I wrote this a while back and never hit publish. ????

 

I'm finding new zeal for my favorite past time, reading fiction.  I read "Twilight" on the way home from Destin mostly because I wanted to know what all the buzz was about.  It was a good read, a little bit predictable, but that's what you're looking for on a 9 hour drive home.  When I got home I picked up "The Longing" by Beverly Lewis.  She writes books about the Amish community in Pennsylvania, but always with a bent towards the people having their eyes open to true salvation in Jesus.  I didn't know this, but the Amish think it is terribly presumptuous to say that you are saved, but that you just try to do the best you can, follow the traditions of the Old Ways, and when you die you will find out if you "made it" to heaven or hell.  Hmmmm, sounds vaguely familiar.  But the book I was reading was the story of a non-Amish boy starting to fall in love with an Amish girl.  I'm only part-way through it, but I was thinking how when you compare it to "Twilight", IT'S THE SAME STORY in a very broad sense.  Two people from two different worlds falling in love.  There's all these obstacles in the way, but somehow, someway, they find a way to be together.  What gets them over the obstacles?  Falling in love.  Why do you think this theme comes up over and over?  Beauty and The Beast, The Little Mermaid, Cinderella, Aladdin, etc.  (Man I need to branch out from Disney!)  All these stories are about two people from different worlds drawn to one another and going through some struggle to unite.  As a disclaimer, I in no way think that the writers consciously and intentially set out to tell God's story.  But it just seems to happen that love stories grab us when they promise that the strong, beautiful, and powerful one can be happy when he or she falls for the ordinary, frail, hideous, or common one.  And the lowly one is redeemed from his/her state to a place of unimaginable joy.  I could not be further removed from God in my natural state.  He could not have fellowship with me because of who He is and who I am.  But because of His unending love for mankind, He found a way to span the chasm on Calvary.  The personality of the stories are different, but the longing for a love to redeem me isn't.   It made me think of this song ~

 

"Beggar Who Gives Alms"

by Downhere

 

There are no mystic jewels
embedded in my prose
No moonlit haloed cherubs
perched on my piano
No lyrics laced with pixie dust,
no angels sing along
I am just a beggar who gives alms

Gold and silver have I none,
but such I have give Thee
Borrowed words from the One
who gave the gift to me
The pearl that I could never buy,
this life, this dream, this song
And I am just a beggar
who gives alms

I am not the creator,
but a scribe with a pen
I'm recreating visions through a
cracked and broken lens
Only One has ever seen
the home for which we long
And I am just a beggar
who gives alms

I'm just going to set some thoughts down before they escape me.   Today was a really good day.  On the way to church we were listening to a Hillsongs song that was based on the 23rd Psalm.  It said over and over ~

 

Though I walk through valleys low
I'll fear no evil
By the waters still my soul,
My heart will trust in You

 

I closed my eyes and just thought of the confidence we have in the Lord, that no matter what the low valley I'm walking through, I have no need to fear, because my trust is in Him, not my circumstances.  Yes, the dark times come, but I'm not defined by them.  There's really no need for me to fear, and that's saying a lot for me because fear is my middle name most of the time.  I also thought about the line, "By the waters still my soul" and usually I would think of that in the context of "next to" the waters my soul is stilled, or made peaceful.  But today I thought that it is BECAUSE of the water, my soul is stilled.  The water of His spirit washing over me will bring calm and stillness to me frazzled heart.  I was blessed just by those thoughts, then we came into service and the first thing Bro. Steve says is the 23rd Psalm!  I thought that was pretty cool.  Then the band song started and it was "Blessed Assurance".  I also thought that was cool because I knew the Lord was telling me to trust in Him.