….but who we are is not that story
During the peak of my own experience with transitioning out of WCG, when there was more going on in the story of my own life than I evidently could handle, I found counselor with some foresight to give me some insight on what was going on and how to maneuver through it all. After I had filled out the appropriate forms and answered some questions prior to our first session, he finally walked in the room and his very first words to me were "Wow! You got fired by God!" Perhaps at another time I would have thought this funny and I told him that but at the moment I said I hoped he would not utter any scriptures to help me along my way. He apologized and told me he used to be a minister too to which I said, "I hoped he would not utter any scriptures to help me along my way and we had a good laugh.
I talked at length , imagine that, as he listened. I shared personal fears, guilts and regrets. In hindsight, I was in a bout of clinical depression with a heavy dose of anxiety gifted me by the whole transition in my life and woven deeply into the story of it.
One particular subject I brought up was how it made me feel to be divorcing, not only as a former minister who would have "frowned" on such things and had a bunch of scriptures in my holster to back me up on the topic, but that, in the personal story of my life, I was the only divorce of the siblings and the minister son at that. I mentioned that I grew up with parents who were married for, at that time, 55 plus years (They went on to 75 plus and died at just under 100 about a year apart as we suspected they would), but I could not match that success etc.
Then he said something that produced in the classic "ah ha" moment and has served me ever since . He said, "Dennis, that was their story. They did not live your story. It is just a story and you and I are not our stories." I felt a great burden simply lift from my shoulders. This is the same man, who in the same session told me, "Dennis, you leave your boxes quickly. We all come in the box our parents gave us and most don't even take a good look at that one just living their lives sitting down in the corner of it. You have left another box and you only have two choices. Stay in the box you were in and everyone will love you. However, you will be on antidepressants the rest of your life because you will never again be able to speak up and be yourself. OR, you can leave the box, which you have....but you go alone." Truer words were never spoken. And so it was.
Here on Banned we do what? We share stories, hurts, personal pain that came as a result of our various Church, minister, member and Organizational associations. We poke at each other at times and support at others. Sometimes we project our pain on others and question motives or reach for an experience that tops the one someone else had. All well and good an part of any healing processes we need to experience and go through.
We all have a story to tell. Our stories are all different with different causes and effects. Some lighter than others and some way too heavy for which we can all feel sorry for those who had to go through "that" as part of their own personal story.
I simply wish remind us, not because we don't already know it, but because so often we forget it in the heat of processing it all. We all have a story but we as a person are not our story. Our story is not our identity or who we actually are. It's just a story.
It's just a ride
Bill Hicks/George Carlin
Personally, I came to recognize and realize that if it had not been the WCG story it would have been another one. If I had chosen the Roberts Wesleyan Seminary I had been accepted to over Ambassador College/WCG, I would have had a different story, different children, relatives and partner. I suspect some of the story would have been similar to the one I actually wrote, but yet much different with different experiences.
Had gone down i with a member who badly judged the weather over Chicago in his Beechcraft Bonanza , as it seemed was inevitable, the story would have been much different. Head a couple of head on crashes not been diverted, the story would have been different. You know, zig vs. zag. Had the pneumonia been just bit worse or my wife's first bout with cancer at 33 been too much, (my first personal experience with prayer and anointing seems to fall on deaf ears and not prove effective after all, the story would have been different.
Had I not been asked to work just one night on a campus job someone of import to me asked me to stay and consider for the summer instead of leaving for Boise, Idaho the next morning, the story would have been different. I wimped out and deferred to the faculty member instead of my airline ticket because me and LA did not get along in summer. But still, it just would have been my story and not who I actually was as a person. When driving together in LA this past summer with Gary of BannedHWA, I did ask him to drive well as if we both went in the same accident I could only imagine the comments about that! LOL.
For years it seemed, when asked about who I was or what I did, I tended to preface it with "I used to be a minister." That stage is long gone. That was not and is not who I am as a person. It is not the definition of me and I slowly found that I naturally dropped that preface as I continued to write other chapters of the story.
