Broken Roads to Grace

This is a meditation on the 9th chapter of II Samuel, which is the story of Mephibosheth. It is a beautiful type of the grace of God. In this chapter, as a type study, try to see yourself as Mephibosheth, and King David as God.
(Perhaps you could also apply Jonathan as Christ and Ziba as the Holy Spirit, but I didn’t develop that thought.)

1 David asked, “Is there anyone still left of the house of Saul to whom I can show kindness for Jonathan’s sake?”

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9:1 shows us a God who seems to be searching to show kindness, and who is looking for someone who was a member of a family that had been at enmity with him. This kindness was not only for the sake of his late friend Jonathan, but also because it was in his own heart to do so. I have heard some preachers talk as if Christ had to persuade his angry reluctant father to be kind and forgiving. That is not true. “God so loved that he gave His Son.”

9:2 tells us that there was a servant (Ziba) left over from Saul’s household. It was no accident that Ziba had been spared, and had survived unto this hour, or that he happened to be in the right place at the right time, or that he happened to know about Mephibosheth. God primarily uses the normal events in the lives of normal people to perform his wondrous acts of mercy and to accomplish his gracious purposes.

In 9:3, the servant Ziba reveals the existence of Mephibosheth, and the fact of his lameness. We are told back in II Sam 4:4 that he became lame at the age of five. From looking at that text, I don’t think that the nurse was carrying him and dropped him. He was, after all, five years old. And it does say that “he fell.” I think that in her haste to flee from danger she probably jerked him up by the arm and tried to get him to flee with her, and in trying to run so fast, he couldn’t help but fall.
Like Mephibosheth, we are crippled because of that initial fall in the garden of Eden. But, also like Mephibosheth, we have fallen many times since then. The reason Mephibosheth knew that he was lame was that any time after that first fall, when he tried to walk or to run, he fell again. And whenever we try to rely upon our own strength, we also shall continue to fall. One way to fall even harder and more often is to forget about our lameness.

9:4-5 reveals that Ziba knew the exact location of Mephibosheth, and was not reluctant to reveal the address to the king, trusting that the king would indeed show kindness just as he had said. One of the greatest and most basic statements of faith is that we believe that God is GOOD, and therefore can be trusted.
There is much evidence to the contrary. Injustice and suffering and sorrow abound everywhere. It would not be difficult to argue for the existence of an evil creator who delights for our world to be this way. But in faith, we believe that God is indeed good, and that the curses of sin and death will eventually be redeemed by the sovereign working of a benevolent God who has not lost control, but has divine purposes even beyond our comprehension.

In 9:6 I see Mephibosheth’s fear and respect when he first is brought before the king. Then there is the message of grace that David gives in verse 7, followed by Mephibosheth being shocked and overwhelmed at the reality of grace in verse 8. But he is not there yet in verse 6. When Mephibosheth falls prostrate on his face before the king, he is obviously fearful, resulting in King David’s comforting words for him to “fear not.” I think that perhaps I also see in verse 6 some vain attempt to do something meritorious– some act of service that even a lame man might be able to do, to make his position a little more acceptable to the king, so as to spare his own life. “At your service, oh King!” As if the king needed a crippled man to help in his kingdom!
But then the statement of David puts a quick end to that. It was never about what Mephibosheth could do for David, but what David wanted to do for him.

“Fear not… I will show you kindness… I will restore your family’s land to you… you will continually eat at my table.”
Then, and only then, does Mephibosheth really see his own unworthiness, and his own powerlessness!

“Why are you even looking at me? Why are you showing such undeserved favor to me? I am a dead dog!”

As John Newton certainly knew, the best adjective to describe the grace of God is… amazing! And in one of the greatest lines ever penned, it is “amazing grace– how sweet the sound– that saved a wretch like me.”
Mephibosheth was not wrong, nor was he exaggerating the situation, when he described himself as a dead dog. Nor was Newton when he described himself as a wretch. We must face our own wretchedness. It is true. It is accurate. It is not an overstatement. When we face that, then grace will continue to amaze us. Its truth will continue to be a sweet sound.

I have a friend who spent years saying that he didn’t believe in God or need God. Then, almost in defiance, he said, “God… if you are really there, you are going to have to SHOW ME YOURSELF!” He related to me later that “God didn’t show me himself… He showed me MYSELF… and I wanted to die right there!” That was all it took.

