Job 13 & 14; Acts 17& 18

Ranted yesterday about the Bible….hey it’s my blog I can rant if I want to right?? Don’t have any kind of balance at relating how I feel about something , without waiting to say something until I bust, like a volcano or blow everyone over with my emotions like an open fire hose. The passion that rises up in me scares me the wake it has left / leaves, and that’s passion which is from Him....what about the hard hearted and unaware wake I leave?? (ouch)

Ouch…..Acts 17: 21 (All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.) Here's someone with a place / ideas...to maybe do more than ...nothing...

And the whole following passage……Acts 17:22 Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: "Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.
24"The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. 26 From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. 27 God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 28 'For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.'
29"Therefore since we are God's offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by man's design and skill. 30 In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 31 For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead."
32 When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, "We want to hear you again on this subject." 33 At that, Paul left the Council. 34 A few men became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others.

It’s about a journey, a learning to seek outside of ourselves while taking an internal look that, without Christ scares the hell out of you or completely defeats you. What does that first step look like for people?? For me it was realizing the religion I had wasn't filling the hole....taking what I learned in and from the religion....recognizing that there was a hole and how I sought to fill it and looking deeper and further from what I knew into .....a whole lot of stuff I didn't know, admitting I didn't know and quieting everything that came up in me with that admission....wanting to hear more on the subject...and then....well....

It’s about we who know, have found, have been found living in the security of that and growing there becoming more and more outer focused and loving…less self protective and confident in Him who protects us …..it’s about a journey and keeping the end in mind choosing every moment to believe in that which is pretty unbelievable. That He could love us THAT much.

A good friend just emailed me : Becky, How do you know God loves you? Do you experience it or just believe it?

I started about 6-7 years ago wanting an 'experience' like my friend Mardy who said she 'actually felt Jesus arms wrapped around her'…so I started like I said about 5-7 years ago maybe wanting to be held in His lap....It never happened….but in seeking that I got to the place where I KNEW/KNOW He loved me

When Dara was almost hospitalized w/depression, I was told I couldn't give away what I didn't have…….I wanted it for her and IF I had to have it first then……

I don't know / remember if they were at the same time or which came first but in those experiences a seeking heart was born and I really believe a seeking heart HE NEVER DENIES….

Does that answer your question….and THANK YOU for the blessing of being asked and having to TRY to put it into words…..