Skip to main content

Sisters and Visitors

My sister is coming to visit from California. The economic outlook for people in California isn't pretty. It's downright scary. I am hoping that my sister will come to Kentucky, relax and see that she can make a life here in Kentucky. However wonderful that thought is, my first hope would be that she would come to understand the truth and her need of the gospel. She thinks she is a good person and I am a religious nut. She comes by that assessment of me honestly. I was pretty zealous about what I thought the gospel was and pretty ignorant of what it truly means to be saved. The two are a poor combination.

Theology matters and what you win them with is what you win them to. These are both things I have learned from my friend, James White. I have learned a great deal from him. I wish I had learned it earlier. I might not have botched up the relationship I have with my sister. For many years she avoided me and I in my pride, I thought it was because my righteous life made her feel guilty. Yeah, great way to be winsome.

Along with our lack of gentility, I think we have lost the notion that it is important to be winsome. Not that we can charm people into the kingdom, but it's much easier to listen to us when we are being winsome than when we sound like screeching pipes.

I am hoping to be both winsome and loving while my sister stays with me. I hope to be fun. I want us to laugh and remember our childhoods together. I want her to know beyond a shadow of doubt that I love her and that my love for her compels me to share the gospel with her. Lord, help me undo the years of ignorance that get in the way.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Spiritual Aphasia aka Senseless Theology

I was recently asked why I read theology and follow theological debates. "It's all just words and opinions." Words. Words on a paper, words on a blog. Words that travel invisibly through our airwaves and our minds. What would our inner monologue consist of without words? Harsh words, gentle words, untrue words, and solid you-can-die-behind them words. They have secret lives in the depths of our souls. They overflow in torrents of grief and joy. They seep out of our character flaws, wearing down the weak convictions that hold them back until they contaminate all those around us. All of us are stained within and without by the raw sewage of unkind words. Our souls are in jeopardy for want of The Word. Jesus Christ. The Gospel. The Good News. Words matter. Doctrine matters. Theology Matters. What you win them with is what you win them to. I study theology because I was lost too long in a world that scrambles truth with its own ideas and preferences. I was fed a diet of tosse
1 comment
Read more

Super Church a song for the Emergent-sy

In the early 70s I was in a youth choir at my church. Our youth pastor was a musician and his way of connecting with us as a group was through the choir and music. Somehow there was an affiliation between him and The Continental Singers, New Hope and Jeremiah People. He was worked with Moishe Rosen of Jews for Jesus too, I think. Are any of these names familiar to you? Though I remember the church fondly I was a profoundly lost and troubled young woman during my years there. That and time have muddled the memories quite a bit. Today I was digging through some old paperwork and one of the books to the musical we did. It's Getting Late For the Great Planet Earth, a folk rock oratorio by Cam Floria. Yes, that's right. Cam Floria put Hal Lindsey to music. There's a lot to laugh about and some to groan about but as I was looking through the songs and remembering, I found this little ditty and I only wish I could sing it for you. Just remember that this is circa 1972 and even th
8 comments
Read more

What if.....

...what if I just need a place to let some words spill out? What if they spill out in bouquets of bright colors and pleasing scents but their frames are made of snakes and lies? Will you the reader be able to tell? Will it matter? When words smell like lilacs and honeysuckle do you care what lies beneath them? Perfumed syllables cover the stench of hope's decay. A violet or two will fool most surface dwellers, allowing them to pass by quickly and unaware.  Is that what words are supposed to do? What if my aesthetics with words are similar to Morticia Addams' with flowers?  What happens when luscious blooms are discarded?  When the ragged silhouette of thorns is all that remains will you still see the beauty?  Perhaps we'll find out.
Post a Comment
Read more