RE: romans 11.29... the Call of God has no expiry date there’s no hurry- don’t worry, you can’t be late God doesn’t grow angry the longer you wait because the Call of God has no expiry date
the hours pass for you and I but neither days nor years disqualify it’s not God who grows older, the longer we wait because the Call of God has no expiry date…
so- let me know when you’re ready to talk
the big question of God's call should probably be how might my own journey towards the realization of God’s dream for my life progress through my acceptance of God’s dream as my own…
RE: matthew 19.16-28 sometimes the call of God sounds like a love song… other times it feels more like a negotiation: a large-scale buyout in which God brings everything to the table and sits adjacent to this small independent that is hell-bent on protecting its small-scale autonomy in what is, most likely, the sad state of simply not knowing its place in the larger scheme of things.
Jesus often used loaded words. just go to the red-letter bits in your bible and note how Christ's wordchoice was intentional. buttons were pushed on purpose; challenges were issued; the world changed forever.
still, we sometimes forget that the words we read are not the words Christ spoke. english, as a language, hadn't even been invented yet. everything that we read as the words of Christ has been translated and interpreted in the translation- yet through all of this 'due process' the Holy Spirit is at work, ensuring that somehow the intended meanings remain his.
so when we read Jesus' words spoken in john 14.15-31 about the sending of the Holy Spirit, we need to read these words with an open heart, seeking to understand the Divine through the lenses of our context and experience, as well as through the translated words provided for us by God's grace.
the word that is translated as counsellor in the NIV appears as comforter in the King James version. It’s not just that we would be receiving one who gave advice and direction, but would do so from a place of personal, relational interest, desiring our peace…
This comforting counsellor came upon the people gathered in the upper room to pray at the beginning of Acts 2, and spread like wildfire through the crowd, anointing each person who would receive him with God’s capacity to be instrumental in the redemption of the world… to bring a sense of ongoing jubilee and restoration to our fallen planet; to become love to, for and with others.
it is a wonder that, as we read in acts 2.47, the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved…not because somehow the disciples were fools and blowhards (although this was probably true to a varying degree for them all) but because the movement of the Holy Spirit to bring about new life and restored shalom to an environment rife with so much to the contrary is, if nothing else, wondrous.
and that we are entrusted with this legacy, with this anointing to bring salt, light and God's comforting counsel to a world gone mad a couple millenia later is both exaltive and humbling at the same time.
sudoku is usually played on a 9 by 9 board, divided into 3 by 3 cells. the solution of the puzzle is to place symbols on the board such that each row, column or cell contains each symbol exactly once, without moving the initial clues. it's what my parents do on Sunday afternoons to keep their minds sharp in their autumn years...
i'm sure that, when God made prescriptive remarks through the prophets about rest and the day of the Lord, he wasn't talking about this...
but are we able to look beyond the obvious? i mean, could it be that this addictive activity gives us a glimpse into the mind of God somehow?
we know that there are no wrong numbers- simply numbers that are in the wrong place at the wrong time. we know that each number in each row and each square relies on the others to be part of the solution to the puzzle. displace one and the whole thing collapses.
the thing about sudoku is that the puzzle is already complete: the numbers are already there- we just can’t see them.
when God looks at his kingdom, does he only see the numbers that are currently 'actively serving', clues to the order of the entire puzzle, or does he see them all?
