Every Friday we’ll take a break from topical posts and will post some random personal thoughts.
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Random Ramblings from a Fellow Struggler #6
What a bunch of miserable, repulsive news items we’re getting! The Casey Anthony trial and verdict; Jaycee Dugard’s new memoirs of her 20 year captivity after being kidnapped and violated at age 11; the unspeakable killing of a precious 8 year old Jewish boy in New York. Sick times, sick crimes. Every adjective you use to describe them falls short.
It makes my own sins look downright respectable. If I shoot my big mouth off in rudeness, or have an occasional unclean thought, all I have to do is compare myself to the morning edition and I’m smellin’ like a rose. Is that why we sometimes become fascinated with overt evil when it’s displayed so publicly? Some misguided, totally un-Biblical craving to compare ourselves to the worst so we come off looking like the best?
Finally got around to reading The Shack during my trip last week to Costa Rica. You’ve probably read it, at least a couple years ago. Lots of good ideas in there, though I had mixed feelings about it. Very creative; could be confusing to a new believer; thought provoking. I can’t conceive of comparing it to Pilgrim’s Progress as one noted reviewer did, but I can see why the story has touched such a nerve. When God allows evil to flourish we want answers, and this book tried to provide them. But honestly, I’m more comfortable with the scenario painted in the Book of Job, in which God said, in essence, “I’m God, you’re not, and I don’t answer to you.” That can seem cold, but to my thinking it’s also pretty accurate.
Ten pounds lost so far. Not much in the scheme of things, but something. I’m lousy at being satisfied with incremental progress. I like sweeping, quick results, but my body won’t accommodate me. Boo hoo. God grant me the maturity to rejoice in small victories.
You too. Hope you have a wonderful, blessed weekend. Thanks for dropping by.
Comments
Randy Thomas | Jul 15, 2011
Hey Joe! Congrats on the weight loss but I hear you on all the rest. The crimes are incredible! I might actually read Dugard's book just to support her and pray for her to have a blessed life from here on out. I also hear you regarding The Shack. I liked it as a fictional read but was concerned with the way it sometimes seemed to veil a theological worldview behind the story. Not debating its merits or not, my thoughts initially were just like yours. I wondered if it would be confusing to new believers. And even non-believers.
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