Mother Fletcher

Life has been crazy! School is back in session, and I have been going non-stop trying to keep up. They have initiated so many changes this year, it is like starting over.

Church is crazy too. I applied to teach Sunday School. I was told that if I am going to teach SS, I must attend worship. I politely refused, which drove the SS Chairman bonkers. So I had to explain how I have had questions about the minister's sermons and he refuses to speak to me. Yet he tells the SS Chairman how much he respects me and the manner in which I approached him.

So I am reading this week's story for my class. It is about a woman in Harlem who invites a friendly police officer to Christmas dinner. She says this, "'Cause the more you expect the more you get your heart broke up. But you got to be ready whey they do act right because that's what makes the surviving worth surviving. That make any sense to you, honey?'"

Well, it makes a lot of sense to me. We have stopped attending our church, but have left the door open if they want to talk to us. I really don't have a high expectation. The SS Chairman did stop by, but only to convince me to come back. He knows my background and has seen me teach, and has told me I have a lot to offer. I reiterated my position. I would love to return, but not if it means showing up and listening without being able to question. He told me that the minster knew he was coming to see me, but did not offer to join him. That spoke volumes to me.

It hurts. Even though we have only a little over a year invested there. I am sad for them. One of the elders, who I have known for a long time, came from a similar background. He was a member of the Presbyterian Church, training to become a minster. He was asked to leave because he wanted to do what he believed the Bible wanted him to do. Now he is on the other side of the table. How ironic.

Well, back to school work. I hope to be caught up and back to more frequent blogging within a few weeks.

If you have about 45 minutes...

That's always been my experience...

I had lunch about a week ago with a man from our church. During the course of lunch, we discussed some theology. I am Reformed and Calvinist. He leans toward a prosperity theology. He quoted a verse in Corinthians to support his thoughts (I wish I had written it down) and also stated, "That's always been my experience, when I am closer to God He blesses me more and more." The context of our conversation made it plain that this was in regard to material things.

But what about the Bible? Taken as a whole, we cannot find this theology to be supported. The Apostles died horrible deaths, and suffered along the way. I think of Stephen, John the Baptist, Jesus' mother just as a few other examples. I just finished reading Trevin Wax's Blog and see all that he had endured this month. Either this theology is wrong, or Trevin has been a very bad boy. I don't know him personally, but I am going to go with the former.

God is a God of comfort. To know comfort, we must know pain. There have been times in this life He has been all I have had to cling to. While I do not like pain, those times have brought a bond that gets stronger every time.

Has God blessed me materially? Yes. But that is not the only kind of comfort He intends for me to have. Because God loves me, he will allow me to walk through the valley of death too. The place where His rod of correction and his staff of leadership will give me what I need. At least, that's always been my experience.

Here is a video Trevin had posted at the end of his post. I have always loved Bebo Normen, and this is powerful.