Category Archives: Uncategorized

An Interview with God

Posted on by

~

~

I thought I might have more difficulty than I did getting an interview with God.

In the middle of the restaurant, sitting across the table from God, on a gloomy beginning of the year morning, I plunged right in with my questions:

ME: Just so I get this right, how do you spell your name?

GOD: Upper case G,-small case o,-small case d. God.

ME: And how old are you?

GOD: I’m ageless. I have no beginning and no end.

ME: OK, and where do you live?

GOD: Anywhere and everywhere I choose to.

ME: Right. So, how did you get started on this Rescue the People Project?

GOD: Actually, it was before the beginning of people. But I would say it happened when someone messed up my relationship with people.

ME: Do you recall where that was specifically?

GOD: Yes. Many call it the Garden of Eden?

ME: What happened in the Garden of Eden?

GOD: People believed a lie and it caused trouble.

ME: What kind of trouble?

GOD: The kind of trouble that couldn’t be fixed by saying ‘I’m sorry’ or by not doing anything else disastrous.

ME: I see. Uh, if it’s alright let me skip ahead a bit and ask directly how did the relationship with you and people get fixed?

GOD: Jesus.

ME: Jesus?

GOD: Yes, I made a promise in the Garden of Eden. I made a promise to two people to make everything right again. I would come for them and give them a choice to fix the broken relationship between us.

ME: You’re suggesting Jesus did this? When? How?

GOD: It’s the good news story, many call it the Christmas and Easter story.

ME: The Christmas and Easter story?

GOD: Yes. I came to reignite the relationship with people by being born as a baby in Bethlehem.

ME: You mean baby Jesus?

GOD: Of course. But of course, Jesus isn’t a baby anymore.

Jesus grew up. Jesus showed everyone who would pay attention who I Am. Jesus was misunderstood. Jesus was ridiculed. Jesus was persecuted. Jesus died on a Roman cross.

But the foundation of restoring my relationship with all people is that Jesus didn’t stay dead. Jesus came back to life. Jesus, now, is alive and active.

ME: And this means?

GOD: Well, John 3:16,17, right?

3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

3:17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

ME: Thus your meaning, Christmas and Easter.

Listen, thanks for your time. If there are other questions I think of how can you be reached?

GOD: Through prayer.

ME: Hmm, yes. Anything else?

GOD: How about Merry Christmas and Happy New Year?

~

***

Walking Through the Door of Opportunity

Posted on by

~

~

KNOCK-KNOCK

~

Your mission today if you decide to accept it is to open and walk through a door of opportunity.

~

Will you?

~

It may cost you some inconvenience.

~

Even so …

~

Will you do it?

~

WHO’S THERE?

~

Sometimes I’ve ignored the knock-knock on the door.

~

(Haven’t you?)

~

Because I don’t want to get involved.

~

Sometimes I’ve mistakenly thought I should only be concerned with “big opportunity”

~

However, maybe I oughta be thinking “small opportunity.”

~

YOUR OPPORTUNITY

~

Truth is, I often stand on the threshold of what I see as small opportunities.

~

This morning, for example, I called my brother-in-law who recently had surgery.

~

My call didn’t take much effort

~

Mostly I listened to him talk about his recovery.

~

He told me my listening encouraged him.

~

What door of opportunity will you walk through today? 

~

***

~

Seeing Everything with Fresh Eyes

Posted on by

(Conversation w/ Ernie)

We’re a few weeks into the New Year and the three of us are back to work after the holidays and carpooling again.

We drew straws. I drew the short straw so, I’m driving first, then Ivy, and third is Ernie.

Leaving from my garage on Monday morning I decided to pick up Ivy first even though Ernie lives closer to me than Ivy.

“Good morning Ivy. Happy New Year.” Ivy slid into the back seat on the right side. I guess she did it out of habit because Ernie likes to sit in the passenger seat when he’s not the driver.

“Yes thanks,” she said. “Happy New Year to you, too.”

The traffic was still fairly light and it took me less than five minutes before I pulled up in front of Ernie’s place.

Ernie was waiting in a chair on his porch. He stood up when he spotted me, walked to my car, and climbed into the passenger seat.

We all exchanged greetings and I drove toward our work places downtown. Things were quiet and uneventful for maybe two minutes when Ernie said, “I’ve been thinking about seeing things with fresh eyes.”

I said, “What do you mean? Are you thinking about buying new glasses?”

“Yeah, something like that,” Ernie said. “Do this, visualize the Creator looking over everything created.”

“OK, where are you going with this?” I asked.

Ernie ignored me and said, “Now imagine 2000 some years ago God sent Jesus to the world.”

“The Christmas story!” Ivy piped in.

“Right,” Ernie answered. “2000 years ago seems like along time, doesn’t it?”

A little annoyed I said, “It is a long time Ernie!”

“Yes, but not to God.”

Ivy asked, “Why’s that? Can you give an example of what you mean?”

“Because God invented time,” Ernie explained. “2000 years isn’t a long time for God. 5000 years isn’t a long time for God. 10,000 years isn’t a long time for God. Why? Because God exists inside and outside of time. No matter how big the number, it doesn’t matter God isn’t affected by a number in time.”

Annoyed I said, “Ernie everyone knows that.”

Ernie kept on talking. “What’s more, God is able to do a lot with a little amount of time or a big amount of time. For instance God said in Genesis ‘Let there be … ‘ and it happened instantly.”

“Yeah that’s what it says. Can you give another example of what you mean?” asked Ivy.

“Absolutely. The Apostle Paul understood this concept of time. In 1 Corinthians 15:52 he wrote, ‘It will happen suddenly, quicker than the blink of an eye. At the sound of the last trumpet, the dead will be raised. We will all be changed so that we will never die again.’

We were almost downtown. I asked, “Why is this important?”

Ernie shifted his body to the left so he could look at both Ivy and me and said, “We need to see time with fresh eyes.”

Ivy answered, “OK, so …”

“To me this means seeing things differently.”

“What things?” I asked as I pulled into the parking garage.

“Everything. Marriage. Church. Friends. Enemies. Life. Death. This happens as I view things with fresh eyes. Everything changes when we see things with fresh eyes.”

“Yes,” Ivy said. “I I think you might be right.”

Ernie finished his thought with “The challenge is to view our circumstances and world with fresh eyes.”

I backed into a parking space. We opened the car doors, slid out of our seats, and, in silence, walked toward our work places.

As I walked, I was thinking, God is everywhere present. There is no where I can get to that God isn’t there. What time it is doesn’t matter. God is alive in every moment.

~

Bonus Song:

Give Me Your Eyes Brandon Heath 

~

%d bloggers like this: