Relational Bridges

RUNNING THE RACE SET BEFORE US A dear friend of mine, a sister in Christ, explained how a person runs 26.2 miles. She said, "You don't run 26.2 miles at once. You pick a point on the horizon on the course and run to that. When you reach that point, you pick out another point on the horizon of the course and run to that and so on until you finish 26.2 miles." As Pastor Eugene Peterson said, "Following Jesus Christ as Lord is a long obedience in the same direction." We have hundreds if not thousands of records and accounts of men, women and children who have given their lives to follow Jesus Christ. To follow Him, St. John stated in his first Epistle chapter 2 verses 5-6, " But those who obey God’s word truly show how completely they love him. That is how we know we are living in him. Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did." Jesus lived in such a unity with His heavenly Father that He could say, "I only do what I see my ...

  EXERPT FROM "JORDON PETERSON'S GOD" Jordon Peterson’s God Peterson’s reading of Scripture takes aspects of its analogies seriously but misses much of what is really going on in it. If the God of Holy Scripture really exists, nothing less than a Copernican Revolution in our existential understanding must occur. In a world ordered around the living God revealed in Jesus Christ, forgiveness, grace, thanksgiving, dependency, devotion, worship, and prayer take on a completely new aspect and transform our lives. Whatever its merits, Peterson’s project would need to be rebuilt on a new basis to reckon with such a revolution. Jordan Peterson is an especially vivid example of one who feeds upon the Christian story as myth, while not believing it as fact. He is far from alone, and though  We Who Wrestle with God  is not a true Christian reading of Holy Scripture, it represents an encouraging trend of serious thinkers recognizing the vital cultural significance of the Bib...

 WAKING UP It usually comes at some degree of shock when the Lord Jesus wakes us up and by the Holt Spirit reveals to us...shows us what is no surprise to Him. He provides a personal epiphany, causing us to see the wounds and pain we have been carrying around for years. The sorrow and brokenness that various forms of injustice have marked us by.  A very natural response to seeing what has been beneath the surface of life for longer than we ever knew, wounds that have been influencing attitudes and action unbeknownst to us, is anger. There may even be rage at what has caused damage to our hearts, our minds, our will and emotions. God is not offended at the immediacy of our response. It is not by accident that we now see what was for so long hidden. God has been working His salvation in us, transforming us by the life the Holy Spirit lives in us. God makes us ready to be healed and liberated at a level deeper than we have known. Having begun a good work in us, He has promised to...

  ISAIAH 50:10  "Who among you fears the  Lord   and obeys His servant? I f you are walking in darkness,   without a ray of light,  trust in the  Lord   and rely on your God." JOHN 8:12   "Again, Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” These two texts might seem contradictory at first glance, but they are not. Think! Does a sheep have utter clarity about where they are going, or do they simply follow the Shepherd because He is trustworthy and good? Jesus made it clear that those who believe Him and surrender their lives to Him by repentance and faith will be given a new heart and a new spirit. God's Life will replace the condition of spiritual death that once ruled in them. That old life was one of profound darkness and deception. Jesus stated in the Gospel of John (John 14:23) that those who believe Him will find that He and the Father will come...