How could you, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, come seeking for me, and find me, and give me a welcome into your home, and a place at your table, when I am nothing but a wretch, and there is nothing that I can bring, nothing that I can pay, and nothing that I can do? I am totally flabbergasted! I am in shock! I am scandalized by it. I have trouble accepting it. It is too radical for my comprehension. But somehow I find myself hoping… trying…daring to believe it!

The remaining verses of the chapter tell about how the king called the family and servants of Ziba to perform all that he had promised Mephibosheth, and more. They tilled the land and brought in the produce. And there were 15 sons of Ziba and 20 servants whose primary task was to serve Mephibosheth. And David decreed that for all of his remaining life Mephibosheth should sit at his table “as one of the king’s sons!”

And can it be that I should gain an entrance in the Savior’s love?
Died He for me who caused him pain?
For me who him to death pursued?
Amazing love, how can it be that thou my God shouldst die for me?
Amazing love, how can it be?

A modern day Mephibosheth. A worthless wretch. A dead dog. Sitting at the King’s table.

An honored member of the family? Oh God, is this really real, or is it only a crazy dream that I will wake up from and once again find myself in the gutter of despair?

But if it really is real, and not a dream… if the story of grace is really true… this changes absolutely EVERYTHING!

Thanks to John Sledge of the Press-Register for this nice book review published in the Mobile newspaper. Mr. Sledge always does a great job. In my case I think he really “got it” concerning what I had written and why.

MOBILE, Alabama — A rich medley of local voices contributes to and enlivens the local literary scene. Two of the more recognizable and accomplished of these individuals have just released short books sharing the best of their experience and wisdom. Kevin B. Lee and Jim Lee (no relation) each has his following, Kevin Lee through his regular contributions to Lagniappe and the online blog Mod Mobilian and Jim Lee through his meditations in the Eastern Shore glossy magazine This That and the Other. Both men are evangelists — Kevin Lee for jazz, the arts, Mobile and, more broadly, tolerance; and Jim Lee in the more traditional sense, as a preacher wrestling life’s profundities and relaying the lessons. Both men write well, with honesty, and from the heart, sharing their humanity, shortcomings, strengths and passions. Though their sensibilities are different, each of them deserves attending.

In “Broken Roads to Grace” (Lost Key Publishing, paper, $14.95) Jim Lee presents a series of inward-looking meditations. A self-described “formerly fundamentalist preacher who spent most of his ‘ministry’ thinking that he had to get it right and to be right and to live right,” he has come to a softer view of himself and his flaws. In his friendly, simple, short pieces, he writes of “being found by grace” and offers “reflections and insights on life as I have come to understand it now.”

Recognizing that the best lessons are bound up in stories, Lee embeds his insights into pithy little set pieces that are by turns funny, heartbreaking and deep. He’s not worried about looking silly, as when he shares his outrage over a well-dressed woman landing a 40-pound grouper on her first cast in contrast to his own futile efforts to reel in anything over three pounds. “From the moment I saw that grouper I began to develop what some people call a ‘slow burn.’” Eventually consumed by jealousy, he asks God why, and then it dawns on him. He imagines God laughing at him and saying: “It’s my ocean, son, and they are my fish. I can do what I want with them, and you’ll just have to deal with it.” As in the story of the prodigal son, grace befalls the “undeserving, the unqualified, the unrighteous” all the time. But, then, who are we to judge? And fortunately for humanity, grace is a gift, not a reward for hard work. That miracle is Lee’s theme throughout.

Two voices, two sensibilities, two approaches, two books. One about the arts, one about the soul but, ultimately, each seeking a better life in this special place we call home.

In the writer’s group that I attend we were assigned to write on the subject of “waterfalls.” I felt pretty good about it so decided to share it with you.

WATERFALLS

What I know about waterfalls doesn’t exceed what anyone else might know. I know that they are usually beautiful, and the “white noise” sound that is made can be very relaxing. I know that the tallest one is somewhere in South America, but that for sheer volume of water you can’t beat Niagara Falls, on the border between upstate New York and Canada. I have been there twice, and you have to see it and hear it and smell it to believe it! If you are within ten miles of the place you can find it just because of the noise of the nine million gallons of water per minute crashing onto the shoals and rocks beneath. A mist rises up beyond the tops of the falls, and tourists in yellow raincoats gather to ride “The Maid of the Mist,” an open-deck boat that regularly braves the swift current below , going as close as safety allows heading toward the place where the waters hit.

