Hey folks,
As this Christmas holiday appraoches, I look back and think about God or is it Jesus Christ. See (for me) G.O.D. isn't as relational as Jesus is and was. We hear so much about those who were quick to shove religion down peoples throats, but not much about those who were persistent in approaching us with the God of our Salvation. The thousands of missionaries all over the world who sacrifice the comforts of living in the United States, to spread the Good News a.k.a. the Gospel, not to mention those who die on a daily basis to spread this same message of hope. For (myself) I'm glad that those folks who came down to that Red Light district that I worked at for over 20 years, hardly ever missed a Saturday. They never had me burning in the flames every other week, but the God they introduced me too was not a God of my understanding, but was the God of the Bible. If He had been a God that I desired to understand, I would have made Him a creampuff that allowed me to get away with most anything as long as I tried not to be a bad boy again!
I'm glad they let me know that besides all the grace, love mercy and whipped cream, the God they knew required something back. A relationship with Himself. and a thing called accountibility and repentance, which was a gift that He would give me, if I was sincere in wanting to change. I'm so glad I didn't have a God of my understanding or making, for He would have been a God with no accountibility. Can't be accountible to a tree or a group conscienciousness.
I do remember the Pastor on the other corner who was out there with a megaphone every Saturday night who had us all heading to the Lake of Fire if we didn't get right with G.O.D. Most people looked at him as a fanatic. Just like there are fanatics in many things. Even in AA we have those who are fanatical in their approach to the Program. One gentleman told me that the Church of Philadelphia in the Book of Revelation is Recovery. Another meeting I used to attend, some of the older guys there acted as if it was their personal meeting.
I thank God for the group of people who came down to the Block for 14 years investing in all thosae who worked down there and were persistant enough that they never gave up on me. I'm glad I met a God who was love, patience, longsuffering, but also didn't allow me to use grace as a licience to keep doing what I was doing. I didn't mind being accountible, I mean we do in a way reap what we sow to an extent. Or, what goes around comes around.
Yes, just as there are religious fanatics, there are fanatics in all types of walks of life. In Grace Overcomers ( a 12 step recovery program with Jesus Christ) as our higher power, thanks the Lord for programs like AA and NA and those many rooms which introduced people to God and many have found the God of the Bible as their Higher Power.
Jer 31:18-19 "18 I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus; Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised , as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke: turn thou me, and I shall be turned ; for thou art the LORD my God. 19 Surely after that I was turned , I repented ; and after that I was instructed , I smote upon my thigh: I was ashamed , yea, even confounded , because I did bear the reproach of my youth."
"TURN THOU ME AND I WILL BE TURNED"
The above verses are kind of how it went for me. There had to be a willingness to be turned. [2) we came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity, so 3) we made a decision to turn our will and our life over to the care of God] "Surely after that I was turned, I repented, after that I was instructed."
&nb sp; &nb sp; Ol
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