Skip to main content

Day 67, Conversations that Change Us: Predestination

Sunday night a good friend of mine who is a West Point Graduate, and Battery Commander (Pretty Sharp dude) said, "Hey, I have got a question for you...What do you think about predestination?" Now, in many circles this would be resolved with two likely responses.
1. "Well, I think we should just leave those doctrines that divide the churches alone and focus on what really matters."
2. "Well, I have never really nailed down what I believe and thus will continue talking to eventually change the subject."

I chose neither.

I could tell that he had really been thinking about this. This was not one of those 'stump the chump' questions. I smiled and decided I would let him fill out the question and talk his way through it. As he did so, I would smile and put a guard rail or would give him what various views were. His eyes widened as he just began to have a huge dialogue with himself. I could tell his conversation was shaking and solidifying some ideas. I said very little.

I smiled at the end of his self discovery. This conversation had shaped his thinking. I just was able to watch it happen in front of me.

Bottomline: Sometimes we can just be the quiet one and sometimes we need to be teacher. I am always humbled though when God begins to reveal Scripture to people and they have that "AH-HA!" moment right in front of me.

***Now what are my feelings about 'Predestination' you may ask yourself. My answer is simple. It took about 6 years to come to my convictions about it. It all started with a conversation with a guy named Paul, in Romans 9. I was 23 years old. I had a huge conversation with myself and God for 6 years.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 82, Mondays: LOL.

There are a few things that make me laugh out loud. A couple of TV shows, Heidi's antics, Jessica's story-telling...etc. But there is nothing better than having one of those belly laughing moments when you are really needing to just laugh. Laughing is a lot like crying, everyone needs a good one every now and then. So, in light of this thought, I will dedicate my MONDAY EDITIONS to LOL. Things that make me laugh. It might be a joke or two or just a goofy YouTube video, but either way, enjoy. ***************** Things That Make Me LOL. THIS WEEK: Charlie the Unicorn While we have been in the field training, I have had the strong desire to be serious about my work. Going to ranges and seeing soldiers takes up a majority of my time. Later in the evenings, as I have mentioned earlier I space out for just a few minutes and watch a couple of goofy YouTube videos between the meetings.  I stumbled across this, which is quite senseless and stupid...but after 30 days w/o your w...
4 comments
Read more

Day 76, Check and Recheck.

I think it would be safe to say that when you join the Army that if you are a touch OCD, you might find yourself better off than seen as abnormal. Checking and Rechecking your daily task is completely normal. What does this look like? Here is just a list of some of the daily questions tasks: How many alarm clocks have you set before you go to bed? I have 3. Before you pack to go on a trips, do you check tire pressure, oil, your safety/emergency kit,...make sure water and snacks are in reach, and a blanket is packed?  Maps, two routes, 1 extra oil qt, ...shall I continue? Do you have 3 daily planners (phone numbers, calendars, and to do task that are updated each morning simultaneously at 0600.) When you have an event, is arriving 25-30 minutes early completely normal? while arriving 5 minutes early is late? Do you have a routine for everything? Do you honk the horn just a little every time you back up? Do you check and recheck your wallet to make sure your wallet has your ...
4 comments
Read more

Day 69, Blog Wars of 2010, Craven vs. Craven.

I have had a great number of entries to the blogger thus far and feel that I am getting a little more adventurous in my writing. I have just about set a precedence of daily, leisurely, and thoughtful blogs. A good bit of daily hits... Yet, as most of you know, Jessica has just entered the same arena. I showed her around and then just like Wesley stealing the show from Whitfield, Jessica has decided to strategically steal the lime light. Here's what I have seen in her demise to destroy my empire: I noticed her pulling out blogger maps of recent bloggers. She is constantly trying to foil my writing by bringing me desserts just as I started writing. I also notice her constantly trying to 'be nice' to me when I settled down with a pen and paper to plot my course. The other day I knew something was odd, when she said 'Do you want to play your video games tonight?'...that's just not normal.  After helping her out with the backdrop and HMTL, I figured we had an allia...
5 comments
Read more