Someone once told me:
"You know Dennis, we write our life stories before we incarnate here on earth"
(Just as in religion, you meet a lot of people lost in Woo Woo in Therapeutic Massage)
I said, "Well, that may or may not be so, but if it is so, I am going to suggest that there be no drinking during the story writing time because I had to be drunk to write this one!".
"You know Dennis, we write our life stories before we incarnate here on earth"
(Just as in religion, you meet a lot of people lost in Woo Woo in Therapeutic Massage)
I said, "Well, that may or may not be so, but if it is so, I am going to suggest that there be no drinking during the story writing time because I had to be drunk to write this one!".
20 comments:
DD, If I may pursue a sidebar based to your post: There is no such thing as free will. We all have stories and those stories are an accumulation of influences, a convergence of compelling forces producing and acting on our life events. None of us live the ideal life that we might imagine for ourselves. In that sense, we are not our stories as you observe. On the other hand, there is always a story. We can swap one story for another but we will always be shaped and formed by forces psychological and physical that are beyond our control.
This is a conundrum for traditional Christianity. The decision to become a Christian is theoretically a free will decision (unless you are a Calvinist). But reality tell us that it is not. So how can Christians validly explain the salvation of only a few?
The Bill Hicks/George Carlin video reminded me of something.
When you quit trying to find god and living by what you THINK is his word, it follows some time later that you find the real God. Not the bible god, but the real God.
Very true NEO. There are the decisions made or not made that form our stories that we have or at least feel we have a choice in and then there is the deeper psychologically fixed, it seems way of filtering our world that seems to call the shots. Often it is true that "I can't seem to help it." Other times, "oh yes I can"
You remind me of how when I was a kid attending Dutch Reformed Catechism classes, which is Calvinism and the topic of it being determined ahead of time by God who wins and who loses, I asked the minister if he was saying that Hitler could make it into heaven and he, as a sincere lifelong minister would not because it was never God's predestined will for him to do so? He changed the topic lol. I got told several times along the way in those classes to shut up or just leave! lol. I had to kill time on the walk home so as not to be asked, "aren't you home a little early?"
Dennis, your description of the kind of student you were in Catechism class reminds me of the central character in "The Conversion of the Jews," a short story by Philip Roth. The kid in Hebrew class keeps trying to understand the verses he is learning, not just recite them phonetically the way his rabbi wants him to. The gist of tRoth's lesson is "Don't ever hit anybody about God." But I won't give any spoilers about how the story gets to that point.
Loved that last paragraph. I can count on the fingers of one hand the times I've really been drunk, so the experience of that binge must have weaned me off doing it. Never did like the feeling that comes with too much alcohol.
Thanks, Dennis.
Yes, having been raised in the church, I came to realize the box my parents put me in was too small.
I diligently followed the biblical recipe: building righteous, godly character by leading a life of obedience to biblical laws, habitual prayer and bible study, and baptism by full immersion and the laying on of hands in order to receive the holy spirit, through which a christian grows and overcomes to become an exemplary figure who pleases the deity.
And then, I'm supposed to report that after that I communed with god, right? Except that's not what happened. Why?
OTOH, whether you love your neighbor or not, and whether you treat him well or poorly, is irrelevant as long as you've shown the proper reverence for god directly. Do you tolerate evil, or are you a Phinehas who is zealous for the honor of god (Numbers 25)? How perfectly have you kept the sabbaths? To what extravagant lengths have you gone in deleavening to show him how much you love him? I was taught that's the most important thing.
OTOH, If you treat other people with compassion, respect, and forgiveness, then he will by the same measure treat you with compassion, respect, and forgiveness as well. Do you put ritual above your neighbor like the pharisees (Mark 2:23-28)? Or are you a Good Samaritan (Luke 10: 25-37)? Inasmuch as you have loved the least among you, that's as much as you have loved him (Matt 25:31-46). So how well you have you loved you neighbor? I was taught that's the most important thing.
After flip-flopping that way since my youth, and twenty years after baptism, I stood back and sincerely took stock of my progress, and of my personal experience. My conclusion was that, in christian terms, my life amounted to uncertainty, confusion, and stagnation. So what is a christian to do when he follows the recipe, but it doesn't work? I was promised the answers would come, but they didn't. Why?
