I recently read a book, Wild Coast by John Gimlette, about the "three Guyanas," now two small countries and one territory on the northern coast of South America, the only part of SA not of the Spanish or Portuguese Empires of the 1400s. It is one of the saddest things I have ever read with its deep, long and wide history of death, destruction, greed, selfishness and inhumanity over centuries that still bleed today. It may be one of the most amazing natural areas in the world, but for people it continues to bleed from old and new discord, betrayal, revenge.and the natural consequences of these things.
Through 360 pages I am parched and bereft from the horrors we can pour out on each other. In fact, without my faith I cannot face a world where such things are all too commonplace from the Sudan to Syria and in many other spots throughout the world.
We act as through getting more "stuff" is the way to find happiness, but it does not seem to be so as we watch "successful" people in all walks of life have lots of money, fame, skills from sports to business to entertainment to politics to TV evangelism yet who still get sucked into the vortex of sexual abuse, financial scandal, drugs and alcohol, divorce, acrimony, palimony, crime, bitterness and more. We demand that others be "happy" in just the way we think they should be and shake our heads that anyone could be happy not being like we think they should be ... even though we can't ourselves live up to the lofty expectation of "perfection" we have for others.
But just as God is bigger than the relatively minor sorrows in my life, so I believe God is bigger than the colossal messes we broken human beings can make of things. And help is just a breath away as God stands always ready to pour the Spirit over us to teach us, coach us, love us, guide us into becoming the person we were created to be, fulfilling our purpose and growing love, joy, peace and hope in our lives.
My small patch of the world seems so unimportant in the bigger picture, but I choose to plant as many seeds of hope and love and truth as I can, watering with kindness and generosity and persistence and trusting God to bring the harvest of His Kingdom where healing is available for all in even the most horrifying of circumstances.
1 Corinthians 3:6: I planted, Apollos watered, but God made it grow.
Through 360 pages I am parched and bereft from the horrors we can pour out on each other. In fact, without my faith I cannot face a world where such things are all too commonplace from the Sudan to Syria and in many other spots throughout the world.
We act as through getting more "stuff" is the way to find happiness, but it does not seem to be so as we watch "successful" people in all walks of life have lots of money, fame, skills from sports to business to entertainment to politics to TV evangelism yet who still get sucked into the vortex of sexual abuse, financial scandal, drugs and alcohol, divorce, acrimony, palimony, crime, bitterness and more. We demand that others be "happy" in just the way we think they should be and shake our heads that anyone could be happy not being like we think they should be ... even though we can't ourselves live up to the lofty expectation of "perfection" we have for others.
But just as God is bigger than the relatively minor sorrows in my life, so I believe God is bigger than the colossal messes we broken human beings can make of things. And help is just a breath away as God stands always ready to pour the Spirit over us to teach us, coach us, love us, guide us into becoming the person we were created to be, fulfilling our purpose and growing love, joy, peace and hope in our lives.
My small patch of the world seems so unimportant in the bigger picture, but I choose to plant as many seeds of hope and love and truth as I can, watering with kindness and generosity and persistence and trusting God to bring the harvest of His Kingdom where healing is available for all in even the most horrifying of circumstances.
1 Corinthians 3:6: I planted, Apollos watered, but God made it grow.
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