When I was a little boy in church I heard an evangelist tell a story, which at the time I thought was true. I have heard it again several times since, and now I doubt its veracity, but as a little boy hearing it from a preacher in a church, my faith in preachers was stronger than it is now. (There are many good ones, but it is wise to watch out for all of us, myself included.) Incidentally, the story itself was meant to be an illustration about having faith.

The story went something like this: There was a famous acrobat who rigged a tightrope across the falls from the U.S. to Canada. A great crowd assembled and cheered loudly as this amazing performer walked across, carefully balancing himself on the wire. Then he pushed a wheelbarrow across. In the wheelbarrow were two one-hundred pound bags of sand. As he made it across with the wheelbarrow, the crowd cheered even more loudly. At the time I first heard it I had never been to Niagara or I would have known that the rumble of the waters are such that nobody could have been heard cheering. Even more so, nobody could have heard the man as he spoke, unless he had also rigged up a very loud P.A. system on the tightrope. But, to continue with the story as I approach the punch-line, this wonderful world-famous daring celebrity acrobat then asked the question: “How many of you believe that I can take a man across the falls in this wheelbarrow?” The crowd erupted with excitement, affirming their belief that he could indeed accomplish this awesome feat! Then, he asked, “Who will be my first volunteer?” The end of the story was that nobody would get in the wheelbarrow. The preacher’s point was that a lot of people might say that they believe, but they really don’t.

Today I ask myself, “Is that really a good story to illustrate faith?” I am not sure that it is. There is a lot of teaching from Jesus that says that having faith “as a grain of mustard seed” is acceptable. This is not my first trip around the block as a “believer,” but I still know that I wouldn’t want to get in that wheelbarrow unless I absolutely had to, even if the Lord Himself were pushing it.
Perhaps you could venture into Appalachia and find, among those who handle serpents in their churches, one who would take Him up on it… but it wouldn’t be me.

I have come to believe that there is a huge difference between having faith in God and foolishly putting God to the test. Satan tried to get Jesus to jump off of the temple to show to everybody who he was, and Jesus answered with a Scripture from Deuteronomy that said we should not tempt God.

I also don’t think that we should (as the preacher did) make it sound hard to really be a believer. I think that He has many very normal ways of saving us and reaching us and teaching us as He brings us to Himself. Some of them don’t to us seem to be mysterious or supernatural at all. What if God is so powerful and so loving and gracious that the means of grace are given to us without our having to work anything up? What if He loves and desires us so much that, instead of it being a huge spiritual challenge or an impossible obstacle course, He has done everything He can to make it so easy that a wayfaring man, though he be a fool, can find it…or can be found?

The fact is that pure grace destroys our pride of accomplishment, our noble righteousness, and even our need for religious performance. Watch out for radical grace. It can mess up your life and your ministry. But that’s not really a bad thing at all.

Revelation says that when He spoke after His resurrection it was “as the sound of many waters.” If you’ve been to Niagara, perhaps you can imagine with me what it might be like…that the voice of the Lord will overwhelm all of our absurd boasting and our silly wheelbarrow efforts.

This is “Good Friday” which is a very special day in the church calendar for many, and is pretty much ignored by others. A time of fasting and contemplation and prayer for some. For the past few years I have tried to observe it rigidly. This year I had to be of practical service to my wife, taking her to the hospital and waiting while she had “minor surgery.” It was just the removal of a benign cyst in her back, and everything went well, but I was instructed to stay with her throughout the day and the night, which I am glad to do. So… no Good Friday services for us this year.
I am finding it difficult to write lately. I apologize for that. But I am really excited about the response I have received through the book, particularly the invitations to speak and to share stories from BRTG. I am finding that I can put them in a book store and sell a few, or put them on a website and sell a few, or depend upon friends to endorse it on “facebook” and sell a few, BUT… make a personal appearance and share a story or two in public, and sell a hundred or more! So at this point I am happy for all the invites that have come in.
Before I go, I want to say a little more about what I mentioned last time. I had looked up notes that I had written six years ago when I put myself on a spiritual discipline for a month. It was shocking to me to realize that the thoughts and prayers that I wrote at that time reflected the same struggles that I still go through today! I want you to think about honestly facing this fact: we are, and for the rest of our lives shall continue to be, a mess. Please understand this fact, lighten up, and rejoice in grace!
Every Christian minister and writer has to make this choice: Am I going to be piously religious and preachy and self-righteous, or am I going to be honest and vulnerable and real. Watch out for those who will not admit their failings.
Let me recommend a book to you: “Messy Spirituality” by Mike Yaconelli. It is funny, honest, profound, and true.
I also am now reading “The Life You Always Wanted” by John Ortberg. It is great.
Although I still struggle with the same stuff of six years ago, there is a difference. I am a little bit more loving and patient and kind. Maybe not much, but a little bit anyhow. That might possibly be the most we can expect.
God bless you, until next time // Jim

