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I am old now. I cannot reckon time any longer. Sophie is married. She is the mother of her first child. Jill has been my constant helpmate. I have been the pack burro for these virtues for the entirety of my days. Never once have I faltered, swayed, or allowed any boulder that fell upon me to deter or alter my path. I am walking the last few paces of my journey. I am standing at the corner of Main and Lafayette. MagNeedles are whisking by. The people are smiling. There are no more tears. Before me is the colossus that was once known as Harmony Heights Community Church. No religious services have been held in this one-time fort of the faith for over a decade. The place still percolates with people. The entire campus still resonates with goodness and effuses hope. This garden still has the lingering scent of faith connected to and associated with it. Try as he could, Herr Bosel could not entirely snuff out the aroma of Christ from this holy touchdown spot. I cross the street. As I do so I notice that I can no longer dodge the passing red darts with the ease of the young matador. I am slowed by age and bear upon and within my body the stigmata of my Christ. I can successfully cross the street. I find myself once again on the threshold that twice occupied my life. God gave me back this blessing. As a young man, I was forced from this place of service by the serpent’s guile. I fell from grace. But God, through His mercies, restored me to his service. I dispensed mercy in this place through two full seasons as senior pastor. -
The Answering God Each of us has met this person. This person exists as both male and female. This is the person that is borne under the shining star of fortune. This person seems to saunter through life without as much as a hint or a breath of difficulty. This person does not falter, blush, or suffer from a sense of embarrassment. This person has never once experienced the sensation of an inferior anything. This person is unclouded in their singularity of mind and the deliberate pursuit and fulfillment of their life ambitions. This person is never subjected to the ambushing predators of adolescent or adult pratfalls that upend or shackle the commoner. This person skims over the top of the most tempestuous seas without ever being buffeted by a solitary wave. This person is different from the commoner in that as the average person feels or senses jealousy and envy; they simply create companionship and esprit de corps. Where the average person struggles with something, whether it is a physical, mental, or spiritual impairment or impediment, they seem to always soar with the unfettered eagles nimbly. Where the average person has trouble and acute difficulties with bisecting the angles and overriding obstacles of life, they can skillfully and competently reconfigure every pressing issue or concern by encircling the entangled mess into the swallowing circle of hope that is by divine nature theirs. -
My Question: Does God Catch the Faith Leapers? It has taken me a lifetime to get to this place. I am fifty years old and ready to die for what I once believed. I am standing here at the very spot where it all began for me. I was twenty years old then. Who would have thought that thirty years could pass so swiftly? I stood at this very spot, on the ledge of Mt. Moriah, the holiest of all hillocks, and pledged my life and my service to the Lord Jesus Christ. I promised him that I would do all that I could to serve him and bring honor to his name. I looked out on that October night and saw stars that illuminated my pathway as clear as any that led the Magi to the Christ child two millennia before. Now, I stand here again, on this same ledge, and am about to make a different kind of pledge: take me back to the garden of your delight or take me to my destiny.
