Category: General

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21 Days of Posts – Day 12 – Hurt

Est. Reading Time: 3 minutes

Hello to all who have decided to follow along as I post for 21 days straight as part of our church fast. As you can see, each entry is numbered as a particular day, so if you are reading this and the title above doesn’t say Day 1, then you should stop now and go read from Day 1, or take a peek at Day 2 and pick a topic you are interested in. Thanks for being brave enough to join me.

Day 12…this one won’t be fun. The topic is hurt and nobody likes to hurt.

Let me clarify, normal people do not like to hurt, whether physically, mentally, emotionally, or spiritually. Hurt is to be avoided. Hurt is the opposite of how we want to feel. Unfortunately, this life includes hurt, whether we want it or not. I almost wrote “includes hurt at no charge”, but that would be completely wrong.

There is a price to pay for hurt. When we are hurt, regardless of whether we stub our toe, fail a test, lose a parent, or rebel against our God, we want to remove that hurt, as quickly and as “inexpensively” as possible. We want the quick relief, the deus ex machina, the miracle, to happen as soon as possible so we can go back to living life unencumbered by pain and hurt.

It rarely works that way. Bodily harm must have time to heal and may require rehabilitation. A failed test will weigh upon us until we can redeem ourselves at the next one. Losing a loved one…well that one never really goes away, but we learn to grieve, then cope, then move forward. Good news, though…

Rebelling against God, resulting in hurt and disappointment with ourselves, is much easier to recover from. When we realize what we have done and that feeling of hurt and disappointment washes over us and we wonder how we could have ever done what we did, all we need to do is turn back to the Lord and ask forgiveness (1 John 1:9). We do need to forgive ourselves and move forward, but before we even ask God to forgive us, it has already happened (Romans 4:25).

Does this mean we are free from consequences? Probably not. If we indeed rebelled and made poor choices, then we will most likely have to live with the results of those choices. We’re forgiven if we ask, but we still suffer.

But what about those times when things happen to us, through no fault of our own, that cause us to hurt? We might ask the question “if God loves us so much, why do we experience hurt?”. If we’re suffering and hurting from something that has happened to us, maybe, just maybe, God needs us to hurt for a while. This world we live in almost guarantees us we will hurt from time to time. Jesus laid it out very simply for the disciples in John chapter 16, verse 33.

 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Why does God need us to hurt? Maybe we are putting something in front of him and not keeping him the most important thing in our life. Maybe that thing needs to be taken away, ripped from our clutching hands, whether we knew we were grasping it inappropriately or not. Maybe we need to learn something. Maybe we need deeper faith, and nothing except having something, or maybe everything, stripped away will awaken that faith.

Whatever the reason for our hurt, we can have faith that God will uphold us, will guide us, and will never forsake us.

Thanks for reading to the end! Tomorrow, the topic will be about lions. It should be fun.

 

Photo Credit – Photo by Tom Pumford on Unsplash

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21 Days of Posts – Day 11 – The Christian Life – Contentment

Est. Reading Time: 3 minutes

Hello to all who have decided to follow along as I post for 21 days straight as part of our church fast. As you can see, each entry is numbered as a particular day, so if you are reading this and the title above doesn’t say Day 1, then you should stop now and go read from Day 1, or take a peek at Day 2 and pick a topic you are interested in. Thanks for being brave enough to join me.

Day 11 brings us back to the topic of the Christian life and specifically, the idea of contentment.

What does that word mean? It’s not happiness, because it is possible to be happy, but not content. If the thought that whatever is causing your happiness will eventually stop is always in the back of your head, then you do not have contentment, just happiness.

It’s not peace, by the world’s definition. It is possible to be content, but not be at peace, although these two fit together better than contentment and happiness. If we are truly at peace, in a Godly sense, then yes, we can probably consider ourselves content.

Paul talks a lot about contentment. Philippians 4:11 & 12 are common verses cited here for those looking to understand contentment, in the face of any circumstances.

11 – I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12 – I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.

