Happy Day!

 (While I am lounging at the beach, my blog administrator (aka Carey) is holding down the fort.  I wrote this in 2007, and it remains just as true today.)

I don't know why, it just is! Well, actually, I do. It's a happy day because God is good, good, good. If I scrolled back through my posts (or your posts for that matter), I would take an emotional roller-coaster ride through the ups and downs that are a natural part of being human on this earth. My God, however, never changes. He is Everlasting, Constant, Patient as All Get-Out, and Sweet. Say it out loud: Everlasting, Constant, Patient as All Get-Out and Sweet. How has He been courting you lately? Tell me please, I'm dying to know. I do believe he's courting each of us, like the (everlasting, constant, patient and sweet) Gentleman that He is, but yet in so many different ways. Tailor-Made Courting. I know that He courts at least one of you through emotional experiences. He courts me that way, too, sometimes, but more often through my brain. Through the Elie Wiesel book, The Time of the Uprooted, He courted me. He showed me that He is Everlasting. That He was indeed there for the victims of the Holocaust, that He remains there for His chosen people, many of whom have never, ever sought His face. He is Eternal. Say it out loud: Eternal. Then think about what that means. Generally, I think of the future when I think of eternity. But think backwards instead. God is Eternal. He has always been.

I have been studying the prophesies of the Old Testament, have recently read a book on Mormonism, have read extensively on the Jewish people and faith, and have come to this conclusion. God IS. I cannot believe that He was once a man, as the Mormons do. It doesn't fit with his Character. I believe that salvation by faith, through grace, is the only way to Heaven. I believe that every other religion on earth seeks salvation through works. I believe that God, in his perfection, cannot be in the presence of sin, and therefore, in order to be in His presence, our sin must be paid for, eradicated, canceled out. I do not believe there is anything we can do to pay for our sin, but that we must simply accept the grace offered to us by Jesus on the cross. I do believe that the prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, even David, spoke of Christ when they told of the Messiah's coming, hundreds of years before Jesus walked on the earth. I do believe that God, throughout eternity, has had a plan for the salvation of not just His chosen people, but for all who would come to Him. I believe that the bible is the true, true, true, LIVING Word of God, throughout the Old and New Testaments, that it is its own best commentary and proof, that if we would only take the time to dig in, God will speak to each of us through it.

I do not understand everything, but I understand enough to believe and to trust in the inherent, complete GOODNESS of my God. I believe, with all my heart, that His love for you is personal, intimate, and unchanging. I believe that He is courting you, and I hope that you respond and take the time to explore the depths of His love.