Chapter 8 ~ Too Many Loose Ends...

A habit of mine is to look back at previous times I have read a book or did a Bible study and see what I gleaned from it the last time through.

Today's post is a repeat of my thoughts the last time the Gilead Board read through The Grace Of God book...

Journey back with me to April 12, 2011, it picks up with our regular visit we used to make to the Anderson cancer center...

"I'm writing to you on Tuesday from the waiting room of the Madison County Cancer Center in between visits with the patients who stop by to pick up a free snack...

My later words will make more sense as to why I am informing you of this...

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You can run from god, but you can't outrun him...

What do you say to a statement like that?

What comes to mind when you hear that said?

For me it's a cold frosty morning many years ago. My memory is strong to it's content but weak to it's date. I believe I was 14 years old. I felt a strong urge to enter the ministry but reason told me I was wrong. So did my pastor. So wishing to be "right" I went on with life. 9 years and many internal arguments later, at the age of 23, I decided I would seek God's guidance again, and ultimately decided to pursue serving God in ministry.

It's not been all I wished it would have been. But I'm not alone. It wasn't "all that" for Jonah either. As a matter of fact, I can't even say my experience has any resemblance to his. My 9 years was somewhat "wandering" and "wondering" but Jonah's was "fleeing" and "hiding."

I've wrestled with what to write this week, this morning it was made a little clearer, I think I got a handle on the thoughts and struggles Jonah had.

Just moments ago, shortly after my arrival, a man came and got a snack, it was a banana. He then demonstrated something I never knew, it's easier to open a banana from the opposite side of the peel, not our traditional stem side approach, it was fascinating.

The conversation went quickly downhill from there. It usually does when someone asks me this question in some form or another, who are you? That question comes in many forms, but the moment he learned I was involved in ministry, the fun began...

"I'm not prejudice" he began. Now you know that if someone says that, the next thing they are going to say may sound awfully prejudice. "My wife and I went to Dr. __________ (I honestly forgot the name, though I couldn't include it if I hadn't) office after my heart attack. In his office there was a Muslim bible." He proceeded... "and we didn't see a Gideon bible anywhere. My wife and I looked." Now, I'm about to say something that may seem disrespectful, because to me it sounds that way in my head, but here's my question, "Is Gideon god?" Don't miss me here, there's more insight into how we think about "others" here than we think.

I won't chronicle the rest of the conversation for the sake of your time and space on this page, but to sum it up, it went from there to "work ethic", "Sunday eating out", "temptations and sin" and "keeping the sabbath." The whole time, probably disrespectfully in my mind, I sat wondering what type of fellowship he was trying to have with a fellow believer. Instead of talking about God, he talked about what he had done to be a good Christian and how unchristian that Dr. was, obviously, because he had a Muslim bible in his office. (I didn't ask him if he knew it was a Quran).

I've bothered with all of this because it illustrates Jonah dilemma and our opportunity to learn more from the Jonah story than his running from God.

"For God so loved the WORLD..." You finish the verse.

Here's a question, did Jesus die for Muslims?

Another one, did He die for native head shrinkers or violent tribesmen?

Jim Elliot and his crew thought so, so did his wife, she returned to the very tribe that killed her husband. (See the movie "End Of The Spear" for a glimpse of that story).

I don't know how that Doctor would have responded to that man if he had approached him in grace and engaged him in a conversation about his faith, much like the Apostle Paul did on Mars Hill.

But I do know this, he allowed his opinion of the doctor to keep him from seeing the doctor's need and having compassion on him. It's what Jonah struggled with, it's what I struggle with. It's why I say that we live the gospel so raggedly that it's hard not to have a bunch of loose ends flying around. Our stories of grace are left untold. Our witness of his goodness left is unkept. We are like a kid with his hair uncombed and the result is that our impact is left undone.

Just one thing left for me to apply to Bill's life, maybe even yours, "The moral of the story is pretty straightforward: receiving grace is often easier than dispensing it" Andy Stanley, page 117

Selah..."

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