If no man can come unless he is drawn (John 6:44), then why do people—why did my parents—think they had the right to decide whether they were christians or not? What if they weren't drawn? So then I wouldn't be sanctified either (1 Cor 7:14). I thought I was a christian, but maybe god decided I wasn't eligible. In which case I was just wasting my time and energy trying to be something I could never be? That's one explanation.
I knew I would be told I should have waited longer, but the clock was ticking and I couldn't afford to keep waiting for a god who either wasn't interested in me from the get-go, or what if I was born into the wrong religion, and some other religion was the real religion? What if he was out there waiting for me to wake up and get a clue? What I was doing wasn't working, and hadn't worked for 20 years already. I couldn't afford to keep throwing good time after bad.
I still don't know the answers to life's big questions, but one thing was for sure, if I wanted to continue to grow as a human being, continue to become a bigger and better person who I could have respect for, I was going to have to get out of the christian box my parents gave me. I knew I was going to be demonized for doing so. I knew people I had known for many years would think I was a horrible and immoral person. I knew I was going to have to get out of that box anyway and that I would have to go alone. And so it was.
I feel sorry for the people who are content to stagnate for the rest of their lives. And what kind of a god sets the clock ticking and then puts people into a bind like that? I have no use for them and I have no use for their god.
9:37.n Very well put.
Thanks for your story Dennis my friend!
Kevin
I saw Bobby Schuler today of the Dutch Reformed Church. He told a story about people believing using cocaïne is wrong because Bible scripture talks about abuse of wine.
No. Using cocaïne is wrong because it is stupid.
The talk was about getting to know the mind of God, or his way of thinking and finding people who seem to succeeding in finding that rather than "proof texting" and confirmation bias.
I liked that example.
Nck
Thanks 937 and Allen 937. Sounds like you are doing just fine and all I can say is that you could never be here if you had not been there. Experience is really the only teacher with any depth. Anything else seems just hearsay to me at this stage of the game.
Thanks too Kevin, my friend also! Sometimes if we just listen and understand each other great stuff can happen right? :)
NCK noted: "I saw Bobby Schuler today of the Dutch Reformed Church. He told a story about people believing using cocaïne is wrong because Bible scripture talks about abuse of wine.
No. Using cocaïne is wrong because it is stupid."
You got that right.
9.37 AM
How can church members not stagnate if all they are being fed is spiritual milk. This is a good example why independence rather than dependence is a virtue. The internet has opened up the intellectual world, giving Christians access to spiritual meat if they know where to look. It's unsurprising that many Christian denominations tell their members to avoid the internet, especially Facebook.
My first minister stated in a sermon that people grow in proportion to knowledge. A slip on his part since he was domineering, but so true.
The members in the COG's are not even being fed milk. Its sour and congealed pablum. When a message is devoid of Jesus and entirely focused upon the law it is as filth destined for the swine.
4.36 AM
I attended services for 8 years, and whenever the 'law' was mentioned, it was only the minister protecting church predators from their victims. The rest was Kenneth Copeland religious slop, with endless sermons on government ie, man was made for government rather than government was made for man. Governments have historically used their power to distort morality to their advantage.
Around the same time I started questioning things and dealing with my own cognitive dissonance with the COG's, I happened to get Eckert Tolle's "Power of Now" unwittingly with the purchase of a vehicle. It was in the glove box. I called the seller and asked if he wanted the cd's and he said "no, listen to them...and listen to them several times."
You mention living in boxes. Sometimes they are constructed for us (not so for me) and sometimes we grow up and construct our own (so me). A script is developed to go with the box. We follow it. The script comes with back story and prophecy. We go back and forth between the two like an oscillating wave, momentarily brushing up against the present (equilibrium).
Tolle says, "All negativity is caused by an accumulation of psychological time and denial of the present. Unease, anxiety, tension, stress, worry - all forms of fear - are caused by too much future, and not enough presence. Guilt, regret, resentment, grievances, sadness, bitterness, and all forms of nonforgiveness are caused by too much past, and not enough presence."