Yesterday I reached into my bookshelves and located a great little book called “A Diary of Private Prayer” by John Baillie. Six years ago I started reading through the book and writing my responses and my own prayers for each morning and evening devotion. But as I looked at my written notes, the striking thing was that the same struggles that were evident in my prayers then are still my struggles now. I have not improved that much. I am still the same weak and fallen man.
But am I in despair over this? More importantly, is God in despair over this? Is He who controls the universe royally upset about it? I am persuaded that the answer is “no!”
I believe (and have written in a chapter in my next book) that if I am to be happy, I must be brutally honest with myself about myself. I must be willing to see the truth that I am NOT a “good person.” I am still to this date a wretch of a sinner with nothing good to offer that could change who or what I am. This is not “self-loathing” or beating myself up. It is just being honest.
Now please get this: if you miss this, you will spend your life in a failing effort of self-improvement. We are like Humpty-Dumpty, who has had a great fall, and NOBODY is able to put it back together perfectly. You might say, “Yes, but GOD can put our lives and ourselves back together!” My answer is, “Yes, but He doesn’t choose to. At least not yet.” The struggle remains. Life is not about re-assembling the broken pieces. It is about learning to live with the broken pieces, and enjoying the process until we are sovereignly made whole.

Beginning the Lenten season with Ash Wednesday, I was thinking about trying to write something for it. Then I got this in an email from Rev. Mark DiCristina, and it is so much better than anything I could have written on the subject, since I am new to the Lenten calendar, whereas he has done it and studied it for years. Yet his article is uncomplicated and easy to understand. For those who want to participate in Lent, even if you have never done it before, here (and now) is a good place to start.
I am aware that none of us does this perfectly or consistently, which is in itself another opportunity to lean on the grace of our Lord. But, for your edification, here is Mark’s great article:

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There are two Fast days in our liturgical calendar – Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.

Fasting? really? are you kidding? yuk! Seriously, fasting is one of the signs and actions of penitence and humility that help us humans, who need to eat and like to eat, express and grow in our dependence on God alone. As Jesus reiterated in his Temptation, “Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” The sin of our first parents had to do with food, and Jesus’ first Temptation did as well. Food is so central to who we are as humans; we are dependent on God’s gifts for the sustaining and flourishing of our lives. But we so often wrongly relate to God’s gifts, and have disordered loves. We often make good things ultimate things…

Fasting is not supposed to be something we grind out to gain merit or favor, but rather an emptying of oneself, humbling oneself before the Lord. It is good to take the time saved from eating to pray and read the Word, and to offer brief prayers to God when we’re struggling with wanting to eat. There is the “absolute fast” and the “partial fast,” which is also called abstaining. Technically, Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are days of the absolute fast, that is, not eating or drinking anything but water. Which fast you engage in, and for how long, is ultimately up to the individual, and between each one and God. I would encourage some form of absolute fast, whether one or two meals, for the daylight hours, for twenty-four hours, or until you break the fast with Holy Communion. During the fast it may be good to have a “breath prayer” to offer repeatedly to help your attention and attitude remain on the Lord: such as, “You are my daily bread;” or “I depend on you, Lord;” or “I live by your every word;” or “Fill me Holy Spirit;” or “Good shepherd, feed me…”

The remaining days of Lent are directed as days of “Special Devotion” observed by special acts of discipline and self-denial, from which the idea of giving up something for Lent comes. The forty days of Lent can be a form of partial fast or abstaining from some foods, traditionally the rich or luxury kind (you know what I mean…). These days of penitence are days of drawing near to Jesus, identifying with him in his humility and suffering, and being radically honest with God about our sin as we approach again the remembrance and celebration of his death, burial and victory. Along with getting free from some of the crutches we lean on instead of God, this discipline also makes way to the discipline of feasting and celebration, which is to characterize the Easter season!

I may post a few fasting reflections over Lent on my dicristina blog if you want check that out sometime over the next 40 days.

