Lesson(s) Learned

I must confess. Yesterday, as I was driving home to Jacksonville from Lynchburg, I passed a church (Who am I kidding? I probably passed 140,000+ churches… traversing through the “Bible Belt” of the country and all…), and when I typically pass by churches on-the-side-of-the-road, what do you think I notice? Yes, I notice the amount (or lack of amount) of cars in the parking lot (…I’m such a Baptist. Eeee.).  That’s an obvious give-away. See it; count it. Don’t see it; don’t count it. Done and done. I also seemingly assume and assess the church’s community-friendliness based upon some non-essential (and probably very faulty) means. Like this one church. In South Carolina. Literally perched up right next to a palm reader’s palace. Had a “Revival: Thursday –Sunday” sign out front. I wondered if the palm reader had been invited to the revival. By a person, and not just a sign. See, those kinds of things are what I wonder about when I pass churches on my road trips. And , wh...

Though I couldn’t put my finger on what it was or why, I was having a sad day and just had a longing feeling that I needed God today more than ever. While I do praise Him for that ability to want Him and to long for Him on the sad days, these thoughts entered into my mind: Feasts and famines. Mountain tops and valleys. Ebbs and flows. Winters and Spring times. Ups and downs. Promised Lands and Desert Wastelands. Highs and lows. Scripture’s sprinkled with them. And, if we’re all honest about it, our lives are littered with them. Your life. My life. The guy-next-door ‘s life. Even the woman-living-down-the-street-in-the-cul-de-sac’s life is not immune to them. What I’m referring to are the sad times, the thrilling times, the confusing times, the tormenting times, the I’m-so-happy-I-have-sprinkles-on-my-ice-cream-cone times, and the run-of-the-mill, regular, in-between times of life. I guess part of It we could just label as (or write off as) “that’s life.” That’s the way ...