Bees in My Bonnet

 Oh God, You tell me 'Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted.' Right now, I must be very blessed. I mourn. I mourn for wickedness, violence, evil. I mourn for a country tossed into a conflict it never asked for. I mourn for families whose children must hold a weapon, for mothers who long to protect their children, for fathers whose shoulders are weighed down by the crushing weight of a mounting war. I mourn for it all.  And yet You don't tell me how I will be comforted, so I'd like to tell you how.  would you bring victory to the oppressed; boldness, daring, and power, to the invaded? Would you miraculously intervene and cause division in the ranks of the invaders? Would you bring to an end the violence of the wicked? Would you bring peace to those who long for, and fight for it? How about illness and death, I'm thinking, sudden heart-attacks, botulism, salmonella...you know, anything?!  You are God with all power and creativity. Surely You can thi...

In my first post I was basically talking to/about the person who withholds forgiveness.  Now I want to talk to the one who is denied being forgiven. If you have apologized and asked forgiveness - once - not many times, not in repeated trials to demonstrate enough penance - ONCE, then you have done your part. You ARE forgiven - by God.  And He, after all, is really the only One Who matters.  It is sad, and a terrible grief to bear - that others refuse to forgive.  This is a matter they have between them and God.  You are free - free from the burden to work to pay for your sins.  You are free to live before God with the knowledge of HIS grace, HIS mercy, HIS forgiveness.  You are free to worship because you embrace the Gospel. You are not beholden to some checklist of works-righteousness that wins you the salvation you have already received! You are not subject to the faulty view others have of you! You are not guilty because another deems you...

The other day Caleb was asking me if God is always gracious. I said, 'Yes, He is.' Then he asked if God is always just. I said, 'Yes, He is.' Then he said, 'Is God unchanging?' I said, 'Yes, He is.' Then he wanted to know how this can be possible - he views graciousness as being a little bit unjust. And then, if He is truly unchanging, well, how can He be doing both the grace thing and the just thing all at the same time!? Very confusing - not just for a 10 year old. We discussed it a little bit and I said, 'Caleb, I have the answer. Do you want to know what it is?' 'Sure!' he said. 'The Trinity.' At first he thought it was a joke - kind of like where my Dad asks, 'If a chicken and half laid an egg and a half in a day and a half, then how many pancakes would it take to shingle a doghouse?' (If you want the answer, ask my Dad). But it wasn't a joke - in that genre anyways. Here is my answer: Caleb, if God pun...