Random Thoughts

"Random thoughts" might be a bit of a strange title, but I so seldom have non-random thoughts, that I have to grab onto what I can as it passes through. I've found myself making more notes lately. Sometimes it is a book title or a praise song I particularly like. Sometimes it is an item for a to-do list. It seems many times lately, that it is musings that I jot down during a sermon or just a religious conversation. I want to try to re-catch some of those random thoughts later and jotting them down seems to be working. I'm not sure whether I need more memory help, want more memory help, or just need to have something to do with my hands. At any rate, here are some of the things that have passed from ear-to-ear and back just lately. In a recent sermon, Terry Matthews (I'm going to start using just his first name. You ought to know who I'm talking about by now.) spoke about those people who come into close contact with a Christian lifestyle. He classified them as Spiritual Spectators, Seekers, Jesus Followers, and Kingdom Builders. I won't go into how he defined each one. Suffice it to say that he made very good sense, at least to me. He made the point that it often takes a "crisis situation" to move us from one level to the other. In the sermon, he addressed positive, upward movement along the spectrum. My random thought at that time was yes, but won't a crisis situation sometimes cause us to move backward as well? I have had first-hand experience in a crisis situation causing a great shaking in my faith foundation. In that case, I think that I went from at least trying to be a Kingdom Builder to being somewhere between a Seeker and a Jesus Follower. My foundation did not crumble completely, but there was an anguished cry of, "Why, Lord?" On the cross, Christ uttered such a cry himself, so I found that I was able to cling to the knowledge that, as a man, Christ also questioned his faith. Several years ago, my friends Cory and Michelle Boyte lost their daughter, Lillie, to disease. As a parent and grandparent, I cannot imagine a greater pain. There must have been so very many times during Lillie's sickness and after her death that the cry of "Why, Lord?" was raised by them. I do not know what it must have done to their faith at the time, but I am so certain of where on the spectrum they are now. Anyone who has seen "Lillie's Friends" charitable organization grow over the past few years and especially those who have been blessed in participating with Cory and Michelle to raise money to battle the disease in Lillie's name, know without a doubt that they are Kingdom Building! I praise their effort. I pray God's blessings on them, their family, and on Lillie's Friends. I claim their friendship and love them more than I have words to tell them. They are such an example for one who stands on a shaky foundation as I do much of the time. I'm not sure where I heard this, perhaps in the same sermon by Terry, but it is a story about Jimmy Carter. You all remember Jimmy Carter. He was probably one of the most moral men to have ever been President of the United States. It is a shame that that attribute didn't transfer to being one of the most capable presidents as well. At any rate, as the story goes, someone asked Jimmy Carter, "If you were arrested and put on trial for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?" This past president, a person who could have rested comfortably on his laurels, became very active in Habitat for Humanity. He is not only a major speaker and fund raiser for them, but he has labored until he had blisters on his own hands. Another Kingdom Builder without a doubt. I don't think I spend that much time talking to preachers, but it sure seems to me that I get some of my best thoughts from them and, I'm pretty sure, that in return, I give them plenty to use for future sermons. Seems like a fair trade to me. My friend, Christina Holder, isn't a preacher yet, but she does a pretty fine job when she has the pulpit. Several months ago, she told of a situation in Africa where a woman was placed into a pit and left there for a period as punishment for some crime. Christina's point was that sometimes, as Christians, it isn't enough to reach down into the pit and try to lift someone out. Sometimes, we are called to get down into the pit with them. After that sermon, I tended to think of myself as someone who would get down into the pit. Little did I know. A recurrence of depression hit me like a ton of bricks and, oops!, I found that I was the one in the pit. I was complaining to my friend, Paul Kennedy, a retired Baptist minister about God leaving me in the pit. He suggested that I should make it a point to catch a recent sermon by David Hughes, the pastor of First Baptist. David spoke of being in the pit and having God being there with you to hold on to you. He talked of the Psalms of King David and how David would swing from depression and the pits to love and praise of God. I really liked the sermon and dropped by to tell David that I did (I'm sure that he didn't need to hear the thanks as much as I needed to say them.) David suggested a couple of studies that he did personally that took him into the Psalms and all that they could teach him. I've ordered the books he suggested and will begin the study as soon as they come in. I guess that I've said all this to make the "random thought" point that we as Christians may find ourselves in the pit and needing help or we may find that we should get into the pit and provide the help. It seems to me that our task is to cling tightly to and love our God and our fellow man. I know, I know, it says that in the Bible much better than I ever can, I don't need to say it, only believe and act on it. Moving On. I walk down the street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I fall in. Iam lost... I am helpless... It isn't my fault. It takes forever to find a way out. I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I pretend I don't see it. I fall in again. I can't believe Iam in the same place once again, but it isn't my fault. It still takes a long time to get out. I walk down the same street. There is deep hole in the sidewalk. I see it is there. I still fall in... it's a habit. My eyes are open... I know where I am... It is my fault. I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I walk around it. I walk down another street. Portia Nelson