What a day! When a fella expects to go home from work at a decent hour, sometimes he gets surprised and has to spend the better part of a day waiting. And waiting, and waiting and waiting! A few hours on Saturday afternoon turned out to be 17 hours extending to Sunday morning and no chance to enjoy church. And we missed the morning with our regional Bishop and the results of the pastoral preference vote! But Im sure Gods will was done. But as I sat at home after finally returning, a piece of sage advice came to mind that has stayed with me for a long time. In the movie, Rudy a young Rudy Ruttiger was in deep conversation with Father Cavanaugh. He asked if hed prayed enough and received the reply, Im sure thats not the problem. The wise old priest went on to say that we pray in our time - God answers in His time. Sometimes we get anxious wondering if God has heard us and what the delay is. Now theres something Ive never figured out, as able as I am to figure things out. I learned a long time ago to pray as if Hes already answered and to exercise the faith God has blessed me with. Ah, but sometimes our faith is tested and theres good reason for that. Spiritual muscles must be exercised, worked hard to make sure their strength is maintained and grows. Body builders work unimagineably hard and they must constantly add to the load to make sure their muscles continue to grow bigger and stronger. Saw an old picture of Arnold Swartzenegger the other day and I marveled at his development. Spiritual mucles are the very same. They have to be worked harder and harder or they wither and die. When I was a young fella (or should I say younger) I wanted to be like a group called The Power Team. They traveled all over demonstrating feats of strength to illustrate the need for strong spiritual bodies. I did manage to increase my strength in a few areas. Age and diabetes put the whammy on that idea, but I had managed to leg press weights that an aerobics guy could NOT move. Seems God had other ideas - kinda like changing your sermon just as youre ready to give the title! I dont begrudge God for that decision one bit. Oh, Ill admit it gave me fits from time to time, but my thoughts always went back to the premise that God answers in His time and wisdom. I have even wondered why I am half deaf and what it would like to have normal hearing. I can imagine that some of you have similar ideas. But let me assure you that we have the better part - theres a whole lot out there not worth listening to! I said something to that effect to a deaf friend once and expressed a wish to be able to cancel all the garbage out. He suggested, tongue in cheek, we pray that Id become totally deaf. Great idea but God once again said, No! Joni Ericson Tada has never been healed of her paralysis but God has used her mightily . . . just as she is! Perhaps thats the plan for each of us. Praise God! Father Cavanaugh gave Rudy a piece of wisdom that has ruled his life ever since. He said, After 35 years of ecclesiatical study, I have learned two incontrovertible facts. There is a God . . . and Im not Him. Same for me. After years of study I have learned that there is a God and Im not Him. Thats why I keep going back to His classroom ! ! ! See you there. God bless yall real good!
Posted on: Mon, 24 Nov 2014 02:21:01 +0000
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