What I need more than anything right now is "God's perspective."

If I want my with-God-life to head in a certain direction ... if I want my with-God-life to be defined by certain things along the way ... if I want my with-God-life to end up at a certain place ... then it matters how I think, which way I head, which way I steer my ship, which compass I look at, which maps I follow, which currents I travel, and which winds I turn my sails into.

"When you are feelin' really down,
read Job, and see what that guy
had to go through!"
- Winston Groom, Forrest Gump

Groom's book is short but spicy, much better than the movie. Forrest is a man-child with a heart of gold, and more of an inner-longing for God than was portrayed in the movie. I haven't felt quite down enough to need to read Job for encouragement, but if that day comes, I think I'll take Forrest up on his advice.

Because again, most of the time, moving from doubt to hope and from obfuscation to clarity is more about "discerning God's perspective" than it is "needing some kind of brand new knowledge or revelation". So it was good to be reminded of this important truth this morning.

In his little book, The World As Best As I Remember It: Thoughts and Reflections, songwriter-singer-author Rich Mullins penned some words that give greater dimension to what Winston Groom was getting at ...

"God did not give Joseph any special
information about how to get from being
the son of a nomad in Palestine to being
Pharaoh's right hand man in Egypt. What
He did give Joseph were eleven jealous
brothers, the attention of a very loose
and vengeful woman, the ability to do
the service of interpreting dreams and
managing other people's affairs, and the
grace to do that faithfully wherever he was."

I want to wallow in this "grace" Mullins speaks of and calls us into. I want to be baptized in it – inviting it to saturate me and define me. Why? Because I believe there's a perspective God wants to bring into my heart and mind through this process that I won't be able to come by any other way.

In an exchange between Alice and the Cheshire Cat in his book Alice's Adventure In Wonderland, author Lewis Carroll tells us that where we're going at any given moment has got to dovetail with our goal of where we want to finish up at the end of all our given moments. Carroll writes …

"Which way do you want me to go?"
Alice asked the Cheshire Cat. "Would
you tell me, which way I ought to go
from here?" "depends a good deal on
where you want to get to," said the cat.
"Oh, I don't care much where," said Alice.
"Then it doesn't matter which way
you go," replied the cat.

We have nine engaged couples at Ogden Church right now. Instead of trying to do six individual counseling sessions with each couple, I started a class. This saves me time and helps build relationships between the couples ... a relationship they're wanting to continue by beginning a young married couples small group in the Fall. Yippee ... mission accomplished!

This morning I've been working on tonight's fourth-session; weaving some of these thoughts into what I'll share with them tonight ... and so I thought that I'd share some of them here. Godspeed.

read.think.pray.live.

Gregg