Turning Hearts or Tables?

I'm sitting with a cup of my fave coffee on a windy October afternoon overlooking a pond beyond which are beautifully turning Autumn leaves. The rain will eventually come but isn't likely to be a problem re. my blues concert tonight nor tomorrow morning's Sunday service where I've been invited to lead worship and speak nor at tomorrow evening's Recovery gathering. Three towns, three different sorts of music and speaking events, three varied sets of people in various spiritual places with God and in their relationships to others.

It's a wide world indeed and I'm deeply blessed to be called and given a broad spectrum of opportunities to share my love for Jesus, faith in His Word and the healing graces that come by the Spirit of God to "whosoever will".

Of course not all "have ears to hear" and I'm certainly not everyone's cup of tea in terms of my music, personality, choice of words, body language and the rest -and that's to be expected. None of us is the Savior, quite obviously not the Lord Himself, so acceptance or rejection of myself isn't the issue. The core matter is love and truth which He is the Source and Provider of to people who will and/or will not follow Him.

My sweet wife is taking a rest, perhaps nap before tonight's concert where she'll pray for me and handle our merch (cd's, t-shirts) table as well as chat, pray and interact with folks. I'll join her in meeting folks after the set as always.

The BLESSING is getting to hang out with so many people in our world-wide travels right through out lifetimes, married at 19, both in our early 70's now and still interacting with so many face-to-face, via emails, social media and more. I love God and He has continued to teach and help me to love others regardless of anything about them, what they think, do or say, and that includes to or about me. I cannot discount these blessings as part of God's grace nor from true maturity in Christ and yet I fail often. Spiritual maturity isn't one-and-done but an on-going relational journey and walk!

I suspect most reading this -and if professing Christ-followers, would agree. And yet how many fight the Spirit when it comes to offering the very grace He has toward us toward -others- when we are confronted with dis-interested, hard, even harsh and on occasion violent responses? What's worse is the fact easily verified by many respected sources that in Christian history the same sort of things arose between those claiming to be true followers of Christ.

One can rightly say the same about various factions within other religions and quasi-spiritual movements but oh what a mess when brothers and sisters in Jesus fail and fall into such "factions, seditions and heresies" to the extent they manifest anything but love, grace, mercy, compassion, forgiveness and the humility that only God can bring in one's life. Brothers and sisters who disagree do not stop being brothers and sisters.

Sometimes it's as if we think we're "turning the tables over and throwing evil people out of the temple" as Jesus did when the reality has been (and sadly at times still is) what we're actually doing is taking their place trying to sell our own version of this or that "Christianity" and/or culture as holy or holier, good versus "their" evil. We set our own tables up and continue the travesty while we claim to act like Jesus. God have mercy on us and teach us to disagree with grace, put the the sword back in it's sheath and the whip down!

Today I think of God's tears, the rain coming to wash the land clean. May He do so in your heart and mine dear reader!

And as always, thanks for stopping by. -Glenn