Welcome to my Corner

Hello friend. I'm so glad that you made it here to this blog, this little corner. Not knowing quite how to formally begin, please allow me take this moment to respond publicly to a request from a new acquaintance who had asked for my story. I think it will not only begin to answer him but also serve nicely as your introduction to who I am and what this blog will be about.

As you may have guessed from the blog title or by noticing the quote from Jeremiah under my cartoony self-portrait, I'll confirm that yes, I'm a Christian. I didn't say Catholic, Episcopalian, Southern Baptist, Apostolic Holiness, Primitive Snake-Handler or Word of Faith-er; I just said Christian. And by taking that title unadorned by denomination I mean this:

Some years ago while attending a weekly Men's Breakfast Bible Study with about 300 other males from our Church, one of the men in my small group put forth the greatest question I have ever been asked. "So, K___," this friend said, "How often do you read your Bible?"

"I'm not really that into it," I replied. World's Greatest Question, please meet World's Worst Answer.

"What?" he gasped. "You don't read your Bible? Well...why not?"

I proceeded to 'buckshot' my response, "Oh, the language is a kinda dry...I always seem to open up to the 'Begats'...I'm not sure what I as a 21st century man have in common with a bunch of sheepherders...I just don't have the time..." Mercifully, he decided to pounce on that one and cut my apostasy short before it became full blown blasphemy. "K___, you've got to make time...and look, as for all those other reasons, let me make it simple for you. Do you know what a 'devotional' is?"

Taking my embarrassed silence for his cue, he continued,"A devotional is a little book that has day-by-day Bible verses and a little story that either explains what the verse is about or gives you a little insight into how to apply that Word to your life. They've got 'em built around all kinds of interests: Discipleship, Stewardship, Fatherhood, why they've even got 'em for guys who golf or like football. Look around, find one that appeals to you and start there. But let me tell you the secret: when you like a particular story and and accompanying verse, and I mean a story and verse that really resonates with you, use that moment to open your Bible and read the verses that come before and after. Or better still, read the whole chapter that the verse is in. Either way, look at that verse in it's proper context and really allow your knowledge to grow. Lo and behold: you'll be reading your Bible and you'll find God really talking to you through His Word."

He was so kind and so sure and so encouraging in his explanation, that I decided that day to take up the challenge. I went to my local Christian bookstore and spent time thumbing through the many different devotionals before finally settling upon one that not only had a personal appeal but also matched up with the Bible translation I had. And it worked exactly as my friend had said. I'd spent about two weeks or so reading the verses and their accompanying stories, and then one day both story and verse came together in such a way that I simply had to see it in Biblical context. And once there, well...once I began to see the verses that spoke to my heart in their Biblical context, it was not very difficult to see myself in Biblical context.

We would all like to think of ourselves as not only the hero of our own story, but one of the 'good guys' in others lives as well. Yet as I read my Bible, I could see that I was not living my life as God required. I could see that all my good works were as filthy rags, all my associations and the work of my hands were at enmity with Him, and that my worship was a useless fire lit within a temple whose doors may as well have been shut for all the crippled 'honor' brought to God there. I was eventually led out of that Church and I wandered through a circuit of Churches both great and small, Para-churches, home-based Bible groups, thrill-seeking experiential Christian 'mystics' and the tutelage of would-be prophets and life coaches, settling in most recently under the pastorate of the "spiritual son" of one of the most blatant and notorious pimps ever to shame a pulpit.

This journey cost me everything: family, friends, careers, homes, vehicles and yes, Churches. It literally cost me a whole community. The only thing it did not cost me was the one gift that cannot be taken away: faith. Faith borne out of that daily immersion in the Word, a Word that allowed me to see my sin in it's fullness for the first time and see my need for a Savior. Faith borne out of repentance of sin and trust in the one who not only died for my sins but rose from the dead so that the words of the prophets would be made more certain. Faith, borne for Jesus Christ, Son of God, the author and perfecter of my faith, whose father so loved me that He sent this perfect son to be the propitiation for my sin. Faith, that was squeezed mightily and watered profusely with tears. Faith, that God will see you through such testing to make your faiths sure! AMEN!

Friend, I'm going to be covering a lot of ground here on this corner, although I couldn't tell you exactly what I'll be talking about tomorrow. One thing I do know: I'll be talking about God the Father, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, Scripture, Sin, Salvation, Faith, Heresy and Prophecy (not my own, despite the title). If you've seen my comments on other blogs, you'll know that while I do like to speak humorously, I take the topics mentioned above very seriously. And I'm certainly not above correction, so please comment freely. As all friendships do, we'll learn each other's boundaries as we go...