Here are a few updates on my recent posts:
Thanks to anyone who was concerned about my grandfather's health. He has actually improved tremendously over the past two weeks. Because he couldn't eat for a period and was rapidly weakening, we decided to add a PEG feeding tube in order to feed directly into his stomach through his abdomen. Scary. But he's gaining strength, is spending more time awake and talking, can sit up on his own, and is even eating some food again. All credit goes to our caring, miracle-working Father who is sovereign over even the most infinitesimal details of cellular function: electrical currents across synapses, meiotic division of cells, stimulation of steroid production. Please keep on praying for him (his name is Louis Bork).
Please continue to pray for "Sadie." I got this e-mail from one of her friends this week:
"Please join me in praying for 'Sadie' tonight. I just got off the phone with her and our sweet sister is experiencing some of her first 'flaming darts.' Since coming to Christ in faith last Sunday, she went home for a 2 week vacation. (She lives 3 hours east.) During thistime she has been reading a lot of Christian/Islam history which has filled her with doubt about her recent decision to follow Christ. She explained this doubt as 'a storm cloud in her head' and does not know if she wants to follow Christ anymore. She asked for prayer that she 'would be free in her relationship with [God].' As I pray for her the Lord reminds me that the Holy Spirit indwells her and will lead her into all truth. He is her Good Shepherd and will not lead her astray. Christ himself prayed that she would be protected from the evil one. Christ is already victor against these schemes of the enemy. Something [Clarissa] and I have been praying for since day 1 is that she would be one sown on good soil, hearing the word and understanding, bearing fruit and yielding 100, 60, or 30 fold."
5 comments:
yes,sovereign over all the things man hasn't even discovered yet
I am glad to know how he is - I wondered
As to the xanga comment - I have to think about that one for a while to make sure I really understand what you're saying. Did you read the hyperlinked blogspot original?
Yes, I read the original post, and I think we're similar in mind. But I don't think that just because someone might not heed your counsel or think it was bad and give up because she "tried Jesus already" doesn't mean that biblical counsel is a stumbling block per se. It's not the scriptures or anything we say that's an obstacle, but their own sinful desires and their love for darkness (John 3:19-20).
Interestingly, I learned in a high school class never to give advice. Rather, we are to give "counsel," which is presenting options with potential consequences and let the person choose. That way if it works well, he's not dependent upon us for advice; and if it fails, he can't blame us. Sounds good to me.
I would LOVE it - not getting blamed that is - I just assume that advise should be wise, well thought out and based on some data. So, I wouldn't give any advise if I didn't think I could back it up with scripture - which, of course, closes the circle and makes it counsel.
Can you tell it's been a period of time where I've been in trouble with quite a lot of folks for my "advise"?
Another thought since I know you are flexible enough to think in terms of analogy and theology at the same time - in the same vein, I tell teens not try to "clean up" their friends as they begin to bring them to youth group or home. The example I use is once from when my kids were growing up. Their dad would send them out to the garden to pull weeds(and it was a really BIG garden). He would always remind them that they should pull the weeds up by the roots - even if that meant extra work to loosen the dirt around the weed and care not to disolodge or damage the good plants. Pulling them up without getting the roots might make the garden look better for a bit but only served to strengthen the weed and sometimes even spread it. Much better to let the "weediness" generally evident on non-believers stay and work on the soil so that the real root problem can be taken care of once and for all.
Come to think of it - I also used to remind them that throwing everything under the bed or in the closet and calling it a clean room didn't make it so - and only made matters worse when I caught them.
Enough fun - time to go back to grading neurobio tests. I hope you do go back into science - something biological please so I will have someone to talk about the coolness of creation and science with. I think we've lost Cassie to real life work.
I agree that youth groups and church aren't about "cleaning up" people, as if mere morality were ever an actual cure for people's hearts. I like your root analogy.
I thought you might, biology being near and dear to your heart. I'm not sure what my learning style is - or isn't, except that physics and differential equations weren't in it - but I certainly do like to teach in terms of analogies if I can!
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