SoS

Throughout time fallen humanity has tried incessantly to squeeze God into a box of our own design with only limited success but that hasn’t stopped us. We try to understand His ways to pre-empt how He will operate. We pray hoping that we might bend His will to conform to our desires. We are corrupted and we view God through our distorted perception. Mary Jesus’ mother seemed to have succeeded when she asked her Son to miraculously provide wine at a wedding banquet to avoid embarrassment. Even though this miracle wasn’t according to His timeline but because His mother asked, He conceded (John 2:1-11). However, in Mark 3:21 when Jesus was busy ministering His family turned up wanting to take charge of Him saying, ‘He is out of His mind’ to which Jesus responded, ‘Who are my mother and my brothers?…‘Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother’ (v.33-35) insinuating that a biological connection doesn’t guarantee a spiritual one. Mary was both out of sync and out of line.

Twilight is the time just before sunrise or sunset where the sun is below the horizon. It’s not totally dark, allowing for shadows. There is a glimmer of light, an eerie glow anticipating the dawn of a new day. Spiritually, I’ve lived the majority of my life with a similar degree of ambiguity. We were raised by a ‘religious’ mum who ensured that we were all Infant (Covenant) Baptised and attended Sunday school in our finest outfits. This regular outing was an expectation for ‘good’ Christian citizens of Australia in the 60’s. Religion was taken seriously. A knowledge of Jesus dying for our sins and receiving forgiveness through faith and eternal life on death was instilled in us from day 1.

While the world is besotted by the ‘loud and proud’ the Dark Horse will come from behind and scoop the pool (so to speak). Our Creator has uniquely knitted us together with our manifold propensities. He then orchestrates the myriad of predicaments in which we find ourselves immersed to mould us into shape fulfilling our destiny which He has ordained.  Our place at the Banquet and on the Battlefront is the culmination of both nature and nurture in the Hands of our Heavenly Father without impinging on our ‘free will’.

Every new venture needs to have a purpose. My purpose is to play my part to advance the ‘Kingdom’s coming.’ John the Baptist fulfilled the prophetic voice of one calling: “In the desert, prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God” (Isaiah 40:3).

“The narrow road leads to LIFE (Greek; Zoe - Spirit Life) and only a FEW find it” (Matthew 7:14b). So, that makes this road very significant. I would not want to go through life without discovering this road because logically if this road leads to life all other roads must lead to death. And when it states that only a few find this life means that most won’t find it. I’ve been on this narrow road for 18 years now, but who’s counting? It’s not a walk in the park. Sometimes the road is so narrow that I feel like, ‘a bird on a wire.’ It’s the most traumatic journey I’ve ever undertaken.