October 13, 2006
-
+
OK, call me a plagiarist; call me lazy! I’m actually really
busy getting ready for my son and grandkids to come for a week,
and was only going to read others’ posts, and maybe give a comment or two;
then I came across the following rumination on my daughter’s Xanga,
and thought it was worth sharing.
Here it is:
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
I had something very inspiring come to mind just now, and I got on here to write it
down immediately, so I wouldn’t forget it.
I just read an entry from a girl I know talking about how religion and Christianity is empty.
She looked for fulfillment…something to fill the hole caused by her pain..and didn’t find it.
All she found were hypocrites and lies. “The pain was still there.” she said. So I asked God,
“Why didn’t she believe? How is it that she didn’t find the answers?” Immediately rushed to
mind tons of thoughts…God inspired, for sure.
People seek religion for answers, they don’t seek Truth (ie. God). But on it’s own religion
will leave you empty. Only Divine Truth gives us any ease to our pain. However, even with
God, there is still pain. I experience pain, we as Christians experience pain. We never have
claimed, or at least never should claim, that a relationship with God means a pain-free life. It
doesn’t.
It reminds me of the quotation from…Princess Bride (??)
”Life is pain, princess. Anyone who tells you any differently is selling something.”
As long as we live on this earth, there will be pain. It’s part of the package. Christ Himself
experienced it. So what’s the difference in the life of a sold-out Christian? We know God.
Knowing God doesn’t mean no pain, it simply means our focus is elsewhere. We have hope.
Knowing the truth of life…that there is a Supreme Being, a God, a Ruler, a Divine Order to
everything, makes the pain seem much more trivial. God is life, pain is not. Pain is simply a
part of what we experience. When God becomes our ultimate focus, our Life, we still have
pain. Psh, we may experience more pain. But it’s not important.
We have somewhere to rest our pain…
and that is in our hope…our understanding that there is more to this life. More to this pain.
There is the Almighty King who loves us with all His heart. And no pain will ever get in the way of that.
noelle
“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to
be compared to the glory that God has in store for us.
If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied.
But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on
immortality, then will come about the saying that is written,
“DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP in victory.” ” (Rom 8:18 and 1 Cor 15: 19 & 54)
(by the way, if you scroll down so you can see the background pic,
you’ll get a glimpse of part of the view from my workplace recently)
Comments (19)
Good post, thanks for sharing that…ryc, congratulations on your weight loss, keep on and you will drop the rest! Thanks for the encouragement….Be Blessed and enjoy your family!
Mike
Great stuff. Thanks for posting this.
Smart kid. takes after her old man, no doubt
. I use the word “religion” in a slightly different way: religion is man’s attempt to get to God on his (man’s) terms. Christianity is the way God provides.
what a wise young lady! God is certainly using her! Blessed me! How’s Jim?
Thanks for sharing her post. It was encouraging. It is easy to forget sometimes that we are not promised a life without pain, but a life with Christ.
God Bless, Martha
Hi! I’m your brother in Christ, Jeff. I love you neighbor! Spread the Love!!! =]
ryc: re Spock’s – our tastes may be very different, but I prefer their older stuff. Their principle writer, lead singer, keyboardist and front man (he also switched off on bass, drums and guitar during their live shows… quite a guy) for their first 6 albums was a guy named Neal Morse. Neal accepted Christ a few years ago and gradually found himself wanting to write music that glorified God, but he was lyrically constrained by Spock’s. He’s since gone solo and has 3 CD’s of Christian prog plus a couple of more traditional CCM/worship music available. Good stuff, as is the current Spock’s material, but as I mentioned in my post, I think they’d both be better together than apart.
I remember reading a post of your daughter’s a while back too. You should be very proud of her.
Nice post.
Amen to both of you:) Noelle is wise beyond her years. I agree about the pain, but one thing to add would be that God makes our pain come with a “purpose”, i.e. learning lessons we wouldn’t learn with a life of no pain. People who don’t know God have pain but not with the same lessons and purpose God puts in it for His children. Hope you are ok, hope to hear from you soon. in Him, Gerrie
So very true, so very true. Your daughter, I am sure, draws allot from from your wisdom
I like the way leftOverture define’sreligion, ” religion is man’s attempt to get to God on his (man’s) terms”. My life changed when I stopped seeking religion and started seeking God. God bless you brother!
great post, wow noelle has her dad’s gift of composition! Great pic too, btw. When I worked w/ you I always tried to get riverside during the fall…
Sam
Ditto what Laleo Cafe said.
Your view is beautiful. A refreshing change to the neverending palm trees I’m used to. Thanks for your continuing support. People on this site give me hope that there are people who care. You guys gave stuck with me on here for so long, I really appreciate it.
RYC: no, it’s not a song, but if you hear music with it, I’d be more than happy to make it one if I can hear the tune!
Cowboy
ryc at LaleoCafe: Great questions here. I often ponder things such as these. Sometimes we can get a glimpse by looking at sources outside the Scriptures. However, I believe that we must tread carefully here and look at the source for what it is, an apocryphal writing. Certainly, in response to your question, “Were there any other “secret followers” of Jesus among the Sanhedrin?” we can add Nicodemeus as this is from Scripture (John 19:38-42). I often imagine that the trial was much like a mob mentality thing. Many were possibly confused and afraid to voice too strongly their thoughts for fear of being ostracized. Possibly too, as the trial progressed and the crucifixion played out, some of those that may have “voted” against Jesus began to see a reality they had not realized… that Jesus WAS the Christ, the Messiah…..and their hearts changed as a result of a truth they could not ignore. I would point out that Scripture does tell us in Mark 14:64, “They all condemned him as worthy of death.” If I find anything else out, I will be sure to post it Great questions and thoughts Great discussion God bless!
Very wise young girl you have there. I get very upset when people equate religion and christianity because religion to me is a set of people rules and christianity to me is a set of God rules..and not so much that God says do this or that but that we come to Him with full trust and build the relationship. Anyone can be ‘religious’. Not everyone will find the truth in christianity ~
Your daughter shows such wisdom! (And when we have offspring who can write like that, a little sharing of their work seems rather appropriate!
)
Just passing through the comments on leftoverture’s and thought I’d take a gander at your blog. I most definitely needed that reminder today. So thank you for posting your daughter’s blog on your blog.
Your pics are beautful as well.
God Bless
Nice layout!
RYC: about the slideshow…. when you copy it to your post you need to click on HTML and drop it in like that. If you arent sure about HTMLing…just drop it in like that and publish…then you can go back and add the text in the normal format.