Why ask why? The sequel

By
A couple of weeks back I blogged about speculating about reasons why God allows unpleasant things to happen in people's lives. I don't see the point in that kind of thing. Well, God, in his infinite wisdom (and some might say twisted sense of humor), has brought me to a place where I am wondering why. Why as in why am I here and what actions am I supposed to take.

As I face a difficult situation in my life that is not going away anytime soon (sometimes I think of it as my version of the thorn in Paul's side) I'm trying to fathom what the most godly response would be. Do I have the strength to make that choice? A good part of the Christian life, all of it actually, is sanctification. Sanctification, the process of being made holy and developing a godly character (yes I know there's more to it than that but this is not a treatise on sanctification, all of you amateur theologians can back off your keyboards). It is not easy. It is often not pretty. It requires each of us to make the choice to honour God at each step in the process. Each choice (good or bad) teaches us about ourselves and reveals God's glory.

So I wonder, what is the choice that I must now make? What is it that I am to learn from this situation? How do I most honour God from where I now stand? I can see many choices (the easier choices) that would dishonour God but I can not yet fathom the honourable ones. I wish this cup would pass from me but life doesn't come with an easy button that lets you skip the difficulties.

Maybe I'm just being melodramatic and things really aren't that bad but it's hard to say from where I'm standing now. Maybe I'll have some answers in 10 or 20 years. Or maybe I'll have to wait until after judgment day.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular Posts

What's in a flower?

By
Specifically hydrangea flowers. In this post I pointed out that anthocyanin (a family of plant pigments) appears blue at high pH, red at low pH and is responsible for the wide variety of colours in hydrangea flowers. Ilona pointed out that , "in hydrangeas you lower the ph for blue flowers (more acid) and raise it for pink (more alkaline)." I did a bit of checking and found that this is the case . At lower soil pH hydrangea flowers do appear blue and at higher soil pH they appear red. But soil pH is not the only thing that affects the colour of hydrangea flowers. It appears that pH inside the plant cell has an affect as well: Sepal Color Variation of Hydrangea macrophylla and Vacuolar pH Measured with a Proton-Selective Microelectrode Anthocyanin changes its color depending on pH (Goto 1987, Brouillard 1988, Goto and Kondo 1991). In strong acidic conditions it shows red, in neutral, purple and in alkaline, blue. But generally the vacuolar pH of plant cells is weakly aci
Read more

Treating autism as traumatic brain injury

By
I've been doing research into autism, dyspraxia, how the normal brain works, and how an autistic/dyspraxic brain works (or doesn't work). Traumatic injury to different parts of the brain can cause the same problems suffered by autistic and dyspraxic children. Compare this list of the functions of different parts of the brain and the problems caused by injuries to those areas with these descriptions of dyspraxia and autism. What is Developmental Dyspraxia? Developmental dyspraxia is a disorder characterized by an impairment in the ability to plan and carry out sensory and motor tasks. Generally, individuals with the disorder appear "out of sync" with their environment. Symptoms vary and may include poor balance and coordination, clumsiness, vision problems, perception difficulties, emotional and behavioral problems, difficulty with reading, writing, and speaking, poor social skills, poor posture, and poor short-term memory. Although individuals with the disorder may b
Read more

Battlestar Galactica needs more colour?

By
Here are the letters I mentioned in the previous post. The one that started it (I'm guessing these letters were written after the show's first airing at the end of 2003): Galactica Needs More Diversity The problem I had with Battlestar Galactica was there were no major and very few minor African American characters. There were no Black men in the show at all or if they were, they had virtually no screentime. In the original series, Boomer and Tigh were both played by African American actors. In this rendition of Battlestar, those characters were played by Asian and White actors. In the Caprica city, there no African American extras. On the Galactica's bridge, there was only one African American actress. Another Black actress could be found playing a religious official that swore in the new President of the colonies. This was very troubling to me. Do you not want African Americans to watch your show? Do you want to project the idea that African Americans are not part of the
Read more