I just walked a few blocks...fast... and did 45 whatever-you-call-thems on my Torso Track. Usually I walk at lunch time for 35 minutes but yesterday and today I had to stay put in the office and make up for time lost when I went to the dentist for a cleaning yesterday morning.
The dentist discovered a carie (cavity) behind one of the porcelain veneers on a front tooth; otherwise, all is well. Good thing, because fixing the cavity is going to cost $1K, only about $80 of which I have to pay, because I happen to have multiple sources of dental insurance until September.
They will take the veneer off and discard it (my poor, wonderful, expensive veneer!) and will give me a crown instead (white, so it doesn't look dumb). Why? Because a veneer is cosmetic and as such isn't covered by insurance; a crown is something that protects a tooth from further damage, so it is covered. So I'm going with a crown, doctor's orders.
He might hire On-Hold Concepts (my employer) to produce an on-hold program for him! I told him I will write it, if he does. He's aware of my books, as is his hygienist, so that made him smile...
On another topic. Just got an email...
My TREK agnostic is reading The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins. Is he trying hard to become an atheist, I wonder? Then I remember that C.S. Lewis became a believer of the highest order when he set out to prove God a delusion. So I have immense patience and faith. He's looking for something. That's what it takes!
What I find awful about Dawkins is that he's such a mean-spirited atheist and God-basher. He calls God things that -- well, all I can say is, he'd better be right -- or he may answer for what he calls God! (There's still time for God to put an Apostle Paul headlock on him, so I won't count him out yet!
Dawkins calls people like me intolerant. I worship in a church that serves 54 different nationalities and we get along and everything. It's the greatest Starship Enterprise on the planet except for maybe Warner Bros.! And we love and pray for those who aren't Christians. Most of what has passed for wanton Christianity is just that -- wanton Christianity!
I wonder how many Christians he really knows...
I know the "sound bites" re Christians... and some sound bites FROM Christians (Pat Robertson, George Bush) make me cringe... but these do not reflect the Christians I pal around with. You're going to find nutty people everywhere. And it seems the more power they get, the nuttier they become!
God met me where I live. That's all I know for sure. WHY he wants me is in the Bible: He wants me to "get" Him, to share and enjoy His creation as a gift and a reminder...
I can't give you my faith. You have to go get your own. I can share my faith, and sometimes it can feel contagious, but it really isn't. If you have someone else's religion, it's not yours. God has a personalized, individualized relationship that only YOU will share with him, because you are unique in all the universe (no matter how many TREK episodes you have seen where characters meet their counterparts in an alternate universe).
You can't have my relationship with God, any more than you can have my relationship with my sister or my employer or my cat, or I yours.
But you can have your own! Running in the other direction may get you there, but you will have to circumnavigate the globe to reach the destination. Repent means turn around and head toward God, the Source of All.
You've got questions. He's got answers.
5 comments:
Life is and of itself, a journey, in which we each choose to travel alone or not. In times of tragedy and pain, which I can personally attest to, I cannot imagine making life's journies alone. Even in the good times, it is comforting to know that I am not and never will really be alone. As of late, the poem "Footsteps", whose author's name escapes me, often comes to mind and without a doubt says it best.
Mark,
I feel sorry for people who believe they are alone as they travel through this veil of joy and tears. I think that's what saddens me most about skeptics and non-believers. Even in a crowd I would feel terribly alone if I thought it was just "them and me."
People seem to sense evil quite readily. Why is it so hard to sense its opposite? I will never understand this...
Kris,
Maybe they expect a profound epiphany. I'm sure that for some it happened in just such a way. For others, I'm equally sure they experienced a more subtle feeling of divine inner peace. Most certainly, "one size does not fit all." Knowing His Love is truly an individual and highly personal experience.
Maybe because to sense the opposite means opening your heart instead of closing it, which for many people is far too great a risk to take. You could get hurt, for instance. Like falling in love after being hurt badly - it's easier to believe badly of the situation and give up on it than it is to open up and trust it, which would leave you vulnerable and most importantly, take you somewhere you've never been before. Fear of the unknown again? People are used to pain and hurt. 'Better the devil you know' mentality?
When you think about it, it takes courage to feel.
A 'Christian' woman once said to me that the silver cross I was wearing around my neck meant I didn't really believe in God because it wasn't made of gold. I swear I heard God chuckle.
God chuckles a lot 'cause He knows us so well!!!!
Thanks for these comments, Mark and Ali!
Let's keep this one going a while!
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