Temptations

 ... are like mosquito bites.  You don't usually notice at initial contact, only later when the itch begins.  You want to scratch the itch, because it feels good to scratch.  But don't!  Scratching even briefly feels good, but then it itches worse.  Scratching the itch is not required.  If you don't scratch, it will eventually subside.

The Priority of Christ

 ...should move from Present ---> Prominent ---> Preeminent.

God answers prayer often with small vector changes.

12 Stages of Temptation

1. Readiness to temptation
2. Alertness to temptation
3. Innocent meeting
4. Intentional meeting
5. Public lingering
6. Private lingering
7. Purposeful isolating
8. Pleasurable isolating
9. Affectionate embracing
10. Passionate embracing
11. Capitulation
12. Acceptance

Defense to this:

• Be in the Word of God on a daily basis
• Be accountable to others
• Limit the amount of time spent with a person other than your spouse
• Don't be in the pastorate or counseling
• Admit it can happen to you

Picture of the Trinity

Lots of analogies for the Trinity have been proposed over the centuries, some of which have been called heretical, so this is murky water to wade in, but this analogy helps me best:

The Godhead is analogous to a develop/design/build firm which acquires property, subdivides and designs communities, builds out infrastructure and properties within it, then shows and sells/leases those to others.  Maybe it's all one coordinated Heavenly Enterprise, perhaps in a single Divine Holding Company comprised of three businesses.  This would be not unlike Ghidorzi in Wausau, WI who provides the above services, plus management services, all on property they own and lease to others.

God the Father (Theos, Creator God) is the Designer/Architect, who conceptualizes the community and the plan for structures within it.

God the Son (Logos, Word of God) is the Builder/Maker (Tekton), who expresses the design in reality and forms it into existence.

God the Spirit (Sophia, Pneuma, Breath of God) is the Representative/Agent, who moves people to join the community, take up space in it, and assures their satisfaction with it.

Logos: see Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of John, Book 1, Chs 22-23,42, and most chapters of Book 2.

THINK Before You Speak

T - is it True?

H - is it Helpful?

I - is it Inspiring?

N - is it Necessary?

K - is it Kind?

How Is God Transforming Me?

1)  Understanding how He uses crisis to transform character.  James 1:2-4 = embracing the trial.
2)  Humility - being willing to serve from underneath, do work that is "beneath me".
3)  Other-centered - what God is doing in me is for others around me.  Open up and reach out.
4)  Obedience problem is really a love problem - stop keeping sin around like you might return to it one day.  Get rid of it.
5)  Transformation is a God-sized task.  I can't do it myself.  He must make up the difference.

Jehovah Anah

Shortly after the previous post in which I discovered a name for God that related to my experience with Him, I received an answer to a desperate prayer for help.  The answer was unexpected and very welcome, helping us to deal with our dilemma of living in two different cities seven hours apart.  In response, I came to another name of God that related to my experience with Him: Jehovah Anah, which means "The LORD will answer".  And He has.  Faithfully.  Not always with a Yes; sometimes with a No, or a Wait and See.  But always an answer.

El Sabab Panah

When son Jimmy was little, maybe 5-8 years old, if we were walking in a store or on a sidewalk somewhere, I would often place one hand on his shoulders right at the back of the neck, and use that to "steer" him toward where we needed to go, rather than let him wander off on his own as he was prone to do.  It kept us connected, and was easier for him to tolerate than me holding on to his hand, since he was getting a little "big" for hand-holding.  Plus, at that age it was a comfortable height for my hand to rest - sort of at my chest level.  His neck and shoulders were still small enough for just one of my hands to shift his direction easily.  

In Summer of 2018, I was in a Bible study led by my brother-in-law & his wife on the topic of the Names of God.  The study encouraged us to understand how God has revealed Himself to us individually, much as He did to the ancients. They named God for how they met Him and what He showed them about Himself.  As I was thinking about that idea, the picture came to me of my hand resting on Jimmy's neck and how I turned him gently in the direction we needed to go.  I realized that God had been doing that to me for decades, and so I gave God a name of El Sabab Panah: the God who directs me, who turns me this way and that, with His hand always upon me.

It was an object lesson also of the Fatherhood of God - how He restrains our inclination to wander off, keeping our focus on where He is going, and never more firmly than is needed in the moment.

Crisis and Adjustment

 God to me following a session in 2018 studying Experiencing God by Henry Blackaby:

"Crisis is transformative, Bill.  And if the crisis is from Me, it will transform you for good, for the purpose to which I'm calling you.  And as to major adjustments, if I am here and you are there, and I want you to work alongside Me, then an adjustment will be needed, won't it?  It's simple, Bill."

Memoirs and Musings

While wintering in Texas the last two years, I've spent time working on my memoirs, which are little more than one-page vignettes of various aspects of my earlier life - curated memories.  I have about 100 pages now, and am current through this year.  Of course, I'll keep writing as new ones are created, but who knows how long that will be, right?  I'm thinking another 17 years or so, if the actuarial tables are right.

So, that goes some of the way to explaining why there has been precious little activity on this site lately.  But there will be more soon enough.  At church, the pastors are preaching through Proverbs, and that prompted an idea for more content here.  I've used the Notes feature on my cell phone to record ideas that I want to retain, but who looks at my cell phone but me?  Better to transfer them to this blog and store them here.  After all, blogs seem pretty permanent right now, and require no maintenance or subscription fees, so... why not?  

Stay tuned for some random thoughts over the next several weeks.  They may not all be profound, but they seemed worth retaining at the time I thought them.  :)