Life

Life is crazy, isn’t it? It never stops and one just has to hold on for the ride. I have been reminded of this over the past few days. My dear, little Grandma, who is almost 84 years old, took a spill this week. The result of which has been some severe injuries to her aging body. I have had to think about how I take my youth for granted. I wish for slimmer hips and a tighter stomach, better defined muscles in my arms (you know, Hollywood leading lady arms), smoother skin and better hair. Yet, I have health and youth and energy. I am able to run 5k and probably still go for more (but am too lazy to push it). I have also been reminded about faith. My aunt and great aunt who were with Grandma most of the day in the hospital said that as she was in pain and all of the “stuff” of medicine was going on around her, Grandma still prayed with faith. I think I would have been laying there asking, “Why me? Why can’t I get a break?” She is such a good example of calm surrender, but active faith. I often think of her (and my mom) when I think of the kind of woman I really wish I could be. So, now I take her example and see if maybe, with God’s help, I can learn to have that peace and faith that Grandma has. Content in letting life take me on a ride, but knowing that God is there all along.

The magic of courage

Saw this post on youtube today. It touched my heart. Just watch it and listen.
Click here.

There's no such thing as an atheist

I used to have a teacher in Bible school. He had a long, crazy history as an evangelist.

One of those people that is passionate about spreading the gospel, and lived his life with no apparent fear. Anytime he approached an atheist he would tell them - "thats impossible, there's no such thing as an atheist." His reasoning was that an atheist believes that there is no god, no anything. That, in and of itself is a belief. Therefore you believe in something, and thus - you cant be an atheist.

Hard to argue with, and very clever. I can just see an atheist who hears this turning their eyes into a stare while they process.

I found a video blog on youtube this week by a guy named Pat. He is an atheist. He really made me think about things. Pat is anti-religion. He believes that all organized religion is nothing but a system of devised values used to entrench people with fear and create a stranglehold of power for the select clergy. Truthfully, its hard to argue with that. Pat has become one of my favorite video blogs to watch because he speaks the truth. I have heard more sense from him recently than I have heard from a lot of Christians.

"But from the mouth of an atheist?"

Yes.

"Are you becoming an atheist Sean?"

Hmmm..

Just kidding, of course not.

In fact, my faith in God is stronger now than ever before. His views seem to re-affirm my faith. The sad thing is that I agree with many of the things he says. He stated quite clearly during one of his very entertaining monologues that "If Jesus really was real, and was as compassionate and caring as he was shown to be like in the bible, if he returned tomorrow he may just be ashamed at the way his followers have acted on his behalf"

If this is not the crying out of a world in desperate pain, I don't know what is.

Of course, many "christians" who watched the blog, responded that week to him with death threats, curse words, threatening scripture verses, fire and brimstone. In fact one guy taped himself on youtube praying for Pat.

Nice.

Do we respond that way because the truth hurts? Why are we so offended if he doesn't believe in God anyway?

I am not by any means remotely close to being a perfect christian - and can someone define what that is anyway? Marci is always telling me I need more compassion and this is true.

I feel compassion for Pat. I feel he is lost. I emailed him and told him I enjoy his blog and that I would really like to have a beer with him one day. He seems like a fun guy, and I'm sure we'd have a great time. I'd like Pat to know who the real Jesus is one day. Not what our "religions" have made him out to be. Jesus simply came to earth and just walked. People were drawn to him, all he ever asked any of his disciples to do is follow and learn. Why can't we as a church be more like that? Where did we lose this along the way? I know some of you may respond that we need to "fight for our rights as believers, defend our faith" and this is all true. But all the "religion" in the world never won a sole except though love, peace and compassion.

If you would like to view Pat's blog, let me know in the comments field, and I will email you the link.

Sean.

Raw

A really wonderful friend of ours came over for dinner last weekend. We had a great time, and the whole week we were looking forward to her company. As the evening sun drifted lower in our kitchen window, and the evening's conversation spun it it yarns around our meal we approached the topic of God.
Our guest has lost someone very special and dear to her recently. A tragic accident resulted in the loss of a good friend. Marci asked her how she was handling things, and how she was doing.
One thing I love about our friend is the openness of that big warm heart she has. She openly talked about her emotions after the accident and how the whole situation had made her feel.
My heart was feeling sore for her as I recounted in my mind what I felt like the moment I heard the news. We spoke about God and how she had struggled in her mind to reconcile this whole event and still believe in a merciful Lord.
Then she said something that made my thoughts stop so suddenly I could feel myself breathing.
" I had to realize through this situation that I serve a God who would allow my friend to die"
Wow - did you get that.
I did. Very suddenly. Understand, that our friend still loves the Lord, very much so. But what she said was real to her, and certainly justified. But how can you possibly resolve this? Because it's true, it happened.
That made me stop and think. Once in a while you hear something that makes you do that. This was one of those moments. Stop and think about the realness, and the weight of that statement.
It wasn't said in any sense of anger or bitterness, It was said in all Godly respect and honesty.

Do I always see the bigger picture? How small am I? How on earth can something like this happen? I tried so hard to process this information last week. My limited conclusion is this: God is a merciful God, yet we live in a world corrupted by sin. I am convinced that as humans, we sometimes expect that God's mercy is lived out in the flesh when we ask for it here on earth. We expect it. Why wouldn't we? We are flesh and bone. I think that God's mercy exists in the fact that He died for us already and has bridged the gap we created between us and Him. That is where true mercy is displayed, on the cross and the fact that every day that we live in sin and we are forgiven. There is no account held against us who trust in Jesus.

Life is really hard sometimes. We are faced with sorrow and the question "why did this happen?" Amidst all of that I was reminded last week that we are all mortal beings. We forget this sometimes. This planet is truly only temporary. The young lady that lost her life in this story was a believer. I thank God for that. She is in a place with no suffering, and no pain.
Perhaps a way to settle this terrible tragedy in our minds is that she has now experienced the full extent God's grace. She has been reconciled to the Father through the death of his son and now lives and his heavenly kingdom.

I still don't fully understand, but for all of us I hope the following.
May you stop, slow down and breath this week. Don't miss your life going by.

Sean.