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wrong step
I live and love in a fairly wild community. Much of what we accept as normal, every day, business-as-usual, sounds completely unbalanced if you are unacquainted with the Founder of our family. And there are, sadly, folks who have misread portions if the Handbook and make stands around misunderstanding of spirituality. For instance, there is a promise that if you are on an errand for the Boss, you can be bitten by an asp and not die. So these folks have snakes when they have church. The principle is overshadowed by the illustration. And a questioning community looking on sees a belief system that is a few wafers short of sane communion. I have, as a father, found a way to look proud when my son missed the backboard playing basketball, or to look enthralled when my daughter shows me a new Irish dancestep. I haven't been able to see any difference in any Irish dance I have ever seen. But I am so proud of her for her passionate love of the dance.
I have to believe that if, as a human father, I know how important it is to notice my children's effort, the One I know as the Father of all creation notices even when His children completely miss the meaning of His love letters. There will be a lot of people in Heaven who are surprised at the other people who got in. And if I know my Father like I think I do, there will be people in Heaven who are surprised to find themselves there. I work with people who are forgiven by Father but can't forgive themselves. I feel a whisper of a hint of His sadness about them suffering as they do. There is a mention in one about the letters of our opportunity to fellowship with Him in His sufferings. My hero and friend Don Young fellowships with Him as He suffers for His people to have clean, pure knowledge of Him. An incredibly sweet man, Father Bill, is like the violet crushed under someone's heal and leaving its scent on that heel in forgiveness. (Father Bill has now passed.) One of the greatest victories the enemy has ever scored is that an entire spiritual community is in question because a few of their number were ill. Father Bill's eyes have the compassion and wisdom of a lifetime of gentleness and self-sacrifice.
My friend James fellowships with Him in His suffering about the sadness inherent in overcoming handicaps. I have seen him with the children he loves and they don't feel as handicapped when they have spent time with him. He takes blind kids skiing. He is a strong, powerful man who uses his strength to encourage and enable. Another friend fellowships with Him in His sufferings for people who have lost their freedom. They are the ultimate illustration of reaping what you sew, but experiencing Father's love as well. My friend prays for and serves and bleeds for these forgotten men. There is such nobility in fellowshipping with Him in His suffering.
If you look at our community and are confused, you should know that a lot of us are confused as well. You deserve answers. And you can bank on the fact that as soon as we understand anything new, someone like me will talk about it. In spite of our faith, some of us are also pragmatic. We also want to know.
The reason this whole fellowship thing works, for those that like the
mechanics of morality, is that being a vessel for His love makes you a partaker in His love. Love works from Love's overflow. Each vessel in the process is filled to overflowing. That's how James and Bill and Don can do it. We are flooded in whatever we give away in Love. May your life be flooded too.
Posted by AllThingsBuck on 2009-07-03 17:04:50 | Rating: | Views: 35
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