you didn't get the promotion, we will be glad to help out with this." When I told my boss, he could not get to the front office fast enough. He did not believe it. He returned shaking his head and muttering to himself. Then he said, "Well, I guess you get to go."
Got the shock of my life when the first class was on imaginary numbers. I almost quit until I recalled the same thing in my CIE course with a different application. Stuck it out and made an "A" and then took another class and then another ... Before I knew it, I had an Associate's Degree in Engineering Science.
Two years later I had an Electrical Systems Engineering Bachelor of Science degree with a second major in applied mathematics. Then the job opportunities came. I maintained the same work habits, doing my job and then some. The job opportunities continued.
The only thing wrong with my diploma was that it had only one name on it - mine. But it was just as much my bride's ... I could not, would not, have completed the engineering program at Wright State University without her. The story behind that is whole other blog entry.
But back to what to do when you get passed over for a promotion and it is given to someone less deserving? My answer should be obvious by now - "Continue doing the best you can and then do some more." My sig line on my emails from work all end with "... and then some," meaning do what you are supposed to do and then some.
Leave the rest up to God. Honor Him with your work.
At the lab I was the in house instructor for digital electronics and microprocessor controlled test equipment plus the basics of assembly language programming. We were leaving the era of tubes and discrete electronic components and moving headlong into test equipment loaded with solid state digital electronics and integrated circuits.
I was asked if I wanted the job because while serving in the Air Force I had been an instructor and a StanEval team member on ARIA aircraft for the antenna tracking system. But I really did not know digital electronics except for a correspondence course I had taken from the Cleveland Institute of Electronics (CIE). Thus, many a night was spent working on digital circuits until I fell asleep with my face in a maze of jumper wires connecting various integrated circuits. But it got me off the lab bench for a few hours three times a week and looked good for my annual review. Plus promotions were coming up.
About those promotions, there were three openings. I was the number one candidate with one other lab technician close by and then three or four right behind us. When the names came out, my name was not on the list. It was Friday. Boy oh boy, I am glad it was Friday. I was so angry, I was kicking doors all day Saturday, scaring my bride of 12 years and our two children.
Finally, I calmed down and then Sharon and I talked and talked. We may as well have been praying. The question came down to, "Will you quit the extra curricular work (teaching) and back off on how hard you work?" I had been asked the same question by a half dozen coworkers who wanted me to 'punish' management because I had not been promoted.
What to do? A decision from the recesses of my soul came out. I would not quit teaching and I would not quit performing on the job. That would be a lose/lose proposition with long range negative consequences. Instead I would work harder on the regular part of my job and also on the instruction portion. Part of me wanted to embarrass them by my positive performance after not being promoted. The decision had been made, I would not back off, I would perform.
Monday, I was back at work and instructing digital electronics. Many of my coworkers shook their heads in bewilderment. A few came by and shook my hand admiring the choice I had made.
Then nothing for about six weeks until my direct boss, the one who chose not to promote me offered me an opportunity to attend a ten week course on calibrating microwave test equipment. He had been instructed by his management to offer me the class. To his astonishment (I can still recall the surprise on his face) when I immediately accepted the offer. I was an honor graduate of the class.
Months later, I had decided to quit playing and studying so much chess. I was looking for a way to better invest my time for myself and my family ... there was no money in chess for a player like me who could (maybe, probably) become a National Master. In my casting about I found an Engineering Science University Program at our local community college. A college algebra class was available, but would require an extra 30 minutes for lunch to make it happen.
I asked my boss (yeah, that one) if I could have an extra 30 minutes three days a week for the quarter. His answer was not unexpected, "No." However, when he told me to go ask the front office (his management) to see what they would say, that was unexpected. He surely didn't think anything would come of it.
Thinking the worst that could happen is another "No" I went to the front office. What a surprise, they said yes. Plus they added, "You have done everything we asked you to do, even when you didn't get the promotion, we will be glad to help out with this." When I told my boss, he could not get to the front office fast enough. He did not believe it. He returned shaking his head and muttering to himself. Then he said, "Well, I guess you get to go."
