This is a great sermon and has taught me a fair bit about friendships. The below is an abbreviated transcript, because it has been worded so nicely I really couldn't say it any better than he has. You can't rush relational intimacy. It doesn't happen in a day. Sometimes in the eagerness, because we are so starved for actual people in our life, when anybody shows us any attention, we just come on so strong and lay it on so thick coz we're trying to Amazon Prime the relationship. But when it's just this tiny little thing, you just add tiny little twigs to it and a little bit of kindling to it. You can't get to the big logs right away. That little flame is not enough to take on that big log. So you need friendship kindling and that takes time. There are things in society today that have made it harder for us to develop friendships. There is an increased ease of movement. Where in the past, you would have lived and died in a similar location, these days, you can tak...
Chapter 8 - Job’s friends are not very compassionate. They suggest that Job’s children died because they were sinners. They suggested that Job could end his suffering by seeking God more! We are often like Job’s friends. When our friends suffer, we try to explain it away, and justify it with sensible words. Often times, this is not very helpful. Or kind! Chapter 13:4 - you are worthless physicians, all of you! If only you would be altogether silent! Often it is better not to say too much when someone is suffering. Better perhaps just to be with them in their pain. Chapter 10:1 - I loathe my very life; therefore I will give free rein to my complaint and speak out in the bitterness of my soul. When we go through difficult times, God allows us to complain to him - ever bitterly. Chapter 12:5 - Those who are at ease have contempt for misfortune as the fate of those whose feet are slipping. We tend to judge people who are going through misfortune. We tend to lack compassio...
I was spring cleaning and going through old diary entries, discarding old notebooks when I came across this scribbled on some note paper. This was one of my earlier ruminations, potentially from around 2020. I thought I would archive it here. I don't know why I entitled this entry as I did. ***** Archived ***** The Fish and the Loaves Be careful of what you ask for. This is something we hear from time to time, but I've not always heeded the warnings that come my way. Back in the day, as a child and teenager I had a pretty decent life. It was easy. My parents supplied my every need. I was doing so well at school that my goal was not to pass or get an A but to get 100%. I had no real illnesses, no tragic circumstance in life. So in a moment of boredom, a moment of wanting some spark or some fireworks in my life, I prayed, God, give me a story. A great testimony. A story to tell. Sometimes I still wonder, would it have been better to have not prayed that prayer? Could I not have ...
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