My Intentional Camino: More Thoughts are Bubbling Up

When I posted my blog on Facebook, the one about the message from God that came to me in the middle of the cold and starry night here on the banks of the Atlantic Sea….

My friend Rich replied something to the effect of, “Love your blog.  Getting any pearls of wisdom out there in your self-imposed exile by the sea?”

Rich, this IS the wisdom that I’m getting!  It’s in the extraordinary thoughts about ordinary things like bean soup and its effects.

Now, I don’t take Rich too seriously, as he is right now actually sitting in a swinging chair attached to a tree in Costa Rica.  My proof lies here:

But his question brings to mind an important point.  Understanding what God has to say is not something that is too lofty for us!  He comes to us in the ordinary stuff of our ordinary days.  

I think it is a trick of the Devil that we sometimes think it is all too complicated for us to think about now.

We think that the Bible is boring too.  It is too heavy to pick up, too complicated to read, too this and too that and so we never begin.

But just opening to these two passages, you can see how much fun reading what God has to say might be:

“O stupid Galatians!"    and     “Are you so stupid?”   (reference: Galatians 3:1-14)

...and then try replacing “Galatians” with thee :)

If you keep reading the passage all the way through, you’ll discover that God doesn’t end with his exasperation with us, but instead concludes with an impossibly fantastic and unbelievable, and also unfathomable blessing:

“Christ ransomed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written, ‘Cursed be everyone who hangs on a tree,' that the blessing of Abraham might be extended to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.”

Another passage that shocked me when I first heard it is this:

"[Jesus] asked them, 'What are you arguing about with them?’

"Someone from the crowd answered him, ‘Teacher, I have brought to you my son possessed by a mute spirit.  Wherever it seizes him, it throws him down; he foams at the mouth, grinds his teeth, and becomes rigid.  I asked your disciples to drive it out, but they were unable to do so.’

“He said to them in reply, ‘O faithless generation, how long will I be with you?  How long will I endure you?  Bring him to me.’”   (reference Mark 9:15-32.)

And that, my friends, is the beauty of the spiritual life.  God is saying, "Don't take yourselves so seriously!  Swallow your pride and bring your problems to me!  All it takes is a little faith!  And before you know it, you'll be doing greater things than these."

All I can say is, thank goodness that God not only has a sense of humor, but a lot of patients too! 

Um, "patients" would be us!   I meant to type "patience,"  but God is winking yet again.