An excerpt from C. S. Lewis's "the Problem of Pain."

"The problem of reconciling human suffering with the existence of a God who loves, is only insoluble so long as we attach a trivial meaning to the word "Love", and on things as if man were the centre of them. Man is not the centre. God does not exist for the sake of man. Man does not exist for his own sake.
"Thou has created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created."
We were made not primarily that we may love God(though we were made for that too) but that God may love us, that we may become objects in which the Divine love may rest "well pleased." To ask that God's love should be content with us as we are is to ask God that He cease to be God: because He is what He is, His love must, in the nature of things, be impeded and repelled by certain stains in our present character, and because he already loves us He must labour to make us lovable."

"When Christianity says that God loves man, it means that God LOVES man: not that He has some "disinterested", because really indifferent, concern for our welfare, but that, in awful and surprising truth, we are the objects of His love. You asked for a loving God: you have one. The great spirit you so lightly invoked, the "lord of terrible aspect" is present: not a senile benevolence that drowsily wishes you to be happy in your own way......"

You gotta see this....

This should make for lively conversation......
All is can say is." They ELECTED the anti-christ."
Nice.

it's a hard knock life and....

I'm done.....

trying to wrap my brain around a certain uncomfortable situation that has not only affected me but our entire family but also has dominated my thoughts for many months now.
Every time I start to think it through to a reasonable solution and I think that I have a plan to fix it; I just get angry which, inevitably leads to bitterness, which leads to more and more angst which just, honestly leaves me spent and confused.
As Lacey and I were heading off to lands unknown for our quarterly hay-run it just hit me, or should I say the Lord hit me over the head and I just broke down...while driving...."why does life have to be so hard???" I cried.
Why Lord?
He simply said to my heart: "Let me have it, for my burden is light. This particular lesson is NOT about you or your family but I am using you to see My will done."
I cannot express how only through His inexplicable timing does peace come.
It flowed over me and through me and I feel as if I am 10 pounds lighter(if only...)!!!!!
Then the Lord asked me: "Will you love them through this?"
"Yes, Lord"
"Even if you don't understand my will?"
"Yes, Lord. Show me how."
"As I have loved you...love them."
I pray, Father, for reconcilation.
Will you make it so?????

Oh that's classic......

Lacey and I have decided to read only classic literature this year.
We went to the bookstore and picked up some gems: Great Expectations by Dickens, the Divine Comedy by Dante, War and Peace by Tolstoy, Peter Pan, Secret Garden, Jungle Book, Pride and Prejudice, and the Problem of Pain by CS Lewis which I am currently reading.
The sub-title of the book is "How human suffering raises almost intolerable intellectual problems" and I thought it could be eye-opening to hear what a Christian apologist might say about this issue of human kind enduring pain and suffering.
After all, the world seems to have a plethora of that going on and of course they are still asking the same old lame question: "why does a supposed GOOD God allow suffering?".
So why does God allow suffering?
We really ought to have a answer ready because if we live out our faith as we should be then sooner or later it will be asked.
Right?
I mean, it is one thing to counsel other believers regarding this question because we live under the providence of a Sovereign God being constantly undermined by an enemy that seeks to destroy His children, in other words, our battle is with the seen and the unseen.
But,the world, too, needs answers to that question and perhaps one day we will have the privilege of sharing our answer with someone who is lost and without the knowledge of God and his salvation plan.
Anyhoo, I will endeavor to be better prepared to answer the question to the "Problem of Pain" and share any nuggets of Truth that come my way.
Have a blessed day.

;0)

Can I share a prayer that came my way?
It is really sums up what God has been speaking to my heart:

Your People

Oh, Lord we are your people.
We do not yet begin to fathom our desperate need of You;
for indeed until we are free, we are helpless to realize the depth of our bondage.
We come before You in confession this day.
We confess to You that we have not misunderstood Your command to love one another.
We confess to a willful disobedience and to an inner slothfulness that sees a true heart change as simply too much trouble.
We confess that we have reduced Your "new commandment" to a "new consideration".
A warm and fuzzy - though highly unattainable - fairy tale.
Our hearts are held fast in the vice grip of self-centeredness.
We confess to You this day, Lord: our love is small.
Our hearts are not dwarfed by the evil one; rather by our own fists.
We have stomped our feet before You as spoiled children crying, "mine!"
We confess the sin of our preference for a privy few.
And we confess that we have not cheated others of our love nearly as much as we have cheated ourselves of the priveledge to love them.
Finally, Lord, we confess our unbelief.
We do not believe You are greater than our hearts.
Holy Father, some of us today, with fear and an inner war of selfishness raging, are willing to hold out our fists to You.
Tucked pitifully within You will find our small hearts.
If we will but choose to take the fisted hand we hide behind our back and extend it to You, You will graciously peel away each finger until we are released.
Oh come, Glorious Liberty!
Free us to love as we have been loved, for only then will we truly live.
Surround me with those so different from me.
Let me not continue on in the gripping constraint of self-centeredness.
Take my crumpled heart and inflate it until it begs to burst with the warm blood of Your Son.
I choose this day to love.
Amen.

This was written by Beth Moore and don't you suppose that she must be addressing the Church; the body of Christ?
It begs the question: if we can't love one another inside and outside our "walls", doesn't that make us a bunch of frauds?