Got the shock of my life when the first class was on imaginary numbers. I almost quit until I recalled the same thing in my CIE course with a different application. Stuck it out and made an "A" and then took another class and then another ... Before I knew it, I had an Associate's Degree in Engineering Science.
Two years later I had an Electrical Systems Engineering Bachelor of Science degree with a second major in applied mathematics. Then the job opportunities came. I maintained the same work habits, doing my job and then some. The job opportunities continued.
The only thing wrong with my diploma was that it had only one name on it - mine. But it was just as much my bride's ... I could not, would not, have completed the engineering program at Wright State University without her. The story behind that is whole other blog entry.
But back to what to do when you get passed over for a promotion and it is given to someone less deserving? My answer should be obvious by now - "Continue doing the best you can and then do some more." My sig line on my emails from work all end with "... and then some," meaning do what you are supposed to do and then some.
Leave the rest up to God. Honor Him with your work.
Sunday, August 1, 2010
DQ and Glass of Water
This week I had to answer a discussion question (DQ) for a systematic theology class. The question brought to mind a vignette my sister wrote about 5 years ago concerning our mother and father. That piece of writing is below.
The DQ of interest came in two parts, “Why is it so important to recognize that God did not create us originally as individuals but as part of the community (male and female)? What are the implications of this view?”
I didn’t like or agree with the question and answered as follows, The premise of the question is wrong because God DID create us originally as individuals and as part of the community - initially the community of marriage, of relationship with God, and of relationship with the world. What are the implications of this view? A marriage does not work with the two individuals involved - until/unless each is submitting something of themselves to the community of the marriage. The same is true of anyone's relationship with God - the individual must submit something of their self to make that relationship work (God has already submitted his Son). While God has relationships with marriages, families, and churches - it is always through the individuals involved. No one will ever stand for or with another in front of God on judement day - no one except Christ. Loving one's spouse, family, community, and church as God would have us love them requires first a submission to God. Through this an individual or a marriage or a church community can bring more people to see and have God in their lives. This can have enormous impact on others as indicated by the short story below.
Glass of Water (by Carolyn J. Abbey)
It was a Tuesday night and I stopped to see my aging parents. They were getting ready for supper and insisted that I stay. My husband had a meeting and my children were old enough to fend for themselves, so I agreed. I helped my momma to get the meal on the table and I smiled at how there was always enough for whoever stopped by.
As I set the table, I asked momma what she wanted to drink. “Ice water” she responded. Then I asked daddy what he wanted. He said, “I will share your mom’s glass of water.”
We sat down to eat and I looked at this couple who had been married almost 58 years. They always sat in the same seats next to each other. Their routines were well established and comfortable for them. Sometimes the table was silent, other times it was full of discussion. Always they seemed interested in what was going on in the lives of their children and grandchildren. They often had news from their siblings. World issues might be brought up in conversation. Political discussions could be heated, but they also gave room for differences of opinions, if only everyone would agree that daddy was right.
I watched as momma moved her glass of water between her and daddy so it was an easy reach for both of them. As we visited I found myself watching them and wondering “when did they start to share one glass?” I thought about all of the years they had built their lives together while they raised six children. I looked at my parents knowing they had survived many hardships as well as joys in their lives, and I marveled at the simplicity and comfort of their love.
Somehow that glass of water symbolized so much more than a drink divided between two people. It signified their love, their commitment, their oneness. I found myself in awe as I experienced the plan of God for a marriage in this simple glass of water shared between two. Just as the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are one, but separate beings, so a married couple should be one yet separate. I was humbled as I saw the purity of love as I sat in their presence. Once again, without knowing it, my parents taught me a valuable life lesson by simply sharing a glass of water. When I left that night I knew I had seen God in this world.
(Note by Riley - our father died, October 2010, about 4 years later. His only concern in his last weeks was to have us promise to take care of Mom. We are keeping our promise and doing that.)
The DQ of interest came in two parts, “Why is it so important to recognize that God did not create us originally as individuals but as part of the community (male and female)? What are the implications of this view?”
