The Secure Father
The following is a piece I wrote for my church's publication in the Spring of '01. It was scheduled to come out Oct. '01 and the editor considered not running it then due to the circumstances our nation faced at that time. After review, she felt the Lord leading her to run it anyway.
I submit it now for my friend, Jack. His post yesterday spoke of fear and a sense of Father's lack of intervention. I appreciate his honesty. (He reminds me of the preacher in Ecclesiastes: The Preacher sought to find delightful words and to write words of truth correctly. 12:10) I haven't figured out how to do that fancy stuff where you put his name and his link is attached to it. However, here is his address: http://forgottenprophets.blogspot.com/
We all have questions. I love how secure Father is about our questions. This makes me secure. I don't always understand what is going on, but I do know His heart. Peace, Jack.
Your Friend,
Brent
Experiencing Turbulence
Turbulence is God’s way of reminding us that He is in charge.
Recently, my family and I went on vacation and during the flight home we experienced “unexpected turbulence” as the captain put it. It did not seem to phase my wife and child, but I on the other hand was gripping the armrests praying “save us, Lord; we are perishing!” and seriously thinking that I’d never fly again. Afterward, this situation made me think of my anxiety and lack of trust in Father God. If I am in His will, doing what He wants me to do, then nothing can touch me before the time. I believe that it was His plan for me to be on that plane at that time. He is in control and nothing will happen unless He allows it. If it had been His desire for me to die that night, then I have little to say about it. I think that is what disturbed me the most. I was not in control. (As if I really am in control in any other situation.) The issue was not that I might die but that I was not in control. When you get on a plane, you are at the total mercy of that machine and those operating it. If either messes up, then I’m dead. It is an act of faith. It is an act of faith to let God be in charge. It goes contrary to every fiber in my being. I want to be in control even if it is a false sense of control. We cannot really be in control anyway. God uses turbulence in our lives to remind us that He is in control. The disciples learned this in Matthew 8:23 when they experienced “unexpected turbulence” and Jesus sleeping through it. They thought that they were going to die so they woke Jesus up. Jesus first rebuked the disciples, then He rebuked the turbulence. Father used this experience in my life as He did with the disciples to expose (shake) this area of not trusting Him to be in control.
I submit it now for my friend, Jack. His post yesterday spoke of fear and a sense of Father's lack of intervention. I appreciate his honesty. (He reminds me of the preacher in Ecclesiastes: The Preacher sought to find delightful words and to write words of truth correctly. 12:10) I haven't figured out how to do that fancy stuff where you put his name and his link is attached to it. However, here is his address: http://forgottenprophets.blogspot.com/
We all have questions. I love how secure Father is about our questions. This makes me secure. I don't always understand what is going on, but I do know His heart. Peace, Jack.
Your Friend,
Brent
Experiencing Turbulence
Turbulence is God’s way of reminding us that He is in charge.
Recently, my family and I went on vacation and during the flight home we experienced “unexpected turbulence” as the captain put it. It did not seem to phase my wife and child, but I on the other hand was gripping the armrests praying “save us, Lord; we are perishing!” and seriously thinking that I’d never fly again. Afterward, this situation made me think of my anxiety and lack of trust in Father God. If I am in His will, doing what He wants me to do, then nothing can touch me before the time. I believe that it was His plan for me to be on that plane at that time. He is in control and nothing will happen unless He allows it. If it had been His desire for me to die that night, then I have little to say about it. I think that is what disturbed me the most. I was not in control. (As if I really am in control in any other situation.) The issue was not that I might die but that I was not in control. When you get on a plane, you are at the total mercy of that machine and those operating it. If either messes up, then I’m dead. It is an act of faith. It is an act of faith to let God be in charge. It goes contrary to every fiber in my being. I want to be in control even if it is a false sense of control. We cannot really be in control anyway. God uses turbulence in our lives to remind us that He is in control. The disciples learned this in Matthew 8:23 when they experienced “unexpected turbulence” and Jesus sleeping through it. They thought that they were going to die so they woke Jesus up. Jesus first rebuked the disciples, then He rebuked the turbulence. Father used this experience in my life as He did with the disciples to expose (shake) this area of not trusting Him to be in control.
posted by brent at 10:40 AM
2 Comments:
Not fear, B, rage. But that's a small matter - same energy, different form. One of the (many) problems is that we love, say, our families more than we love God. I do, anyway. Maybe that's just another way of saying we love ourselves more. Of course God is big enough to understand. We don't stop loving them, when they're gone - but we miss their presence, and it is painful, and what does an animal do when it's in pain, but lash out. God is the big zookeeper, the lion-tamer, so he's a good target.
I wrote here
http://forgottenprophets.blogspot.com/2005/12/commplexity.html
something, about this; and here
http://forgottenprophets.blogspot.com/2005/12/trial-of-god.html
and while I'm at it, here
http://forgottenprophets.blogspot.com/2006/01/that-which-i-most-feared.html
Hmm. Is this *all* I write about?
For my part, I find I cling to life, as we learn, say, when a road hazard makes us swerve and we nearly lose it. But I so totally get it, what Paul said, about his rather being with the Lord. *Sorry Paul, there's work to do. Get to it.*
Anyway, if God didn't want us to be in control, why did he give us egos? Hahahahaha! Oh, I crack myself up.
:-)
Best,
J
D'oh!
http://forgottenprophets.blogspot.com/2005/12/complexity.html
not commplexity.
I was in second grade twice.
J
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