•7:31 PM
I know this song is really old, but I really like it. I think I like the honesty of this guy yelling at God. I also like that he meets God at the corner of first and Amistad (which means friendship in Spanish). God says "Ask me anything," and the songwriter just goes for it.
Where were you, when everything was falling apart.
All my days were spent by the telephone that never rang
And all I needed was a call that never came
To the corner of 1st and Amistad.
Lost and insecure, you found me, you found me
Lying on the floor, surrounded, surrounded
Why'd you have to wait? Where were you? Where were you?
Just a little late, you found me, you found me.
And it does seem, so often, that God comes too late, that He finally shows up just when everything is lost. Ah, but do not despair, that's just because He's dramatic.
At church on Sunday, we looked at the book of Ruth. Great book. It comes right after Judges, which as Mr. Sciacca once said, is the armpit of Jewish history. Bad king after bad king, and horrible, horrible crimes committed by the people. Absolutely godlessness. But in the midst of this blackness, you have the bright book of Ruth, who stands as the single good thing out of this period of just depravity. The pastor came up with some great points from the passage. But the phrase that I loved was "par hasard" in chapter 2 verse 3. It says "So [Ruth] went out and gleaned in the field after the reapers, and she happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the clan of Elimelech [Ruth's father in law]." Life was going to be hard for Ruth; she was a foreigner (and what's more, a "forbidden" foreigner), she was widowed, and she had no livelihood nor any relatives to look to. But, she happened into the field which happened to be owned by Boaz who happened to be related to her. He happened to be a man of God and happened to be single and happened to find Ruth beautiful. Really? Concidence? i think not.
The book of Esther doesn't mention God's name once, but His fingerprints are all over that. What seems like coincidence isn't. Things just happen, but the trick is to connect all those little dots. Eventually, the bread crumbs lead back to God. But you have to keep a weather eye open, He comes to those who look for Him.
A few times, including today, we've talked about religion in my French classes. I love it, because I think I'm just hoping that eventually I'll get to talk about Jesus. But until then, my heart is just hurting from all of these misconceptions of God that the French (among others) have. People here time and time again have pinned me as "the Southern conservative." They apologize to me when they curse, they try to watch their actions around me, and they say, "oh, don't talk about that around her..." because I'll get offended. Which is fine- I'm a child. But, I hate that people automatically categorize my beliefs simply because of where I'm from. I have been undoubtedly shaped by my family and my surroundings, and I know that, and that's good, but there's more to it than that. The fact that I just might have a real relationship with a very real God that supercedes "church" and "religion" and "Southern Baptist conservatives" doesn't factor in at all, and it should! It's not about religion. It's about Jesus; His redemptive work on the cross that paid, once for all, my debt; and the response to that. What are you going to do with a man that claimed to be God and did what he did? Where do you turn with that? Oh, that I could just jump out with the truth. But I can't. It doesn't work that way, especially here. France needs Jesus. No, correction: people need Jesus. Full stop.
Where were you, when everything was falling apart.
All my days were spent by the telephone that never rang
And all I needed was a call that never came
To the corner of 1st and Amistad.
Lost and insecure, you found me, you found me
Lying on the floor, surrounded, surrounded
Why'd you have to wait? Where were you? Where were you?
Just a little late, you found me, you found me.
And it does seem, so often, that God comes too late, that He finally shows up just when everything is lost. Ah, but do not despair, that's just because He's dramatic.
At church on Sunday, we looked at the book of Ruth. Great book. It comes right after Judges, which as Mr. Sciacca once said, is the armpit of Jewish history. Bad king after bad king, and horrible, horrible crimes committed by the people. Absolutely godlessness. But in the midst of this blackness, you have the bright book of Ruth, who stands as the single good thing out of this period of just depravity. The pastor came up with some great points from the passage. But the phrase that I loved was "par hasard" in chapter 2 verse 3. It says "So [Ruth] went out and gleaned in the field after the reapers, and she happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the clan of Elimelech [Ruth's father in law]." Life was going to be hard for Ruth; she was a foreigner (and what's more, a "forbidden" foreigner), she was widowed, and she had no livelihood nor any relatives to look to. But, she happened into the field which happened to be owned by Boaz who happened to be related to her. He happened to be a man of God and happened to be single and happened to find Ruth beautiful. Really? Concidence? i think not.
The book of Esther doesn't mention God's name once, but His fingerprints are all over that. What seems like coincidence isn't. Things just happen, but the trick is to connect all those little dots. Eventually, the bread crumbs lead back to God. But you have to keep a weather eye open, He comes to those who look for Him.
A few times, including today, we've talked about religion in my French classes. I love it, because I think I'm just hoping that eventually I'll get to talk about Jesus. But until then, my heart is just hurting from all of these misconceptions of God that the French (among others) have. People here time and time again have pinned me as "the Southern conservative." They apologize to me when they curse, they try to watch their actions around me, and they say, "oh, don't talk about that around her..." because I'll get offended. Which is fine- I'm a child. But, I hate that people automatically categorize my beliefs simply because of where I'm from. I have been undoubtedly shaped by my family and my surroundings, and I know that, and that's good, but there's more to it than that. The fact that I just might have a real relationship with a very real God that supercedes "church" and "religion" and "Southern Baptist conservatives" doesn't factor in at all, and it should! It's not about religion. It's about Jesus; His redemptive work on the cross that paid, once for all, my debt; and the response to that. What are you going to do with a man that claimed to be God and did what he did? Where do you turn with that? Oh, that I could just jump out with the truth. But I can't. It doesn't work that way, especially here. France needs Jesus. No, correction: people need Jesus. Full stop.
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1 comments:
I would like to suggest that people don't watch themselves around you because of where you are from. I think they sense something about you that they can't put their finger on. Though you've never outrightly passed judgment or even an opinion, your lack of doing all the things that they do says something. Actions speak louder than words...You say Jesus with every move. They call you the Southern conservative because they've never seen anything like it and they don't know what else to call it. I'm praying that someone will wonder enough to ask : ).
love you