Show me the path where I should walk, O Lord
To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. I trust in You, my God! Show me the path where I should walk, O Lord Point out the right road for me to follow. Lead me by your truth and teach me for You are the God who saves me. All day long I put my hope in You. Remember O Lord your unfailing love and compassion which you have shown from long ages past. Forgive the rebellious sins of my youth…Archive for c.s lewis
who’s been loving the heat?
Weather has been a doozy here on the East Coast for a week or so, until this morning when it finally cooled off due to scattered rain last night. Temperatures without factoring the heat index of around 103 degrees (F in case anyone reads this that may be thinking temp in Celsius…). At least in my neighborhood it is so wooded that usually it’s about 5-10 degrees cooler, but still quite hot. High humidity as well, so with the heat index it’s just insane. I’ve taken the heat before and managed, but man it was hot. And I just haven’t gotten around to getting my car’s A/C fixed, so it’s really noticeable when driving. I think it’s mid 90s today though … much better.
NOTE: Bear with me, I’m going to be a little more long-winded for this one!
I’ve just started reading the book of Job, and here’s this guy who all his livestock stolen, farmhands and servants killed, and sons and daughters dead from a storm knocking down a house. And you thought the heat was unbearable huh? So what does this guy Job say?
I came naked from my mother’s womb,
and I will be stripped of everything when I die.
The Lord gave me everything I had,
and the Lord has taken it away.
Praise the name of the Lord!
That’s quite a low spot, and he doesn’t blame God? Hmm. Now one could take this two ways, and think as someone who believes in a God and someone that doesn’t, but I’m not going to consider the second – just as someone who believes in a God. It seems really really easy and definitely expected to praise God when we’re at a high in life – you know, blessed with a house, blessed with kids, a wife, a job, fun times, friends, family, etc. Pretty much 99% of those who may come across this post – you’re blessed in numerous ways (but maybe not all). And I’m betting in your prayers that you thank God for at least some of these blessings.
But let’s say you’re wife leaves you, something unexpected happens and a child dies, you get in a car wreck and become disabled. What says you then? I have no room to even guess what that may be like. I have family in dire straits and very hard times that I talk to frequently, but I’m quick to point out I have no clue what it must be like. Will you praise God?
Consider this verse:
But Job replied, “You talk like a godless woman. Should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad?” So in all this, Job said nothing wrong.
Is God good? Well duh of course – I sure wouldn’t believe in my God if he wasn’t good! But the question is – why do we have bad things happen? Personally I don’t really have much of a clue on this topic, but I do happen to know a guy and we had a pretty lengthy conversation over it, which just so happens to be over this topic. Here are my ‘notes’ if you will (feel in any blanks please Tim!):
- We sometimes cause pain on ourselves.
- sometimes God uses pain/illness to serve a purpose.
- sometimes God uses pain/illness to bring Him glory.
This person mentioned a book by C.S. Lewis “The problem of Pain” as something to consider if you haven’t read it. He talked about some scripture from Job and Ezekiel that I can’t fully recall, but now that I am looking through Job, I see a section in my Bible (not part of scripture – just the notes below) titled “When we suffer” with 6 questions to ask ourselves when we suffer, and what to do if the answer is yes:
Q: am I being punished by God for sin?
A: confess known sinQ: is Satan attacking me as I try to survive as a Christian?
A: call on God for strengthQ: am I being prepared for a special service, learning to be compassionate to those who suffer?
A: accept help from the body of believers; trust God to work his purpose through youQ: is my suffering a result of natural consequences for which I am not directly responsible?
A: recognize that in a sinful world, both good and evil people will suffer; but the good person has a promise from God that his/her suffering will one day come to an end.Q: is my suffering due to some unknown reason?
A: don’t draw inward from the pain; proclaim your faith in God, know that he cares and wait patiently for his aid.
What I find interesting is that a lot of times when I’ve been at a low point in my life, I’m totally thinking why God? Why me? What did I do? But when I’m down visiting and maybe sharing some stuff with the homeless, they will be quick to praise God. Might be living by the river, or in an abandoned home, or sleeping in a park, but they praise God. Don’t get me wrong – not everyone I’ve met does; many feel they have no hope. But some really are an inspiration with their faith in their God.
From this somewhat-related post – Joyful Even On a Crappy Day:
What is it that you are going through that you have seen no way to be joyful through? Remember that as Jesus carried the cross He counted it all as joy to do the will of His Father. I don’t think any of us has ever literally carried the weight of the world on our shoulders as He did, nor will we ever. Shouldn’t we be able to be joyful regardless of what we are going through?
What’s funny is that when I was a kid I lived in the DFW metroplex in Texas, and had weather like this all summer long – humidity and everything. It didn’t bother me that much. And like the weather, it seems kids have the ability to have faith in things unseen. I guess that’s why we need to become like little children, huh?
growth, II
I had written before about this growth group thing that is starting up. So far it is just myself and another guy really, but I have hope that there will be some other guys that may join up at some point (as things change and time opens up).
