Your Aunt C sounds like a real cool lady D.
She really is.
I’d love to go see her perform.
You should do that! Just check out her calendar that lists her upcoming performances on her website www.cynthiascott.com., you never know when she’ll be in a city near you.
Alright I will! And you’re right about the invaluable strength gained by seeing someone else pioneer a new frontier..it’s a strengthening thing that let’s others know they CAN achieve.
Already.
Do you have any musical talents?
What do you mean?
You know..can you sing or play any instruments?
Nahh..the best thing I can do with music is listen.
Can you paint?
You mean like painting a picture?
Yeah.. Nope..the creative talents that God blessed me with, is pretty much what you’re reading.
Well..writing is a creative talent too..everybody can’t put their thoughts on paper.
Sometimes I can’t either!! (laughing)
Why not?
I dunno…it’s just that sometimes I have feelings that words can’t quite express.
You seem to do a good job of expressing yourself to me.
Thanks for the compliment, but I’m still a work in progress, the more I write the more I learn different methods of getting my thoughts across to the reader. Writing is a very exposing experience that will leave you feeling vulnerable.
Vulnerable?
Yeah…when you bare your soul for others to see..it’s kinda like going up on stage butt naked.
(smiling) Hey..you know what they say, ‘to much is given, much is required’. You’ve got a very real voice and a very real experience that can help a lot of people along their journey.
I know, I’ve accepted my calling to discipleship, otherwise I would have never had the courage to jump out there into the public eye.
You’ve accepted your call to discipleship?? What are you talking about?
I’m talking about that quote from Jesus you just used.
You mean, ‘to much is given, much is required’??
Yeah.
JESUS said that??
Yeah, that’s from His parable of the faithful servant found in Luke 12:47,48 And that servant which knew his master’s will and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required and to whom men have committed much, of him men will ask more.
I never knew that’s where that saying came from.
I didn’t either..until I became a disciple of Christ and started studying to show myself approved.
Why do you call yourself a disciple tho? I thought Jesus already had His 12 disciples??
The word ‘disciple’ means ‘learned one’. When you have a Master that you are studying under, you become His disciple. Jesus had (and has) a lot more than just the 12 disciples. It's just that of all His disciples, the 12 listed in the Bible were among His 'closest' circle. That's why they're apostles, because they were 'near' Him.
How do you know all of this??
I read the Bible daily.
I thought you said you already read the whole Bible??
I have..but being a disciple of Christ is not a static position, you have to study and keep moving from glory to glory everyday. We are not saved, we are being saved.
Yeah well..you already know how I feel about Christianity..I mean it’s all good for anybody to worship God the way they feel like worshipping Him, but I think Christians are too self-righteous and hypocritical..especially with all those forehead slapping, ‘You are HEALED in the name of JEEZUS!’ phonies we see on TV all the time. Then you add in all those holier than thou Christians that are so set on telling everybody how we’re going to hell if we don’t pay tithes and go to church.
What makes you think they’re Christians?
They CALL themselves Christians!!
That’s why you need to read the Bible for YOURSELF!! That way you’re prepared to recognize people who are talking out the side of their neck. Just because someone has a cross around their neck and a Bible in their hand doesn’t mean they’re followers of the Lord.
That’s what I’m talking about!!
But yet, you let these false teachers and false preachers give you a reason to not seek the Lord for yourself? Don’t you know that that’s exactly what Satan wants you to do?
It’s not just that though, I mean, from what I understand, Jesus was cool and all, but I just can’t see how He can claim that He is the ONLY way to God.
Yeah..that was one of my hang-ups before I submitted to His will.
What made you submit??
There wasn’t just one particular incident like a burning bush or anything like that, I mean, I grew up going to church every Sunday. But as I got older and more educated, I started reading and being exposed to other people and religions that seemed just as, if not more devout to the Lord than Christians. So I stepped back from the Christian faith and I just tried to focus on God…or at least that’s what I had fooled myself into thinking.
What do you mean ‘fooled yourself’?
Well, I realized that I was really just hiding in idolatry.
Huh? You started worshipping golden calves or something?
Nah..I started worshipping myself. Everything was about me..my time..my money..my life. It’s very easy to put the Lord off and give Him that lip service ‘Yeah, I believe’ and then just go on about your business doing whatever it is you do. Seeing all those boom-shaka-laka yoyo’s claiming to be preaching the Word of God while driving their fleet of Rolls Royce’s made it that much easier for me to shun any form of worship or praise. ‘They ain’t real’ and just let every day pass without taking time out to acknowledge how good God has been to me. In my mind, I’d keep on doing it like I was doing it and then when I got older and unable to really have FUN like a young man can have fun, then maybe I’d start getting closer to God the closer I got to death. I had it all figured out.
I know what you mean. What made you turn that corner?
I just got to a point in my life when I felt tired and out of control, a raft out at sea without any sail, motor or oar..just drifting aimlessly and helplessly. I realized that I didn’t control anything and I had a thirst to grow closer to the Lord..so that’s when I got down on my knees and prayed to God for guidance and understanding..and that’s when I picked up my Bible and began reading it from front to back.
Yeah..but who says the Bible is THE Word of God? I mean, I know it has some good stuff in there, but you gotta admit that man has changed it over the years.
Yeah..I had that same hangup too…until I read it with a teachable heart.
Teachable heart?
Yeah..instead of reading the Bible trying to find errors, I read it seeking understanding, and when I learned about Abraham and his son Isaac, Jacob and his offspring that made up the 12 tribes of Israel, the captivity in Egypt, the exodus through the wilderness, Joshua leading the children into the promised land, the judges, the kings and all the prophets of the Old Testament..well then I began to see and understand God’s ‘gameplan’. He’s always promised us a Messiah that would be sacrificed for ALL mankind, not just Jews, and Jesus fulfilled that promise.
But what about the translations of the Bible? Don’t you see how evil men could manipulate it for their own personal gain?
Yeah..but you also must admit that if you believe that God has a Word for His children that He would make sure it stayed intact and impervious to Satan and his legion of demons in their attempts to distort or destroy it. "The grass withereth and the flower fadeth, but the word of our God shall stand forever." – Is 40:8 God’s Word can’t be faded mane. And a lot of those claims that people had about the Bible being ‘changed’ were disproved when they found the Dead Sea Scrolls, which were around during the time Jesus walked the earth. When they matched it up to the Old Testament we have today, it was practically identical, save for a few grammatical discrepancies common when translating from one language to another.
What about the New Testament? That’s when Jesus first showed up right?
Wrong! Jesus has always been here, even in the Old Testament, and not just all the prophecies of His coming to earth, but even back in Genesis 1:26a "And God said, Let US make man in our own image, after our likeness.” God’s existence as the Father, Son and Holy Spirit has always been since eternity past..and when you consider that humans exist in 3 parts: mind, body and spirit, you can have a better understanding. Abraham was the father of faith who, in a form of prophetic foreshadowing, was willing to sacrifice his son Isaac for the Lord. Because of his trust and faith in the Lord, God blessed Abraham and then God took it a step further when He sacrificed His only begotten Son on the cross at Calvary. Throughout Scripture, blood sacrifices are required for the atonement of sin, Jesus shed His spotless blood for ALL of us, and through Him we are saved.
I dunno that’s still a leap of faith to make..I guess I need to start reading my Bible huh?
Yeah..you can’t get around that one. If you’re really serious about knowing God for yourself, then you HAVE to pick up that Word and study it. Because if you don’t, you won’t be able to discern the true Spirit of the Lord. You’ve got to know Him for YO-SELF mane!