I listened to those cd's all the way through at least 4 times over a 6 month period. Each time, I grasped a little more. There is still much there that I never did comprehend and some I disagree with. But I took two things away from it that helped me:
1. Your past and your future are illusions and shouldn't be allowed to dominate your present. Make the best of what is real, being in the now. I think that is what you mean, Dennis. We have a story but we are not the story.
2. "Rather than being your thoughts and emotions, be the awareness behind them." This was the most intriguing and therapeutic action. In another way, he says to be the "silent watcher of your mind." Using visualization, I put my mind on a table before me and simply observe it. This actually removes thoughts and emotions that only cloud and pervert the observations you are trying to make.
Allowing myself to simply be in the present and then to observe my mind as separate from me, gifted me the objectivity to use my mind mindfully. There was no longer a battle raging inside, oscillating between fear and anger. Analysis and action followed without needless collateral damage with my self or with others around me.
Over the years, I have observed many people "over-react" or mis-react" to the realizations they come to after having been subjected to a cult environment. I think much of that really has to do with our runaway egos when faced with change and adversity. We can be overwhelmed by fear and anger and we then project it on others. Dennis has been a favored whipping boy on here for years. I lament as I watch family members that have wallowed in this toxic reactionary existence, some for many years.
The above concepts went a long way in helping me. Maybe they can help others too. Find a way to suggest them to others that continue raging and striking out in pain. But a note of caution, if they are in a COG, don't tell them the ideas are old ideas among heathen thinkers. God forbid the world have something helpful and healing to offer.
I really don't believe that the sum-total of our being, our very essence, can be separated from our stories. To attempt to do so is a lesson in compartmentalization, an artificial method of separating self from embarrassing or regrettable patches of our lives. This can be helpful in recovery from those patches, and in some cases the technique may actually be fully recommendable to that end, as are techniques learned from various and sundry programs.
What I have noticed over decades of getting to know the stories of individuals is that it is human nature to either embellish, or diminish those stories, according to the needs of the moment. One person may portray himself or herself as a saint, or example of perseverence and triumph, while another finds it more advantageous to project a badass story or image, either of which can be based on selected parts of the story for the credentials for which one desires. In that regard, we need to approach these stories from the position of a skeptic. That is the chief problem I have with stories; people are frequently not their stories, at least as they recall and repeat them.
And, of course, that also begs the question "Can you actually really know another person?" I mean actually know their soul print? This may especially be true of people once or presently schooled in Armstrongism. The legalism and policing thereof produced quite the collection of actors and orators. It used to be that you really didn't need to ask a church member's opinion on virtually any matter. You knew in advance what that would be just by listening to all the sermons, listening to The World Tomorrow, and reading the Plain Truth and Good News. Prefab opinions and decisions were the order of the day. AC? Those who climbed the ladder often subverted their own personalities in deference to the U.A.P. (Universal Ambassador Personality).
In order to overcome one's background, it is often necessary to react against one's story, to use it as a measure, or spring board, in order to climb to successive levels. But, you don't let go of it. It provides a perpetual measure of your progress or regression.
BB
Anon 4:36am
Here are a few of the people who focused on following God's words/commandments/laws. According to you, their lives and the message their lives convey, being devoid of Jesus, is as filth destined for the swine.
1. Job 12:4 I am a laughingstock to my friends; I, who called upon God and he answered me, a just (Heb tsaddiq) and blameless (Heb tamim) man, I am a laughingstock.
2. Gen 6:9 These are the descendants of Noah. Noah was a righteous man (Heb tsaddiq), blameless (Heb tamim) in his generation; Noah walked with God.
3. Gen 17:1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD/YHVH appeared to Abram, and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless (Heb tamim).
4. Psa 18:23-24 I was blameless (Heb tamim) before him, and I kept myself from guilt. Therefore the LORD/YHVH has recompensed me according to my righteousness (Heb ketsidqi from root tsedeq), according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.
Animals for sacrifice are required to be 'tamim' (Leviticus 1:3, 10; 3:1, 6, etc).
Hezekiah, 2 Kings 18:5-6 He trusted in the LORD/YHVH the God of Israel; so that there was no one like him among all the kings of Judah after him, or among those who were before him. For he held fast to the LORD/YHVH; he did not depart from following him but kept the commandments that the LORD/YHVH commanded Moses.