Mark DiCristina +

I am really enjoying having the opportunity to go to different meetings and to tell some of the stories that are included in “Broken roads to Grace.” Last Sunday I shared the story of the 1948 Plymouth to a church group of “snowbirds” that meets every Sunday to worship at a beach condo complex in Fort Morgan. Today I shared three stories for the “Golden Agers” at Southside Baptist Church in Bay Minette, AL. In both places the people were most gracious and enthusiastic, and many of them wanted to get a book for themselves and/or for their friends. I really do enjoy doing this wherever I can. I will be doing the same thing this coming Sunday morning at Daphne Baptist Church.

Today is “Mardi Gras” day, which is really big down here where we live. The mail doesn’t run, the schools let out, and there are parties and parades everywhere. I know that New Orleans seems to be the city most known for Mardi Gras, but it is huge in Mobile and all the surrounding area including where we live in Fairhope. I have never been involved in it myself, except for one time when I was running a radio station in Mobile and happened to walk where there was a parade going on, and somebody on one of the floats tossed me an entire box of twelve moon pies.

Most of the people who get involved in it are decent law-abiding citizens who don’t mean any harm at all; they are just getting together with the crowds to have a good time. I don’t think they are wrong to do so. i don’t think they are “worshiping the devil” or anything like that. Some Christians might do better to lighten up about it just a little. That’s just my opinion and it is possible that I might should change my mind. I just think that we need to pick our battles. There are plenty of other more harmful things. One of those “more harmful things” is to develop a critical disposition. I prefer to just keep my distance from folks who seem to be against any and all fun. You want to have a Santa Claus on Christmas? You want to go “trick-or-treating” on Halloween? You want to wear beads and throw moon pies on Mardi Gras? Have fun! God is bigger than all of these things, and is not threatened by them at all. That’s what I think.

I am aware that Halloween means “all hallows eve” which is the evening before All Saints Day. The idea came out of a superstition that all the evil spirits came forth to harass people just before the Saints bestowed their blessing upon the people.

Mardi Gras is a similar thing. It means “fat Tuesday”, which precedes Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the Lenten season. The idea is that “this is our last chance for us to live it up and have a party” before we start denying ourselves at the beginning of Lent. The word “carnival” is the same idea. It comes from “carne” which means flesh, and “vale” which means to go or to travel. So carnival means “farewell to the flesh” saying we have this opportunity for one big farewell party before we start “denying the flesh.” Of course, it IS wrong to get drunk and destructive and lose all control, and if you use Mardi Gras as an excuse to do that, perhaps you should repent before you start. But I am just saying that most people who attend the parades don’t mean it that way. In spite of my strict upbringing (which, regrettably, I passed along to my own kids in spades) I have come to see that neither God nor Jesus are against fun, celebrations and parties. I know that this might horrify some people, but Jesus attended a week-long wedding celebration and when they ran out of wine He made them some more. And YES it was real wine!

Personally, I am not a “party animal.” I find it uncomfortable, and I never drank enough in my whole life to ever learn how to handle it. But people who do a moderate amount of drinking and dancing and celebrating are not going to be criticized or condemned by me. I truly believe He still could or would (and does) attend these events today, and He enjoys it when people choose to have fun and be happy!

Tomorrow I will go to the Ash Wednesday services, though. I think it is a wonderful thing. And even though I am having a quiet and peaceful and sober Mardi Gras, I’m sure that I still have plenty to repent of.

More on the Lenten season next week.

I am happy to report that Steve Brown and his wonderful ministry at Key Life Network is going to offer  “Broken Roads to Grace” in its promotions and sales this summer! I just shipped them the books today and am so grateful for their ministry. In chapter 23 of my book I tell of how his radical message of grace changed my life.

Steve also has a brand new book just out, called “Three Free Sins.” I am ordering one for myself. I wrote and asked him if I got three free sins for each copy I bought and he said that yes I could have thirty free sins if I bought ten books, but that was the limit. [Just in case you didn't know... this is some kind of joke that Steve has carried on for years. His way of getting people who balk at the message of grace to "lighten up."]

I was so blessed by the genuineness of his latest “Steve’s letter” that I sent a copy of it to my minister, and I think that I will try to copy it and paste it here to share with you. For all of us who have felt inadequate, for all of us who have been intimidated or even discouraged by “motivational speakers” and great “success stories” I now bring you the latest edition of Steve Brown’s letter. (For more on his ministry please go to www.keylife.org. )

Until next time, thanks for tuning in!  //  Jim

For this week I want to just let you see an interview from www.cotavision.com .  Hope you enjoy it /  Blessings ,  Jim

What is your favorite place to create?

