Answer number seven

This time I am going to go with a serious answer. (no, really)



This comes from Amy, Amy says:



* Write about something you learned while reading your bible.



Amy, will do.



God is the man with the plan. He knows what he is doing, and I need to just follow along with the program. Specifically, he puts people in your lives to accomplish tasks in you. This people usually have no idea what it is that they are doing, but God put them there. These people don't even need to believe in Him, they are still serving His purpose, just not in the capacity of His servant. For example, he may put a rude, nasty, crude, stinky person in your life to teach you patients and tolerance. He may put a Muslim, a Jew, an Atheist, and a Mormon in your life to teach you how to Evangelize. (Note, the lesson implied is that you witness through you life and behaviour to some and teach through the Word to others)



Even Ancient China knew of this principle, to them it comes from Buddhism instead of Christianity but Gods principles make them selves known without you necessarily believing in the true source. The Legend says:



An invisible red thread connects those who are destined to meet, regardless of time, place, or circumstances. The thread may stretch or tangle, but never break. Ancient Chinese Proverb



This is called the Legend of the Red Thread.



I am going to run through a list of people now, those people whom it seems obvious to me in retrospect why God put them in my life. If you expect to see your name on the list, don't get your feelings hurt, maybe it seems obvious to you but I haven't figured it out yet, or maybe I just wasn't thinking about it today.



God put Angie in my life to be a guiding and prayerful force to drag me, the lost sheep, into his flock. He put two old women in the back pew at church to become prayer warriors together with her so that she and I both began to learn the power of prayer. Angie has also been put into my life and I in hers to form one complete person in His eyes, as each of us alone stands in sand, but together we stand on stone.



God put Pastor Mark in my life to teach me the basics. He taught me to seek and not just accept, he taught me to question and not just agree. He feed me from milk up to applesauce. He was put in my life to provide me with these things and provide me with the confidence to step out and seek more. He Pastored the church that was put in my life to provide me with opportunity to grow in an environment that allowed for this expansion and provided both acceptance and rejection in equal measure. Mark taught me as I was a child and now that I am growing God has told me to put away childish things. It is with this in mind that I regretfully had to move on from this church and MY Pastor.



God put a list of kids in my life, I will not name them here in respect for there parents. These kids today run in age from about 9 to about 21 with a heavy number being between 13 and 16 years old today. They were put in my life by God to teach me what it is to be a kid and their parents were in my life as well to show me the good and bad sides of parenting. I watched many of them turn from young ladies into teens and much of the drama that went with it. These are lessons I hope to remember long enough to apply to my parenting when the time comes. They also taught me how to let go of things and just be.



God put a few other Pastors in my life who have become greatly important to me. They have taught me, Charlie, pay attention, this is you, that it is important to encourage each other because its impossible to tell just how much somebody needs to hear a positive word. Charlie seems to have a sense of things that always tosses just the right word, or Word, my way when its needed. Gene, who unlike Charlie I have met in person, keeps rememinding me that its a big big world run by a huge huge God and I need to keep my eyes and ears open to the possiblities my heart might be led towards.



My best friend from childhood to present, I will call him Dawg here because, well just because, has been in my life to act as a lighthouse. Whenever I get too far off course with things his steady pace can just seem to bring me back to earth. I doubt he knows (well, I think he will now) just how much I have needed his strength in the past. I only hope I have been of some service to him along the way as well.



Dawg has a momma, who I will call momma D. Momma D. was the other mother, she was the greatest to all of us when we were kids. She cut me no slack and that was a good thing. Few women are as strong as Momma D. and there were times I needed that.



Pastor Tim at the church I am currently attending is a different sort of pastor than what I have come to be used to. He is much more demonstrative than any other people I have come accross in this setting and his preaching style is more of buffet. He tosses out the meat, and the pasta and urges you to eat up. I will be here for some time eating until I am full of this understanding. Tim and I had a rough road at first because I wanted to question everything. We finally came to an agreement that questioning was fine as long as I was open to learning and not just condemning things. Learning is my purpose so we have an agreement.



I have many other people in my life that have brought great blessings to me and I dont want to just skip them so I will say thank you here to all those who have mentored me, taught me or just been there. I want to go on to one last person.



God put Grace in my life so I could learn about love. I could talk about what that means for days and days but you either get it or you dont. When I look at Grace I know what love means. I know I love her and I know God loves me. I can say with complete convinction that I love my wife, I love my family, and I love my Grace. I love my friends and my brothers and sisters but it is Grace that has taught me what this means.