Josiah, 2 Kings 23:25 Before him there was no king like him, who turned to the LORD/YHVH with all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; nor did any like him arise after him.
Observance of Torah (Law or Instructions) in the Messianic Age (Try to find where Jesus is mentioned):
1. Deu 30:1-9a . Deu 30:9b-10 For the LORD/YHVH will again take delight in prospering you, just as he delighted in prospering your ancestors, when you obey the LORD/YHVH your God by observing his commandments and decrees that are written in this book of the law, because you turn to the LORD/YHVH your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
2. Jer 31:33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD/YHVH: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
3. Eze 11:19-20 I will give them one heart, and put a new spirit within them; I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, so that they may follow my statutes and keep my ordinances and obey them. Then they shall be my people, and I will be their God.
Is there another God besides YHVH?
Isa 43:11 I, I am the LORD/YHVH, and besides me there is NO savior.
Isa 45:5a I am the LORD/YHVH, and there is NO other; besides me there is NO god/elohim.
Isa 63:16 For you are our father, though Abraham does not know us and Israel does not acknowledge us; you, O LORD/YHVH, are our father; our Redeemer from of old is your name.
Isa 54:5 For your Maker is your husband, the LORD/YHVH of hosts is his name; the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the God of the whole earth he is called.
YHVH is the only savior (Isa 43:11) and God (Isa 45:5a). YHVH is both Father (Isa 63:16) and Husband (Isa 54:5). YHVH is our Redeemer (Isa 63:16; 54:5). He is both Father to those who were born in the faith and Husband to those who joined the faith (Isa 56:6).
Isa 56:6-7 And the foreigners who join themselves to the LORD/YHVH, to minister to him, to love the name of the LORD/YHVH, and to be his servants, all who keep the sabbath, and do not profane it, and hold fast my covenant— these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.
Dennis, the item you mention at the end of your article --- the idea that we plan our lives before our incarnation in this world --- may not be total woo woo. Near-death experiences and past life regression hypnosis are very real phenomena. I know they can all be dismissed as tricks of the brain, but they may be more than that. The idea that we are immortal souls who choose to come to this life repeatedly to learn lessons flies in the face of the doctrines of all Christian groups, including sabbatarians. It is closer to Buddhism, which is considered a godless pagan religion by most folks in the West. But if the truth shall indeed make us free, I feel much more free with the lack of condemnation and the meaning given to every life --- not just the "elect" who follow certain doctrines --- which is found in the concept of reincarnation. I don't know if it is true; maybe it really is all just woo. I do know that I certainly hope it is true.
That depends on what is meant by Heb. 9:27, 7:31. It could mean that each soul gets one human lifetime, and then death and judgement.. Or, or could it mean that after each incarnation and death, there is a sitdown with and review from God, as He examines our progress and growth and sets new goals for the next incarnation?. Perhaps each life brings a new set of talents (pounds). Are some of us new souls, and the leaders amongst humans old souls? Why are some mean-spirited and nearly sociopathic from birth, and others kind-hearted empaths. Why do some good people suffer disproportionately, while evil ones almost seem blessed? What about those who live a life horribly handicapped, while others are gifted in everything that they do?
What about the environment in which one is raised? I grew up in small towns and the 'burbs. What path might I have taken if I had been born in the ghetto or barrio? Would I have turned out like Tommy Egan in the TV program "Power"? Of course you can buck the trends, like the two fish swimming in opposite direction in my birth sign, but in so many cases, it appears that some are born into situations where many critical decisions are already made for them, while others actually have the freedom to make their own decisions. So many mysteries, and such a short life to figure them out.
BB
BB, December 24, 2019 at 1:46 PM, said:
******
"That depends on what is meant by Heb. 9:27, 7:31. It could mean that each soul gets one human lifetime, and then death and judgement... Or, or could it mean that … Perhaps … Would I have turned out like … it appears that some are born into situations where many critical decisions are already made for them, while others actually have the freedom to make their own decisions. So many mysteries, and such a short life to figure them out..."