I like to think about stuff while driving in my car, and also at my desk at home. I know that is boring, but it is also convenient. When I’m in a nice place such as in the woods or at a beach, it doesn’t help.

What is your favorite snack to eat while creating?
Sardines, fried chicken and yogurt. Preferably not on the same plate.

How do you handle artist’s block (times when it is hard to create)?
I have to just wait it out, no matter how long it takes. If I try to force it when it’s not there, it turns out sounding like I tried to force it when it wasn’t there.

How do you stay motivated and disciplined as an artist in our distracting society?

I really am not disciplined, and the motivation stays at zero and then suddenly jumps to 100 when I least expect it. I depend on inspiration more than discipline. 

What is the best advice someone has given you?
“Resign as Master of the Universe. It’s not your talent or your calling, and nobody will pay you for it.”

What is your theme song?
It’s a toss-up between “Cattle Call” by Eddie Arnold and the hamster dance and “He Stopped Loving  Her Today.”

If you were an animal, what animal would you be?
What do you mean “IF?”  I AM an animal!

Who/what has inspired you lately and/or locally (i.e. other artists, exhibits, shows, designers, etc.)?
I really wish that my answer was not my answer, because it’s not a good answer. But the truth is that I don’t feel comfortable or confident around other authors, especially if they are successful. This is my first and only book so far, and I don’t even know the lingo that successful artists use. I don’t know the people they know. And I think my book is different – not necessarily better, just different, and I don’t want to get shot down. My fantasy/dream is that the book will catch on anyhow, and then some of them will come to me and ask how I did it, and I will tell them that honestly I don’t have a clue.

What is one book/song/painting/piece/ etc. that has been enriching to your faith?
The book that turned my whole life around and changed my ministry and my entire concept of God and of people is unquestionably “The Ragamuffin Gospel” by Brennan Manning. I followed that up with three more books by Brennan  (‘The Signature of Jesus,’  ’ Abba’s Child’, and ‘Lion and Lamb’ ) and by then there was no similarity between who I had been and the person I had become. If you have a choice between buying my book or “The Ragamuffin Gospel,” skip dinner and buy both! But if you don’t have the money to buy “The Ragamuffin Gospel”… steal the money and get that book, and you can read it while you’re in jail. Better a jail bird who gets the message of the ragamuffin than a successful person who keeps the law and doesn’t know grace!

What is your connection to the Divine when you create? Does it resonate with you spiritually when you come up with new work?
Yes, I really do feel that connection. There are many times when I feel that God is keeping his distance and has decided not to speak to me about anything. But there are times when I sense that I hear Him loud and unmistakably clear. But usually I don’t write about it. My prayer is that God will make me spiritually deep and wise like the great saints of old, but don’t make me go through all the crap that they went through. He thinks that is hilarious.

Describe your process behind the featured piece (your book).
I was asked to write a monthly article for a magazine, and then some other publications contacted me and printed some of my articles, and the response was encouraging and sometimes even enthusiastic. So I did more and then embellished them and edited them and put them into a book. What do I do now? Help!

I think that it’s probably time for this to turn more into a blog instead of the personal report that it has been, so here are my thoughts in case anybody wants to know what I’m thinking about.

Its time we begin to re-think our small religion and get us a bigger one! Our world view, and our concept of God and what is important truth will border on insanity if we don’t! I am in good company on this, namely GK Chesterton in his delightful book “Orthodoxy.” We MUST begin to see the Kingdom as a big expansive thing, beyond our ability to control or to become an authority on it. Do you  really think that God is so picky about the details of our doctrine, our orthodoxy, that He is accepting people or rejecting people on the basis of whether they are sprinkled or immersed or both or neither, or that we say the precise theological words in our prayers to him, or whether our minister uses the correct verbal formula? Do you really think that God is so uptight about whether we cut our hair, or use grape juice or wine, or speak with tongues or not, or get all of our details about the last days, or a thousand other things that people divide over? Yes He said that “strait” is the gate (not straight) and narrow is the way– but that doesn’t mean that we should be narrow. I repeat: To have a small view of God and the Kingdom is insanity. Please start to see yourself as a small part of something big, not a big part of something small. Embrace mystery! Stop trying to get it all under your control. Stop even trying to define or understand it all. It is something sane that we all must do.

Until next time //  Jim-