Long apology, short blog

So, I had embarked on one of those long absences.
And it's about time to end it.

I really enjoy blogging, but due to my ability to get consumed by it, I think it is prudent at different times to break from the habit when it starts interfering with life too much. It's kinda' like my sugar addiction, only more beneficial. But both must be kept in check.

So I'm back to the awesome writing practice. And back to boring all of you with the details of my life.
Crikeys, that was long.
..

So in short, life is good. God is good. I've gotten to spend quite a bit of time this month out at mom's cabin on the Finley River, or with Tim in the bass boat out on Fellows lake. It's been relaxing and meditative. Maybe more so than I deserve, considering how many friends I have who are running 'many irons in the fire', but I sense that I am rapidly barelling down onto a major crossroads in my life, and I'm going to need to hear from God to navigate it. So I'm slowing down, just a little. Hopefully I won't miss any of His signposts.
...
It’s the song of the redeemed
Rising from the African plain
It’s the song of the forgiven
Drowning out the Amazon rain
The song of Asian believers
Filled with God’s holy fire
It’s every tribe, every tongue, every nation

A love song born of a grateful choir

It’s all God’s children singing Glory, glory, hallelujah! He reigns, He reigns!

It’s all God’s children singing Glory, glory, hallelujah! He reigns, He reigns!

Let it rise about the four winds

Caught up in the heavenly sound
Let praises echo from the towers of cathedrals
To the faithful gathered underground
Of all the songs sung from the dawn of creation
Some were meant to persist
Of all the bells rung from a thousand steeples

None rings truer than this

And all the powers of darkness

Tremble at what they’ve just heard

‘Cause all the powers of darkness

Can’t drown out a single word

-Newsboys

It gets random

So, congrats to Kyle and Ashley Link on their wedding.
And congrats to Harry and Jenna Hager, the President's daughter.

Can you imagine having the president for a father-in-law? Bet that first date was a little hairy. "Get her home before 10, son, or I'll push this little red button..."

Kyle and Ashley do have bragging rights, though. Since their ceremony was held earlier in the day, they have officially been married longer.

...

Pastor Ron, on children's foolhardy quest for temporal happiness:

"..and you think that happiness lives on Cherry street..."

My current address:

1424 E. Cherry, Apt 3.

...

Sitting in this basement and writing for hours can get quite tedious. But for the next two days, school is going to require a lot of it. About every hour I force myself to go wander around outside to reset my mind. This afternoon I walked by the hippie shop that's just around the corner. In it hung a banner with this quote:

"I Feel Inner Peace By Achieving God's Will
And I take example in his creation"

Maybe not exactly what they had in mind?
(photo courtesy of edge.org)

They had been with Jesus

I got started talking religion with a customer. Totally Random. He mentioned a TV show, and was surprised I hadn't seen it. I then explained that I had spent a decade of TV-lessness and therefore I am TV-ignorant. Turns out he too had been a Mennonite. But after some higher education he decided that it was absurd to accept "truth" from anyone else and set out to find his own truth.

Today he attends the Universalist church.
//
In the past, I've been a terrific head-nodder. Sure, he's wrong, but I'm not getting paid to convert him. I'm paid to sell bike parts. So I would politely nod my head, until the subject changed, or if pushed, make a weak statement about being a Christian. But in the past few weeks, I am finding myself to be bolder and bolder. I don't know why. It's not like I am trying. It is just starting to happen. It is honestly has to be a God thing.
//
And so I paraphrase, but the conversation went something like this:

He made the statement that religion to him is broad. Loving. Encompassing.

And I said that no, Jesus said "I am the Way the Truth and the Life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me." The Hindu religion doesn't work. Mysticism doesn't work. (Thanks, Pastor) Only Jesus.

He said that's exactly the problem with Christianity. There's too many problems with it, and they always think they are right, to the exclusion of other thoughts.

And I said he's getting Religion and Jesus Christ confused. People have killed in Christ's name, but that isn't Christ. It is Christ that says he is the only right way, and yeah, I'm going to believe the Son of God.

Then he recounted how he had told his mother that "God gave him a brain, and it would be sinful waste to not use it to find truth."

At that I grabbed the desk with my fingertips. "This is a table. We perceive it to be a table. We believe it to be a table. Why? Because of the senses God has given us. But we can't hear the table. The table may be making noise, but God hasn't given us the senses required to hear it. And so our view of everything is limited by the sense God has granted us. And then He sent his Son to reveal things about the spiritual world that we cannot sense, and it is only fitting to believe and accept those things."
....
Did I win? Oh no. He thought I was quite helplessly dogmatically close-mindly stupid (although he was gracious enough to not be that direct).
But what was fascinating was how close God's presence felt throughout the entire conversation. Sometimes I feel like I try to witness too cleverly. With 'wisdom of words'. But this time the words just came, and God's presence was just there throughout the entire conversation.

So pray for the man. Pray hard.
The thought of seeing his mother's prayers being answered gives me goosebumps.
...
Acts 4:13Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.

././.

'Cause phonies have come
And wrongs been done
Even killing in Jesus' name...

So many laughing at Jesus
While the funniest thing that He's done
Is love this whole stubborn rebellious world
While their hate for Him just goes on

And love just like that
Will bring him back
For the few He can call His friends
The ones He's found true
Who've made it through
Enduring until the end
- Keith Green