Real Faith Is Refined In The Fires

Waiting Means Going About Our Assigned Tasks, Confident That God Will Provide The Meaning And The Conclusions.

God Made My Life Complete When I Placed All The Pieces Before Him. When I Got My Act Together, He Gave Me A Fresh Start. Now I'm Alert To God's Ways; I Don't Take God For Granted. Every Day I Review The Ways He Works; I Try Not To Miss A Trick. I Feel Put Back Together, And I'm Watching My Step. God Rewrote The Text Of My Life When I Opened The Book Of My Heart To His Eyes.

Christians Don't Simply Learn Or Study Or Use Scripture; We Assimilate It, Take It Into Our Lives In Such A Way That It Gets Metabolized Into Acts Of Love, Cups Of Cold Water, Missions Into All The World, Healing And Evangelism And Justice In Jesus' Name, Hands Raised In Adoration Of The Father, Feet Washed In Company With The Son.

This Kingdom Of God Life Is Not A Matter Of Waking Up Each Morning With A List Of Chores Or An Agenda To Be Tended To, Left On Our Bedside Table By The Holy Spirit For Us While We Slept. We Wake Up Already Immersed In A Large Story Of Creation And Covenant, Of Israel And Jesus, The Story Of Jesus And The Stories That Jesus Told. We Let Ourselves Be Formed By These Formative Stories, And Especially As We Listen To The Stories That Jesus Tells, Get A Feel For The Way He Does It, The Way He Talks, The Way He Treats People, The Jesus Way.

Religion Is A Very Scary Thing, Because A Pastor Is In A Position Of Power. And If You Use That Power Badly, You Ruin People's Lives, And You Ruin Your Own Life.