I Just Said The Weirdest Prayer

29 Thursday Dec 2011

Posted by Seeking Peace in anger, hatred, love, peace, Prayer

var gaJsHost = ((“https:” == document.location.protocol) ? “https://ssl.” : “http://www.”); document.write(unescape(“%3Cscript src='” + gaJsHost + “google-analytics.com/ga.js’ type=’text/javascript’%3E%3C/script%3E”)); try { var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker(“UA-12356560-1”); pageTracker._trackPageview(); } catch(err) {} I just prayed for a bunch of people I don’t know who post on ESPN’s website. How weird is that?

A good friend sent me an email the other day about a letter Shannon Stone’s mother had written to Josh Hamilton encouraging him to continue tossing foul balls to fans in the stands. (Story) I saw it again on ESPN today and re-read and then started reading some of the responses and just started getting mad. People writing rude things about how the mother’s name is spelled, about the son, about faith, etc. I realized I was having the response that evil would want me to have so I stopped and prayed for all the posters who wrote something rude, prayed that somehow their hearts would be touched by grace and mercy and love.

It’s weird praying for strangers who are mean but I already feel better having chosen prayer over anger. I might try it again one day.

Grace and peace to you.

More War Talk

13 Tuesday Sep 2011

Posted by Seeking Peace in Gandhi, love, peace, war

≈ 3 Comments

An eye for an eye only makes the whole world blind.
Mahatma Gandhi

Some people are going to start to think I’m nuts. Maybe I am. I may be nuts but I’m also saddened by all the war/death references I see people putting on Facebook and other places who publicly call themselves Christians but want to take up arms against others. The most recent two were women. Now, I have to wonder if they are planning on enlisting and taking the battle to the enemy or if they want someone else to do it. I did see one post about using unmanned planes but if you are going to go kill someone, isn’t face-to-face the way to do it? Just asking…

It is only the dead who have seen the end of war.
Plato

I’m afraid Plato might have it right. I don’t know if the fighting and killing will ever stop. Sadly, it’s usually not the youngsters who are old enough to be sent into the battle that are rattling the sabers but older folks who will stay at home and bemoan the death toll.

What if we laid down our weapons? What if the “bad guys” won the battle?

What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans, and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty and democracy?
Gandhi

War may sometimes be a necessary evil. But no matter how necessary, it is always an evil, never a good. We will not learn how to live together in peace by killing each other’s children.
Jimmy Carter

Wars will come and it I’m quite confident this country will take up the battle. So be it. What I hate to see is those who say they follow Christ advocating war so staunchly. War is evil and if the first thing from a person’s mouth when dealing with someone who has hurt us is war, then evil has won. This applies in our churches, our marriages, our schools, our work and our countries. The day may come when I am placed in a position to defend myself and my children and I will have to make a call on that day. Until then, I hope I will put love first.

So many ascribe to the “kill ’em all and let God sort ’em out” mentality. Jesus’ last words on the cross were to forgive for the enemy didn’t know what it was doing. Jesus took God’s side and allowed God to have the final say. I hope I will be that strong.

Grace and peace to you.

The Fine Line

17 Friday Jun 2011

Posted by Seeking Peace in God's desire, God's plan, grace, peace, under attack

≈ 3 Comments

It seems so often in life there is a fine line between so many things. I’ve often tried to find the line and see how close I could get to it before crossing and there have been many times I’ve blatantly stepped across it without much concern for where my path was headed. Maybe the things I think are co-existing on a fine line really have a chasm separating them and I just can’t see it…but it’s the way I see it at the moment.

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Yesterday, I was reminded that there is a fine line between using the word of God to build up and strengthen and using the word of God to be the judge of another person’s heart and actions. I was handed a Bible and asked to read a scripture by someone who doesn’t know me or my heart or my burning desire to know God better. I was handed the Bible and asked to read the scripture because this man thought it would convict me of something he thinks I’m very wrong about and that he wanted to call me out, in his own way, to come around to his way of thinking. Now, I’m completely open that he may be right and I may be wrong in the sense that it is something I will pray about and ask for God’s direction, but today I don’t feel I am crossing any lines with God. I’m also open to the fact that he is convicted by what he believes and in that sense I appreciate he would share his concern for me. On the other hand, I do not appreciate how it was done or the fact that he doesn’t appear to want to know anything about me and my thoughts on the matter.

The most telling part of the morning to me was this – as soon as I knew he was there, I knew he would confront me and I immediately prayed that God would simply hold my tongue and I would remain silent. I didn’t want to get in a verbal battle and I didn’t want to go into collision mode (meaning I would collide with him like a jet propelled madman as I’m apt to do at times), I just wanted to be silent and let God work in that moment, whether on him or on me. I had the strength of restraint that came from something greater than me and in that moment I was confident I was turning my heart and mind over to God.

I know the day will come when this man will approach me again to share his views and I believe I will be fully prepared to answer him with what I am convicted God is revealing to me and in that space, I’ll pray that God speaks to us both to know him better, to hear his desire for our lives and to live in either agreement or disagreement with the knowledge that each of us will seek God to furthest reaches of our being.

Grace and peace to you.

Bug Guts

23 Thursday Sep 2010

Posted by Seeking Peace in cleaning up, peace, storms, vision

≈ 3 Comments

I’m driving home from Abilene and the windshield is a mess of bug guts and other stuff from the road that makes looking out the windshield a mess, not impossible to see but certainly not clear. Add driving at a rate of speed that might just be a smidge over the speed limit and it’s a recipe for a mess. I can’t see clearly but I’m still going 80-to-nothing (no, I wasn’t going 90). I seem to go through life that way too often. Anyway, I’m rolling down the highway and all of the sudden I am driving through a downpour. Buckets of rain are falling and I have to turn the windshield wipers on high to try and keep up. I’m listening to the rhythm of the wipers and doing my best to see the lines on the road and then, poof, the storm is left behind. It is then that I notice I am driving with a much cleaner and clearer windshield.

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It’s a true story but also a story of God. I am speeding through life, going too fast, vision impaired and then I hit a storm. As bad as the storm is, God uses it to slow me down and clean up with the windshield so I can see His desire for me more clearly. The storm helped me, even though it caused some problems at the time, because it made me slow down, think and it helped clean my windshield so I could see my way more clearly.

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Grace and peace to you.
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