Khari’s Reviews > From the Front Lines > Status Update

"I have nothing against runners. Some of my best friends are addicted. I even tried the pursuit, waiting for that surge of ecstasy that my friends told me I would experience, only to find that the ecstasy came when I stopped running."

Let me tell you, I totally snickered when I read this. It's true!!!! I'm a sort of runner and the only ecstasy I get is when I finish, so I don't know what those people go on about.

"Do we value the comfort zones of being around 'our own kind'? Of hanging out with people who know us, understand us, think like us, and talk like us? No doubt! But if that clubishness causes us to ignore or, worse yet, look down on other clusters of people, then we have ceased to be followers of Christ. Those who value Christ more than the comfort zone of their own kind drop the nets of prejudice and insensitivity."

The thing that struck me about today's reading was his ascertain that people will not come to believe in Christ, even if he does a miracle in their lives. That's really quite true. And I think he defined the reason for it very well, if we acknowledge that God exists, then we also have to acknowledge that he has a right to intervene in our lives, and we just don't want that.

"God is rarely embraced because the evidence weighs in His favor. God is denied because we do not want Him interfering in our lives."

The world is a truly terrible place, full of pain, fear, destruction and hatred, and yet good things happen to us. Why do we as humans never stop to try and explain the good things? They are taken as a given, to be expected, we deserve to have good things happen to us. We expect everyone to treat us well, even though we don’t treat others well. Why is it? Pure egocentrism?

Ah. I am so glad I am home and can start reading this again. It’s a good book. Sometimes it’s encouraging, sometimes it’s thought provoking. Today it fell on the thought provoking side. Why do we always assume that we are owed blessings and happiness? We rail at God and ask him ‘why?!’ when bad things happen, but we never stop to ask ‘why?’ when good things happen. Why is that? I mean just look at the world...

Ah. I am so glad I am home and can start reading this again. It’s a good book. Sometimes it’s encouraging, sometimes it’s thought provoking. Today it fell on the thought provoking side. Why do we always assume that we are owed blessings and happiness? We rail at God and ask him ‘why?!’ when bad things happen, but we never stop to ask ‘why?’ when good things happen. Why is that? I mean just look at the world...

Ah. I am so glad I am home and can start reading this again. It’s a good book. Sometimes it’s encouraging, sometimes it’s thought provoking. Today it fell on the thought provoking side. Why do we always assume that we are owed blessings and happiness? We rail at God and ask him ‘why?!’ when bad things happen, but we never stop to ask ‘why?’ when good things happen. Why is that? I mean just look at the world...

...smart we are, because that is the kind of thing we seek affirmation for in life.

And that's really true, those are the kinds of things that we, or at least I, seek affirmation for. But do I want written on my tombstone, 'she read a lot of books'? No. I want to be remembered for more noble things, good things, how I lived, well, then, I need to act in that way.