Survivor

Well - I have survived a week I would prefer not to repeat. I've worked enough hours that anyone sane would do in two weeks. 7:30am till 1:30am is plain not healthy - felt like i was on some kind of eco-challenge only worse - I was chained to my desk & computer. In fact, I have come to the conclusion that an eco-challenge may in fact be healthier because at least I would get to have some fresh air.

Interestingly, besides having astronaut-like stress levels I was pretty sharp for my classes. We got through an amazing amount of material, but more importantly we had some really good discussions in class regarding the concept of God in our lives. I asked some perhaps controversial questions regarding prayer and I may have blown up some boxes that people were formerly comfortable with.

One of my students in particular was bothered by the statement I made regarding praying for safety. This person felt that without prayer we were asking for trouble. I agree that praying for safety makes sense from a human perspective but what if you get into an accident? Does that mean you didn't have enough faith? You didn't pray enough? I think that is dangerous ground to walk on. Not everyone gets healed through prayer - does that mean they didn't have enough faith?

Bad things happen to good people - that is a fact. As much as we all would like to believe in Karma - justice is not necessarily present in our chaotic world. Perhaps there is a reason for pain & suffering in this world? Perhaps that is why the concept of grace is so critical.

I encouraged my class to pray for safety but with the clause that they would pray that God's will would be done. In other words, perhaps the crisis we go through has a direct purpose - and praying against something really isn't the point. Rather we should pray for wisdom and direction whatever the situation. I'm not sure if it is necessarily good that we are safe.

When do we grow as people? It is when we experience difficulties, tragedies, misfortune that we often are better equipped to give advice to others and have a better understanding of the role of God in our lives.

Obviously, we don't want people to get hurt or die and praying for journey's mercies are completely understandable but would it not be better to pray that whatever the circumstances God allows us to go through that we would be empowered by him to handle it.

The Scriptures call us to pray as Jesus did,

Our Father in heaven, may your name be honored.
May your Kingdom come soon.
May your will be done here on earth, just as it is in heaven.
Give us our food for today, and forgive us our sins,
Just as we have forgiven those who have sinned against us.
And don't let us yield to temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

Amen

There is much we can learn from this prayer. How do we honor God? By being in relationship with him. It is not just about following rules or Torah, rather it is about communicating with him. It is important to acknowledge God's will and purpose here on earth. We need to be thankful for our situation, our food, our security & safety. We need to acknowledge our sin and that without grace we deserve karma. In other words - we reap what we sow. Sin breeds sin without intervention and it grows. You lie to someone and you don't want them to find out. So you cover your tracks. Think of a child - if they do something wrong what do they do? They hide. Not too different from the Genesis story of Adam & Eve. They sinned and tried to hide from God. It didn't work - they had to face up to their sin. Sin has consequences, forgiveness by God does not eliminate the consequence. Am I getting to preachy? Sorry - I tend to preach at myself more than anyone. Or maybe its just a rant.