Paul went through a LOT. Shipwrecked, arrested, hungry, rejected, you name it, Paul experienced it, but in it all he was content, regardless of the chaos swirling around him.

In the first epistle to Timothy, we are warned against thinking that godliness is a means to financial gain (6:5). There was much controversy and many false teachers surrounding the believers. The oft misquoted verse of 6:10 follows shortly after this warning, attempting to explain why contentment in financial matters is important, whether wealthy, poor, or even enslaved.

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

Hebrews says this even more plainly in chapter 13, verse 5 –

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”

The bottom line is this – contentment is a choice. We choose to be content, once we learn how to be. Unfortunately, it doesn’t usually come immediately as part of the “welcome to salvation” package. It must be learned and it starts with trusting that God’s plans are better than our plans (as mentioned on Day 9 of this series) and that he has us where he wants us, and how he wants us, for a reason.

Do we always see and understand His reasons? No, absolutely not, but as we learn to trust in him, we will eventually (and correctly) conclude that is doesn’t matter if we understand, just that we learn to be content and always be listening for what God wants us to do.

That’s it, short and to the point. Thanks for reading to the end!

Tomorrow’s topic is hurt – specifically why do we have to experience it, if God loves us so much?

 

Photo Credit – Photo by Dan Gold on Unsplash

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21 Days of Posts – Day 10 – Why I Like To Listen To The Cure

Est. Reading Time: 4 minutes

Hello to all who have decided to follow along as I post for 21 days straight as part of our church fast. As you can see, each entry is numbered as a particular day, so if you are reading this and the title above doesn’t say Day 1, then you should stop now and go read from Day 1, or take a peek at Day 2 and pick a topic you are interested in. Thanks for being brave enough to join me.

Day 10 of this 21 day journey brings the first of three (planned) “why I like to to listen to” posts.

This post will cover why I listen to The Cure, that wonderful English band that defies categorization aside from “rock”. The labels “alternative”, “post-punk”, “new wave” and the band-hated category of “gothic rock” have been applied to them as their music (and the band personnel) has changed over the years. They still manage to not fit neatly into any given musical category.

They’ve been around in some form almost since I was born (which makes them…nope, not going there), but I didn’t really discover them until I was in college, a year after Disintegration came out. I was hooked hard by that album, and even more hooked by the following album, Mixed Up. When Wish came out, I realized I was permanently addicted. My favorite tracks are on those three albums and the compilation album Staring at the Sea.

But why, you ask, do you like this gloomy, goth, sneaker-gazing, band with the alternating whiny or nasal vocals, quivering guitar, and mind-invading synths?

I’m glad you asked. Three reasons.

First, The Cure are the absolute, hands-down, best intro writers ever. The instrumental introductions to their songs last anywhere from thirty seconds to well over two minutes. They generally start with an instrument or two, and they build and build until you almost forget there’s supposed to be lyrics for the song, and may not care if anyone ever starts singing.

The best examples are To Wish Impossible Things from Wish, and the exquisite Plainsong and Homesick from Disintegration.

To Wish Impossible Things has only a ninety second intro, but it is one of the most beautiful intros ever written. The violin that starts about a minute into the track is hauntingly, achingly gorgeous, and the buildup to the vocals at the ninety second mark is a tingly, progressive affair. I love this song, despite its heart-breaking lyrics. The black hole of loss it leaves you in doesn’t diminish its beauty.

Plainsong is half intro and half lyrical song. The track lasts for five minutes and fifteen seconds, and two minutes and thirty-five seconds of that is wordless intro. Homesick takes it even further. The intro doesn’t really start to boil over until two and half minutes in and the words don’t start until three minutes and fifteen seconds into the seven minute song. These two songs are also markedly dark and melancholy, and speak of unspeakable loss or the fear of such a loss. Again, this doesn’t detract from their absolute brilliance and beauty.