I didn’t like or agree with the question and answered as follows, The premise of the question is wrong because God DID create us originally as individuals and as part of the community - initially the community of marriage, of relationship with God, and of relationship with the world. What are the implications of this view? A marriage does not work with the two individuals involved - until/unless each is submitting something of themselves to the community of the marriage. The same is true of anyone's relationship with God - the individual must submit something of their self to make that relationship work (God has already submitted his Son). While God has relationships with marriages, families, and churches - it is always through the individuals involved. No one will ever stand for or with another in front of God on judement day - no one except Christ. Loving one's spouse, family, community, and church as God would have us love them requires first a submission to God. Through this an individual or a marriage or a church community can bring more people to see and have God in their lives. This can have enormous impact on others as indicated by the short story below.
Glass of Water (by Carolyn J. Abbey)
It was a Tuesday night and I stopped to see my aging parents. They were getting ready for supper and insisted that I stay. My husband had a meeting and my children were old enough to fend for themselves, so I agreed. I helped my momma to get the meal on the table and I smiled at how there was always enough for whoever stopped by.
As I set the table, I asked momma what she wanted to drink. “Ice water” she responded. Then I asked daddy what he wanted. He said, “I will share your mom’s glass of water.”
We sat down to eat and I looked at this couple who had been married almost 58 years. They always sat in the same seats next to each other. Their routines were well established and comfortable for them. Sometimes the table was silent, other times it was full of discussion. Always they seemed interested in what was going on in the lives of their children and grandchildren. They often had news from their siblings. World issues might be brought up in conversation. Political discussions could be heated, but they also gave room for differences of opinions, if only everyone would agree that daddy was right.
I watched as momma moved her glass of water between her and daddy so it was an easy reach for both of them. As we visited I found myself watching them and wondering “when did they start to share one glass?” I thought about all of the years they had built their lives together while they raised six children. I looked at my parents knowing they had survived many hardships as well as joys in their lives, and I marveled at the simplicity and comfort of their love.
Somehow that glass of water symbolized so much more than a drink divided between two people. It signified their love, their commitment, their oneness. I found myself in awe as I experienced the plan of God for a marriage in this simple glass of water shared between two. Just as the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are one, but separate beings, so a married couple should be one yet separate. I was humbled as I saw the purity of love as I sat in their presence. Once again, without knowing it, my parents taught me a valuable life lesson by simply sharing a glass of water. When I left that night I knew I had seen God in this world.
(Note by Riley - our father died, October 2010, about 4 years later. His only concern in his last weeks was to have us promise to take care of Mom. We are keeping our promise and doing that.)
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Book Review: Valley of the the Shadow
Have never read anything by this author before - Tom Pawlik, but the cover said "fans of Dean Koontz or Ted Dekker will appreciate Pawlik's debut novel, VANISH."
Well, I didn't have the debut novel, I had "Valley of the Shadow" and I used to really like Koontz's writing (especially liked his LIGHTNING and its treatment of time travel) and I am a big fan of Ted Dekker's writing when it comes to Christian fiction and a bit of Christian science fiction.
The title of this novel comes from Psalm 23:4 "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me" NIV. Odd that this verse is so familiar, but I never wondered or thought about 'the shadow' of death. In fact I had remembered it as "thought I walk through the valley of death, I will fear no evil" - I had dropped shadow off completely. Well, no more.
Pawlik had done an incredible job of providing a believable "valley of the shadow of death" and in doing so took me to book-world. For those not in the know, book-world is where you go when reading a book and the world around you dissolves and the world in the book becomes the real world - for at least a little while.
I recommend this book even though at times it jumps too often or suddenly from the "valley of the shadow" to one of two locations in the world we live in. I have to mention two powerful scenes, that stick with me still.
Number 1, the vision he presents of humans as they leave their bodily forms behind and "move" to join Jesus in heaven. Number 2, which makes number 1 possible, of one of the characters laying his hate, anger, and inability to forgiven at the foot of the cross. I wish I could say more about both, but I do not wish to give too much away.
Read it and enjoy your trip to book-world.
End.