******
So many mysteries! Yes, but what is meant? I agreed with your initial assessment. Why?
Heb 9:27 says: “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:”
For me, that means time will tell that "story" in the Eighth Day, when that judgment occurs, but that day is still future.
All human beings who will have lived will have died. That was appointed. Billions of people from the miracle creation of Adam and Eve to some "last man/woman standing," will be awakened by a resurrected from that death: a temporary cessation from life. And each one with his/her own story, but now as God's witnesses (Isaiah 43:10, 12; 44:5-8), but will become known as "the ancient people:"
E.g., Isaiah 44:7 "And who, as I, shall call, and shall declare it, and set it in order for me, since I appointed the ancient people? and the things that are coming, and shall come, let them shew unto them."
:8 "Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have not I told thee from that time, and have declared it? ye are even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any." {God; I: Heb. rock, etc }
After all have died, then what? The judgment result for human beings!
“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 6:23
Was there any reason to condemn any of these resurrected peeps? They all sinned. All died. Wages paid! what's there to judge? Is God into anything like double jeopardies? No. So, what is ahead? Something regarding God's gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ, but that's another story: a very long one with lots of good words and promises yet to be fulfilled.
Oh, there is a second death, but not for humans, for who it was appointed only once to die, but that too is another story.
The judgment, God's judgment is known, and for humans that judgment/decision is mentioned in Matthew 25:34, and elsewhere as part of a long story.
The judgment/decision for Satan and his angels is mentioned in Matthew 25:41, 46 and elsewhere as part of another long story.
Yes, after all men have died (and I might add: "and are all made alive again"), there is the judgment and it is all part of along story with an unchanging judgment.
BB, I believe a day, as part of that Eighth Day, is coming when we all will acknowledge the following verse:
"But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand." Isaiah 64:8
And time will tell...in the meantime I'm looking forward to 2020 and more stories.
John
BB, December 24, 2019 at 1:46 PM, wrote:
******
"That depends on what is meant by Heb. 9:27, 7:31. It could mean that each soul gets one human lifetime, and then death and judgement... Or, or could it mean that … Perhaps … Would I have turned out like … it appears that some are born into situations where many critical decisions are already made for them, while others actually have the freedom to make their own decisions. So many mysteries, and such a short life to figure them out..."
******
So many mysteries! Yes, but what is meant? I agreed with your initial assessment. Why?
Heb 9:27 says: “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:”
For me, that means time will tell that "story" in the Eighth Day, when that judgment occurs, but that day is still future.
All human beings who will have lived will have died. That was appointed. Billions of people from the miracle creation of Adam and Eve to some "last man/woman standing," will be awakened by a resurrected from that death: a temporary cessation from life. And each one with his/her own story, but now as God's witnesses (Isaiah 43:10, 12; 44:5-8), but will become known as "the ancient people:"
E.g., Isaiah 44:7 "And who, as I, shall call, and shall declare it, and set it in order for me, since I appointed the ancient people? and the things that are coming, and shall come, let them shew unto them."
:8 "Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have not I told thee from that time, and have declared it? ye are even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any." {God; I: Heb. rock, etc }
After all have died, then what? The judgment result for human beings!
“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 6:23
Was there any reason to condemn any of these resurrected peeps? They all sinned. All died. Wages paid! what's there to judge? Is God into anything like double jeopardies? No. So, what is ahead? Something regarding God's gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ, but that's another story: a very long one with lots of good words and promises yet to be fulfilled.
Oh, there is a second death, but not for humans, for who it was appointed only once to die, but that too is another story.
The judgment, God's judgment is known, and for humans that judgment/decision is mentioned in Matthew 25:34, and elsewhere as part of a long story.
The judgment/decision for Satan and his angels is mentioned in Matthew 25:41, 46 and elsewhere as part of another long story.
Yes, after all men have died (and I might add: "and are all made alive again"), there is the judgment and it is all part of along story with an unchanging judgment.
BB, I believe a day, as part of that Eighth Day, is coming when we all will acknowledge the following verse:
"But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand." Isaiah 64:8
And time will tell...in the meantime I'm looking forward to 2020 and more stories.
John
Post a Comment