A Morning Full of Contemplation

This morning has been quite interesting.

Up early as the pup seemed hungry at about 4 a.m., which is her pattern. First a faint growling in her cage in the corner of the bedroom. Then, if the response from her sleeping owners is insufficient, a small bark that grows sharper until I awake. LaDonna sleeps with earplugs!

Once CoCo has eaten and taken the backyard stroll for her morning relief, she sleeps until she hears the kitchen door creak, her favorite guardian then enters the area where I do my devotions. Such is my life these days.

This morning my read was in Psalm 102, a lament on aging, as well as a prayer for future generations.

Meanwhile, current events remind me of just how much our world is changing, fear seems to be growing, with hope placed more in politics than God?

Global economies are merging of necessity given evermore shrinking and shared resources, particularly around petroleum.

Not only is gasoline higher, but fertilizer now is becoming scarce, the food chain soon at risk we are told.

The once stabilizing force, at least in our land, the institutional church, is more divided than ever. Politicized in such a way, as those teetering on mental imbalance feel the need to act.

Such was the case with the weekend assassination attempt. What a loss of human potential!

Still yet, those of us sufficiently provided for, move on through life as though this too shall pass. My wife and I attended a gathering at a local winery after church yesterday. Great band, great friends.

Uhmmm?

Meanwhile, inside this old man is a gnawing awareness of a dramatic change now occurring unlike any of my near 78 years.

I am hoping for a positive transformation given that my 10 & 12 year old grands will have to navigate this new America, "should the Lord tarry" (words my parents always heard)!

As my scripture read this morning incubates within my spirit, a reality grips me as to just how much evidence has been lost from their last days theology, which seemed always to assure my parents' journey.

That takes me back to my Pentecostal heritage and stories both witnessed, and shared by my elders. Stories of miraculous healings, even among some, the dead raised.

Those stories carried my parents and their parents through WWII, convincing them of "One nation under God", so prosperous was the recovery, that the gospel's delivery to other nations was well funded and with a passion, even signs following.

I listened again this morning to Reinhardt Bonnke's story of the Assemblies of God missionary, Louis Graf, who visited the village in East Germany where his grandfather lived, the old man under such pain that the villagers could hear him crying out from within his small home. The story goes that this evangelist was told of such, entered the home "took the ailing man by the hand and witnessed his full relief and restoration.

Grandson Bonnke would later go on to see such amazing manifestations as the one documented in Nigeria of a man already embalmed, three days dead, raised once his coffin was brought into the basement of the place where he was preaching.

https://youtu.be/cl5imat9A0g?si=oZGQ2hyNKa_m5Gjx

My heritage seems now lost to the degree that my readers may scoff at this post. Few Pentecostals can offer such evidence of miraculous manifestation among today's churches, and in most cases no desire for such teaching.

Meanwhile, politicized religious bickering prevails, arousing young men like the aforementioned assassin who attempted to remedy his fears with weaponry.

Still others, are believing either a "rapture" soon or that God has somehow empowered politicians with remedy, boasting biblically of our Department of War now ironically engaged in a conflict between the three monotheistic Abrahamic religions, neither of the three aligned with the Christ.

Maybe God is up to something again?

"We can’t attack fear head on. We can’t simply say to ourselves, “Don’t be afraid” because it doesn’t work. It isn’t that simple. We have to go deeper, be curious about where the fear is coming from, and trust God with it." - Richard Rohr