Well, I didn't have the debut novel, I had "Valley of the Shadow" and I used to really like Koontz's writing (especially liked his LIGHTNING and its treatment of time travel) and I am a big fan of Ted Dekker's writing when it comes to Christian fiction and a bit of Christian science fiction.
The title of this novel comes from Psalm 23:4 "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me" NIV. Odd that this verse is so familiar, but I never wondered or thought about 'the shadow' of death. In fact I had remembered it as "thought I walk through the valley of death, I will fear no evil" - I had dropped shadow off completely. Well, no more.
Pawlik had done an incredible job of providing a believable "valley of the shadow of death" and in doing so took me to book-world. For those not in the know, book-world is where you go when reading a book and the world around you dissolves and the world in the book becomes the real world - for at least a little while.
I recommend this book even though at times it jumps too often or suddenly from the "valley of the shadow" to one of two locations in the world we live in. I have to mention two powerful scenes, that stick with me still.
Number 1, the vision he presents of humans as they leave their bodily forms behind and "move" to join Jesus in heaven. Number 2, which makes number 1 possible, of one of the characters laying his hate, anger, and inability to forgiven at the foot of the cross. I wish I could say more about both, but I do not wish to give too much away.
Read it and enjoy your trip to book-world.
End.
Married and then some
My bride's name is Sharon. This July 27th will mark 39 years of marriage. We got married before we knew God. Something difficult to imagine now. In fact we had only been dating about 8 weeks when I asked her, "Do you want to get married in one week or two weeks." It was two weeks!
Years later found out she thought I was going to ask her to go steady. Little did she know I had fallen in love with her over a year earlier when I first laid eyes on her. God had put her in my heart. But, she was dating my best friend. Finally they broke up and like a good friend - I waited 2 weeks to ask her out. After that I didn't waste any time.
We eloped on a Wednesday morning and got married in Marshall, TX. She was a military brat living on Barksdale AFB, LA and I was living in Bossier City, LA. And we got married in a fever not having the slightest idea on how to make it work.
But back to marriage.
Marriage gets better the longer it lasts ... if you make it past the first 10 years. Why do I say that? Sharon and a few other women were talking about marriage at church one Saturday afternoon. One of the ladies said, "I just can't figure my husband out and we have been married 8 years." Sharon and another lady started laughing, both said the first 10 years are the hardest. I didn't know that, although I can acknowledge their were some big rough spots in those years - and fewer in the years that followed.
Anyway, the point is, sometimes a marriage has to cook for 10 years or so before you know if it is going to last or not according to these women. There may be some truth to that. I would like to think so.
I know ours has been getting better each year for some time, at least on my end. Maybe that's because I see Sharon more and more as a gift from God in my life. I am grateful to God for the gift of Sharon and grateful to Sharon for sticking it out when I was way short of being a keeper.
End.
Years later found out she thought I was going to ask her to go steady. Little did she know I had fallen in love with her over a year earlier when I first laid eyes on her. God had put her in my heart. But, she was dating my best friend. Finally they broke up and like a good friend - I waited 2 weeks to ask her out. After that I didn't waste any time.
We eloped on a Wednesday morning and got married in Marshall, TX. She was a military brat living on Barksdale AFB, LA and I was living in Bossier City, LA. And we got married in a fever not having the slightest idea on how to make it work.
But back to marriage.
Marriage gets better the longer it lasts ... if you make it past the first 10 years. Why do I say that? Sharon and a few other women were talking about marriage at church one Saturday afternoon. One of the ladies said, "I just can't figure my husband out and we have been married 8 years." Sharon and another lady started laughing, both said the first 10 years are the hardest. I didn't know that, although I can acknowledge their were some big rough spots in those years - and fewer in the years that followed.
Anyway, the point is, sometimes a marriage has to cook for 10 years or so before you know if it is going to last or not according to these women. There may be some truth to that. I would like to think so.
I know ours has been getting better each year for some time, at least on my end. Maybe that's because I see Sharon more and more as a gift from God in my life. I am grateful to God for the gift of Sharon and grateful to Sharon for sticking it out when I was way short of being a keeper.
End.
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