Second, while The Cure could do dark and gloomy really, really well, their songs at the other end of the spectrum are also incredible and completely different, both in style and mood. The Cure has some wildly happy and exuberant songs, like Friday I’m In Love, High, and Doing the Unstuck from Wish, and of course Love Song from Disintegration (which Adele masterfully covered on her album 21, but listed it as Lovesong, all one word). These uptempo songs have short intros, the longest at thirty seconds and are bursting with happiness, love, affection, and optimism.

There are other masterpieces in between the gloomy and the ecstatic, including the creepily good Lullaby and the oddly indifferent Fascination Street, both on Disintegration, and the Never Enough, Close To Me, and In Between Days remixes on Mixed Up. The originals for the last three are so-so, but the remixes are fantastic.

Third, these songs became a part of my extensive and diverse musical psyche during a remarkably formative time – college. It was a time of happiness, learning, pain, sorrow, and frustration experienced during a time when I was probably as far from God as I had ever been since I was saved. I accidentally and actively rejected any ideas of regular church attendance, finding Christian friends, studying the Bible, or any other activity related to my salvation. How much easier college would have been if I’d had the support of Christian friends, a church community, or if I had simply studied the Word.

I buried myself in these songs, the dark and gloomy for my dark times and the happy and exuberant for my good times. I can vividly remember sitting in front of my tiny aquarium in my dorm room, watching my fish swim around, oblivious to my mood, good or bad, with my stereo (which was my pride and joy at that time) audibly thrusting  Disintegration or Wish into my ears, depending on my circumstances. This was my go-to “wild mood swings” music (yes, that’s a reference to another album by The Cure).

It’s why I still listen to The Cure, regardless of my mood.

Thanks for reading to the end of this somewhat longer post. Tomorrow I will get back to posting about the Christian life and contentment. Contentment is why I can listen to The Cure now, as I said above, regardless of my mood. Please join me again tomorrow.

 

 

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21 Days of Posts – Day 9 – The Christian Life – Our Plans vs. God’s Plans

Est. Reading Time: 3 minutes

Hello to all who have decided to follow along as I post for 21 days straight as part of our church fast. As you can see, each entry is numbered as a particular day, so if you are reading this and the title above doesn’t say Day 1, then you should stop now and go read from Day 1, or take a peek at Day 2 and pick a topic you are interested in. Thanks for being brave enough to join me.

Day 9 already? Wow! I hope you have enjoyed at least some of what I have written over the last eight days.

Today’s topic is just amazing. I had debated on whether to start this post yesterday, or write it all today, and I am so glad I waited until today because…God’s plans are better than our plans. Let me give you this simple, but incredible example.

I spent most of the day trying to figure out exactly what I was going to write in this post. The church has been over the whole “our plans versus God’s plans” a lot over the past year. Our primary “mantra” is based on Jeremiah 29:11, which talks about God having plans for us – to prosper us, and not to harm us. I was looking for an angle, a new perspective, another way to explain the same thing. Then God hit me over the head with it…

I  received a text (and you probably did also) from the church about a prayer meeting scheduled for this very evening at 6:00. I got it while in the middle of work and didn’t think much about it other than “I probably won’t be going to that, because, supper and all”. I finished my work day, still wondering about what I was going to write in this post.

As I got in the car, my wife mentioned the prayer meeting and the fact that we were going…

Really?

Funny how God’s plans are so much better than our plans. Just before I got in the car, I had already started wondering what might be for supper. I had run through a few things, but finally let it go, as I figured my wife had it all planned anyway.

Nope. Well, she did have supper planned, but first, we were going to the prayer meeting.

So there we were at the prayer meeting. I was able to spend over an hour in prayer with others in the church. We covered a number of topics, from being a maximum impact church, to the city council meeting that was happening as we were praying, to covering the pastor in prayer, to covering the entire worship center in prayer. It was a good time.

I can’t say I was overflowing with great prayers, or that I was overwhelmed with the magnificent prayers that were lifted up during this time, but that had nothing to do with those who were praying, nor with the prayers themselves. It had everything to do with me. So I tried very hard to concentrate on the prayers being lifted up and to get behind them with prayers of my own, and to a degree I believe I was successful. My prayers were so simple and inelegant, but I lifted them up anyway.

