Nonsensical Ramblings of Mark

" He's the Fisher of Men, I'm gonna take the bait... " Irresistible Future, Phil Keaggy and Randy Stonehill When it was all said and done, when the Spirit Himself showed me how guilty I was and how awful my sin had been, it was as if someone offered me a cool cup of water to drink. My life was on fire when the sweet bait of the Fisherman Himself was dangled in front of me. I was snared and my life became a slavery to a God that loves me rather than the one that sought my destruction. All that I thought I would miss, everything that I knew I needed to renounce pales in comparison to what I have now. The removal of the penalty for my sin (separation from God forever in Hell) by the work that was performed on the cross that day has given me a life filled with hope and blessings that, literally, cannot be counted. Who would have known that embracing Him would lead to such sweet service? Who would have known that the sin that I constantly knew would have lead me to my deat

"...there is a clue, a clue to meaning in life, and that clue comes in relationships." - Ravi Zacharias "You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in You." - St. Augustine I was listening to a Let My People Think podcast from Ravi Zacharias the other day and the quote from him that precedes Augustine's in this post almost staggered me in its implications. So simple, yet volumes could be written on it. Can we ignore the fact that our relationships in our lives are where we rest much of who we are? Can I divorce my theological or philosophical musings from the fact that I am a husband, father, son, uncle, employee or from the myriad of other ways I relate to the people in my life? Can I simply and dipassoinately apply my intellect to the world around me and give no thought to fact that I am His and, wonder of wonders, He is mine? I love Augutine's quote as well (used by Zacharias to underscore his point). I

I don't struggle with the concept of mercy as much as I should. I am usually on the side of presuming that God or anyone else is going to be merciful to me. That makes me cheapen both grace and mercy quite a bit I think. I have moments where I feel the gravity of my sin and the fact that God is merciful to me (let alone graceful) overwhelms me. Yet, these realizations are fewer and farther between than I would like them to be. I often whine and cry over even the natural consequences of my decisions let alone any hand of discipline that God lay a hold of me with. I am oriented that way and need to submit that orientation to the loving care of the Spirit. This is so much different than my oldest son. He pulled a doozy the other day and my wife and I could not characterize it as willful disobedience. It was more carelessness than anything and a result of him just being a kid. But the situation could have resulted in something extremely serious if not for God's mercy and grace. My

I appreciate the sentiment of the poem (story, parable, lesson) Footprints in the Sand. I just have to say that if ever look back on my life and see more than one set of footprints in the sand, or if the footprints in the sand are of anyone's other than God's, I will consider myself nothing less than a stupid fool.

This post may have broad application or it may not hold water. That will be my only qualifying statement. I was in a conversation recently that sent my mind whirling about change and why I am often not as comfortable with it as I should be. I need to be comfortable with change because it happens to me every single day. Areas of stability are an illusion and the normal is a veneer...change is my lot this side of heaven and may continue to be in eternity. We have undergone massive changes as a church body especially in the past 5 years. We have not undergone changes for the sake of change, we have changed to do what God wants us to do: to make more and better disciples of Christ. Some of these changes have been easy for me to take. Some have sent me to shake up the ministries that I am involved in. None of them have been perfectly implemented, but all of them have the end goal in mind. So, why when there is "another change" there do I say (in my mind anyway), "Again...?&qu