Lessons Learned (Part 2)

Hi!  Here's the rest of the lessons God taught to me while I was in prison.

• As God planted the oasis at Elim from the beginning of time to refresh His children in the wilderness, so He has prepared our paths before us. (Ex. 15:27) "Thou Knowest, O God!"
• Our possessions should reflect our priorities. (And actually they do. Another way to say this is: our possessions should reflect what we say our priorities are.)
• Faith does not require perfect knowledge, but perfect trust. (Rahab in Joshua 2)
• Wait in the Lord (1 Sam) (Saul did not wait on God, David continually waited on the Lord. See especially 1 Sam 30:8)
• Faith is built by faithfulness. (1 Kings 17-18. Elijah's faithfulness day-to-day during 3 years in exile prepared him for the encounter at Mt. Carmel.)
• Praise is a vital part of life. Rejoice in the Lord always. (1 Chron 16, Phil 4:4)
• God's wisdom is not hidden; He wants us to know His will. (Prov 8, 1 Chron 28:9)
• It's never too late. Even after the worst of sin, we can repent and have the closest fellowship and most faithful service to God of out lives. (2 Kings 22-23, Josiah) 
• Cycle of Sanctification: Turning our hearts to God leads to cleansing which leads to more worship which leads to more cleansing... (2 Chron 30-31:6)
• God is still in the miracle business. Do not doubt that He does mighty miracles today in the world and in our lives. (Pretty much anywhere in Acts)
• Be flexible and accommodating in non-core issues, and be careful what you call core. (Acts 21:18-26)
• Life is not about what you can get, but what you can give. 
• To live by the Word you have to know the Word.
• Jesus took all my charges, laid down on my bunk, and let me walk out the main gate. (1 Peter 2:24)
• There is nothing more important to God than people. (Mat. 12:10-12) 
• If our lives are indistinguishable from the world we lose the impact of our testimony. (Gen 19:1-29, especially vs. 14)
• Salvation is like a Weber Gas Grill that you win in a drawing that has to be assembled. It is free, but if you leave it sitting on the front stoop gathering dust, unopened, it's not going to do you a bit of good. Open it up and put it to use! (Luke 13:24, Phil 2:12)
• It is important that we periodically pause to remember (corporately and personally) how God has acted in our lives. What He has done, what we have done, how He has dealt with us in regard to what we have done. (Nehemiah 9)

I hope you are encouraged by what God has taught me.

Drew

Lessons Learned (Part 1)

While prison was not nearly as much fun as you might imagine it to be, God used that time to draw me back into a right relationship with Him. I kept track of the lessons God brought to me during that time, and thought I'd share them with you. Here's the first half:

• God is more concerned with Holiness than happiness.
• God requires an "always on" connection. We can only experience God in the moment we are in. Another way to think of this is like the power brick for a Laptop - when you unplug it, it very quickly drains of power.
• To walk in faith, you have to have wet feet. (See Joshua 3:15-17)
• Know not who you are, but whose you are.
• Don't be a "microwave Christian" - you need more than 15 minutes a day of God in your life. (I got this from Melvin Ross)
• Don't confuse your cross with your crops. When you a bearing the consequences of your sin that's on you, it's not from God. (I got this from Rev. J. Wright)
• I can forgive anything, because I have been forgiven everything. (Eph 4:32, Col 3:13)
• Trust God to be excellent. (Ps. 40:1-3 The king waited on God to act.)
• Scriptural Husbands are foot-washers to their wives. (Consider what it really looks like if we love our wives as Christ loves the Church.)
• Despair is never the right response. Once you have repented, Godly sorrow has done its part and any further beating yourself up is just self-pity and wallowing. God has forgiven you, forgive yourself and go serve!
• Everyone does not have to love/forgive/accept me, but in Christ I have to love/forgive/accept everyone.
• Some hurts don't heal 'til Heaven.
• Maintain an eternal perspective. What will this (whatever this is) really matter in 200 years? In 2,000?
• Prayer changes things because prayer changes me.
• Live conscious of the immediacy of the end. (1 Peter 4:7, Rom 14:11-14)
• Don't act/think like a spiritual pauper when you dwell in the treasure house of the King. (Eph 1:3, 1 Peter 4:2) 
• Our service and responsibility to Christ begins in our homes. (Mark 7:9-13, 1 Tim 3:4-5, 1 Tim 5:8) 
• Be quick to hear, slow to anger, slow to speak.
• We build in the plains to sustain us in the valleys.
• To receive the hope of/in Jesus Christ, we must first understand the hopelessness of our condition. (Contrast the rich young ruler with the adulteress at the stoning.)
• Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay. (I got this from Dr. Gary Marsh)

I'll post the rest on Friday.

Drew

Sacred Literature

I was in a 12-step meeting earlier and one of the prevalent themes was how important reading the literature was to success in recovery.  Several points were made:

• First, that it is the literature that gives definition to the program. We are not in any sense "making this up as we go along." We have a methodology that works for recovery and if we faithfully work that methodology we will get better.
• Second, that the literature is our way of connecting with the thousands of addicts who have gone before us and who have successfully won the battle of recovery. By studying their struggles and successes we gain insight into our own journey and can profit from their example.
• Third, that when we are disappointed in ourselves or in our fellow addicts we can go to the literature as a source of comfort and strength. When we are tempted to fall, going to the literature is aways an alternative to using.
• Finally, that just coming to meetings, and even participating in the meetings, is not sufficient to sustain a successful recovery. We have to work the program (and by that we mean read and reflect on the literature) consistently in order to maintain recovery.

As I sat in the meeting it occurred to me that the importance of actually reading and responding to the literature is as critical to the Catholic as it is to the recovering addict. 

We are all addicted to sin.  Recovery from that sin is a continual, life-long process, and that process is made immeasurably harder if we do not avail ourselves of the sacred literature God has provided for our help, for much the same reasons as listed above:

• First, the sacred writings of the Church give definition, direction and scope to our lives. We don't "make up faith" as we go along, we have a faith that has been faithfully handed down from generation to generation. For most of us there is nothing that we will confront in our lives that the Church has not already considered and addressed. We have, in the sacred writings, a way of recovery from sin that is divine in origin and proven by time. If we study and follow that way we will, by the Grace of God, be successful in our recovery.
• Second, in the sacred writings we connect with the Body of Christ. While the Communion of Saints is a mystery of the Church, in the literature of the Church we can come to know those Saints in a very real way. By reflecting upon their struggles, failures and successes, we can gain insight into our own spiritual battles, learn the lessons their lives have to teach us, and take comfort that the same God who assisted them in their time of trial stands ready to assist us today.
• Third, when we face a failure in ourselves or in our brothers and sisters, we can go to the sacred writings for comfort and assurance. For when we ourselves fail, to read and know that even when we are most unlovable, God still loves and pursues us. When we are disappointed in those around us, to hear clearly God's call to forgive as He forgives, and to find proof after proof that His Will and Grace are able to succeed no matter how badly man fails.
• Finally, that just planting our bodies in the pews on Sunday, without expending any further spiritual effort for the rest of the week, is insufficient to grow us into the people God calls us to be. It is in the reading, reflecting and studying of sacred literature during the week that the lessons taught in the Mass are confirmed and nourished in our souls.