It certainly wasn’t like the last prayer meeting I attended. It also wasn’t like the spontaneous group prayer in the worship service a few weeks ago. Again, it had nothing to do with anything or anyone but me. My simple prayers, as I walked around on stage and to the back of the worship center, were about three things – the worship ministry and how I could contribute to it, the people who sat in the chairs every Sunday, and asking God to help me to break out of this rut I’m in.

I have every confidence that He will answer those prayers, in his time, in his way, and in his plan, not mine.

 

Photo Credit – Photo by Milada Vigerova on Unsplash

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21 Days of Posts – Day 8 – Why I Write About Relationships

Est. Reading Time: 3 minutes

Hello to all who have decided to follow along as I post for 21 days straight as part of our church fast. As you can see, each entry is numbered as a particular day, so if you are reading this and the title above doesn’t say Day 1, then you should stop now and go read from Day 1, or take a peek at Day 2 and pick a topic you are interested in. Thanks for being brave enough to join me.

Day 8! Wasn’t sure it was going to happen, given the storms we had around here. Our power was out overnight and estimated to not be back until late tonight. Thankfully, it appears that Georgia Power was fairly conservative with their estimates, so this post will go out on time, which you know already, because your reading it now…aren’t you?

If I was brave enough to include anyone else besides my wife as a beta reader for my books, you would see a common pattern in my writing, whether it is my science fiction stories, my action/thrillers, my fantasy novel, or the others I have started. You would see that regardless of the background circumstances, one of the key elements of my works is relationships.

Duh, you say…all books are fundamentally about relationships. Without relationships, books are dull and characters are uninteresting. Why would I read a fiction book that did not include relationships of some kind? Relationships define characters, determine how characters react to circumstances, and become motivation for the main plot of the story. You can safely argue they are essential to any good story.

For me, as the author, there is more to it than that. I get to explore, in my head at least, and sometimes on the page, relationships that I’ve never experienced. I can write about brothers (I only have a sister). I can write about terrible parents (my parents are/were wonderful). I can write about love triangles, sacrificial relationships, codependent couples, lost spouses, whatever strikes my fancy and contributes to the story.

It’s not a requirement that I experience these things for real, just that I can dive into them in my head, and, thankfully, remove myself from them when I’m done writing about them. It’s another method of experiencing things I’ve never experienced, and frankly, probably don’t want to experience, in most cases.

Who would want to be the man or woman who loses a spouse, or the person whose parents were terrible, or that person stuck in a love triangle, codependent, or otherwise abusive relationship? But how much do eager readers gobble up those experiences in the form of fiction? We can look at the astonishing sales statistics for everything from the Twilight series to the Fifty Shades of Grey series and see how popular these pursuits of broken relationships are. Why?

We can ask fifty different people and get close to fifty different answers, but the bottom line is escape. Escape from this day-to-day life, which for most may not have a lot of excitement in it. This life may not be exactly what they envisioned and they are looking for…excitement? Catharsis? Escape? Romance? A redemption story? A happy ending? Something else?

As with all human pursuits that disregard God, some of the things these readers hope for are only ever fiction. They’re not becoming a vampire to love and live forever, or attracting the attention of a ludicrously rich love interest. However, within the will of God, we can get both of these things, if not exactly the same form as the rest of the world expects.

Our Christian life, lived within the will of God, will result in eternal life (thankfully, not as a vampire), and will connect us to the God to whom everything belongs, because he made it all. We might not gain access to all of that here in this life, but there are far better riches we inherit.

Am I saying that reading fiction is wrong? No, no, no no! There are great stories out there that will enrich our lives if we take the time to read them (or watch the movie), but realizing that the greatest story ever told, that of God and his redeeming love for us, is actually true should remain foremost in our minds as we enjoy the fruits of man’s writing labors.

Thanks for reading to the end! Tomorrow’s post returns to the Christian life, as i mentioned previously, diving into the differences in our plans and God’s plans.

 

Photo Credit – Photo by The HK Photo Company on Unsplash

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