So what has it been? A whole lot of getting to know each other, things happening in our lives, things that have happened in our lives. Laying some tough stuff out there on the table and being real and open about it. Issues all guys struggle with. I initially wasn’t very sure if in this group we would be as personal, but like the other guy in the group pointed out, without some deeper understanding and relationship with each other, it’s going to be hard (if not impossible) to be there for each other. Here’s where I am, and what has past. How about you? After this, we will move onto growth.
We’ve talked a little bit about books, in particular several by C.S. Lewis. He’s even graciously provided a comprehensive set of his books for me to read then pass on (connect with me if you’d be interested in ‘Out of the Silent Planet’ – part one of his sci-fi trilogy). Oh and if you’re into books and the whole social web, then check me out on GoodReads to see what other books I’ve read, am reading, or plan to read. As part of the growth group, the idea is to as a group pick a book to read and discuss every week – since it’s just two I’m not really going to push for this yet. But we did talk about some possibilities – and he mentioned the author Ted Roberts who of course has a blog. He apparently has a ministry called Pure Desire whose purpose is to be:
devoted to healing men and women who have become addicted to sexual behaviors harmful to their social, family and spiritual well being. By supporting local churches, PDMI is setting men and women free, so they can walk in the saving Grace of the Lord.
I’ve written a bit before on the topic of pornography but that is just scratching the surface of the issue of lust. Daring topic – we’ll see if we get to it, but a serious one for every guy…
welcome to the family
I can think back to my childhood and one particular friend. We were very different – but had a sort of friendship that went beyond the differences – and complemented each other. I can also think back as well to more recent years and other friendships that also were similar in that in several ways we were wholly different in interests and concerns, yet still had a sort of harmonious friendship that I really haven’t ever been able to describe.
Here’s another quote from C.S. Lewis (from the book “A Year with C.S. Lewis – Daily Readings from His Classic Works”) titled ‘Welcome to the Family’:
The very word membership is of Christian origin, but it has been taken over by the world and emptied of all meaning. In any book on logic you may see the expression “members of a class.” It must be emphatically stated that the items or particulars included in a homogenous class are almost the reverse of what St. Paul meant by members. By members… he meant what we should call organs, things essentially different from and complementary to, one another, things differing not only in structure and function but also in dignity… How true membership in a body differs from inclusion in a collective may be seen in the structure of a family. The grandfather, the parents, the grown-up son, the child, the dog, and the cat are true members (in the organic sense), precisely because they are not members or units of a homogeneous class. They are not interchangeable. Each person is almost a species in himself. The mother is not simply a different person from the daughter; she is a different kind of person. The grown-up brother is not simply one unit in the class children; he is a separate estate of the realm. The father and grandfather are almost as different as the cat and the dog. If you subtract any one member, you have not simply reduced the family in number; you have inflicted an injury on its structure. Its unity is a unity of unlikes, almost of incommensurables.
A dim perception of the richness inherent in this kind of unity is one reason why we enjoy a book like The Wind in the Willows; a trio such as Rat, Mole and Badger symbolises the extreme differentation of persons in harmonious union, which we know intuitively to be our true refuge both from solitude and from the collective.
Too many times it seems the church (much less those outside of it) doesn’t go this way, but this just resonated in my mind. This should be evident to the world. The church shouldn’t be “some club” where we all are the same. Not only that, but that we complement each other – strengthening the whole through our “unlikes”.
greenhouses
Continuing on my C.S. Lewis trip, here’s another one I marked:
Even the best Christian that ever lived is not acting on his own steam – he is only nourishing or protecting a life he could never have acquired by his own efforts …. A Christian is not a man who never goes wrong, but a man who is enabled to repent and pick himself up and begin over again after each stumble – because the Christ-life is inside him, repairing him all the time enabling him to repeat (in some degree) the kind of voluntary death which Christ Himself carried out.
That is why the Christian is in a different position from other people who are trying to do good. They hope, by being good, to please God if there is one; or – if they think there is not – at least they hope to deserve approval from good men. But the Christian thinks any good he does comes from the Christ-life inside him. He does not think God will love us because we are good, but that God will make us good because He loves us; just as the roof of a greenhouse does not attract the sun because it is bright, but becomes bright because the sun shines on it.
Mere Christianity
Over the weekend I met with a guy from our [church] small group to talk about last night’s get-together (our “leader” was on vacation in Hawaii…. and we both were going to try to “wing it” without him). In the process, we talked about a whole bunch of different stuff including books. Out of it, he loaned me a copy of C.S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity.
Great stuff. I think I might have to get a copy because there’s just no way I can remember all that stuff. The eloquence of his words and logic for laying out some critical “why” questions and then answering them is brilliant. I was thinking about all the individual stuff I’d like to write on here about what I’m reading in the book (and I may do so, but am wondering how other than just writing what he’s written because I’m not sure I could even attempt to distill it at all).
So I’m curious – have you read it? If so, what did you think? I’m really interested to know what some people who don’t believe this whole “Christianity thing” think about it too…
