Somewhere between town boundary lines and dispensationalism we discussed passion. The question was posed “What makes you passionate?� During our talk on this particular subject he expressed a desire that I’m sure I won’t soon forget.
“I don’t want to die before I see what God can do.�
Neither do I. I want to live to see God’s hand at work. I’ve seen it before but I know there is more to see and I can’t wait to see it. I want to see things occur that no man could do…to see God miraculously use men and women to do god-things they didn’t think they were capable of.
He is a God of lost causes. A God that resurrects from the ashes. A God that creates possibility when none is present. A God that acts in spite of…
…before dying I will see that.
dale
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November 21, 2006 at 9:49 am
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July 26, 2006 at 8:50 pm
jen
…..i love to listen to and/or read your perspectives….i am starting to believe that god delights himself in what we consider lost causes….
July 27, 2006 at 2:11 pm
keith
Great thought. Wished I would have been there to share in the conversation, and makes me miss ours from what seems like ages ago.
July 27, 2006 at 3:21 pm
Doppelgänger
If we slow down enough, we can see God doing all sorts of things in our ordinary everyday lives. I love what Jesus said, “I do what I see the Father doing”. That is the thing that I want to see everyday so I can be about doing it too. Too often we are chasing the shadows of what we saw the Father do in our PAST, or heard about what was done on someone elses past. I want to be aware of Him here, today, now! I want to dye seeing that! -Rich
July 27, 2006 at 3:38 pm
thoughtscrashing
Jen,
it is funny…this is how I was feeling in the morning but in the afternoon I felt different….kinda like the weather in New England…
Keith,
I won’t ever forget those conversations swirling around cappuccinos
Rich,
Thx for stopping by. I agree with you but would have to add a caveat in the word “sometimes”. Because sometimes we realize that sight and touch and hearing God aren’t always commodities we are afforded. I have been through times when I desperately wanted to see and hear but was left with only hope that silence did not point to solitude. The 400 years of silence between the ot and the nt make more sense to me now. I can understand how the “church” must’ve felt.
dale
July 27, 2006 at 3:57 pm
Doppelgänger
Yes! Sometimes, but I still want it everyday. It is sometimes in the way a mother holds the hand of her child that we see that the Father tenderly loves us. It is how the river continues to the sea that we see the Father’s love never ceacing to flow. It is in the AIDS patient that we see that we are to love the unlovely as the Father loves me.
Even though there is no recorded “published” books during between the testaments, God was in no way silent. Why would God sit quiet for 400 years? Our Father is always at work. (see John 5)
July 27, 2006 at 4:31 pm
thoughtscrashing
I know I want it everyday too. And I know that it comes in a myriad of ways..more than be catalogues probably.
The problem is even though God is always moving sometimes we just don’t have the senses honed enough to pick up on it.
I wonder often if we ever can say we really trust God if we have never been through a season when faith and hope were all we had…we couldn’t see, we couldn’t touch, we couldn’t feel, we couldn’t taste, we couldn’t hear…when I have felt that I realize how easy faith, hope, and love were to come by when God could be perceived by my “senses”.
Wouldn”t wish it on anyone….Boy, do I respect Job!
thx for reaching out Rich
dale
August 10, 2006 at 5:42 am
Rachel
Hey Dale, how’s the hand-healing going? Thinking of you all lots. I’m enjoying reading your thoughts here. Keep us posted. We’re hoping to get out to the US next year to one of the IMN things. Don’t know what yet. Still waiting and praying but would be great if we got to see you again.
August 11, 2006 at 9:34 am
thoughtscrashing
Hi Rachel!
Great to hear from you…the hand?? Well…I am trying to learn to type again…not pain free yet…I can almost bend my finger to half its range of motion…so I have made a lot of progress…
I figure in 2 weeks I should be close to normal again…w/ a slighty disfigured finger….hand modeling is no longer a possibility
Would love to see you and Sam again…I pray that your travels bring you this far!
dale