I’m Still Around
……and Life is being good to me.
Little Will, our newest grandson had his open heart surgery in early November and is doing wonderful. The doctors say he is the most successful case they have ever seen in reversing the "blue baby" conditions.
Christy, our daughter in Dallas, TX is pregnant with our sixth grandchild, a little girl who will be named Ella. We are all very excited.
Had a wonderful time sharing the boldgrace of God with a coworker the other day. He is changed forever.
I am on vacation now. I’m actually taking my last week of last years vacation which I never had an opportunity to take until now. I have a couple of really good buddies in nearby Pennsylvania that I think I’ll contact to try to get together for breakfast this coming Saturday.
Love all my friends here. Keep sharing God’s wonderful and bold grace.
Steve
So good to hear from you Steve and so glad that things are going well with your family. Nancy & I are also doing quite well and looking foward to each new day that comes.
PS. I would love to see some of your thoughts posted. I really miss all that you have to say about the wonders of this life.
Great to hear from you Steve! Next time you’re down this way, call..
Hey Steve!
I too am still around just too busy to post or comment very much
Peace
Geo
Don, I should be there the last week of July.
Steve,
Can you please give me an idea of how you went about sharing the boldgrace of God with your coworker? I’m interested in sharing with my family and co-workers as well, but I’m not sure how to begin. It’s funny to me, how I knew exactly how to “share” and what to say, when I was in fundamentalist christianity. Now, I’m not sure where to begin with folks, because to be completely honest, I’m not 100% sure what I believe from one day to the next.
Anyway, if you have time, I’d love to hear how the conversation with your co-worker went.
Thanks,
Jason
p.s. Glad to hear your grandson’s surgery went so well.
Jason, this particular time it was with a co-worker who is a member of a very prominent denomination. It began with a discussion of the recent events surrounding the inauguration of a new president and the new hope that this individual had for the future and from that I began to share the hope I have in God’s plan.
He knew that I once was a diligent church attender but I used this opportunity to share that my understanding of the real “good news” does not exclude those who do not attend church, have any particular faith or embrace any particular life style whether it is regarded good or bad by the religious mind.
One of my favorite ways to get people to think, especially if they are religious, is to simply ask the listener if they regard the cross and it’s promise of redemption as being as powerful as the events which took place surrounding Adam and the events in the garden of Eden. I have had no one argue with me when I present them with the idea that the work of Christ is far more powerful than the work that supposedly “cursed” mankind.
The great thing about the way I believe now is that I have no need to prove anything to anyone, debate them or to “win” them. There is no pressure….just the opportunity to present the hope of the peace that flows from knowing the scope of this awesome good news and the bold grace of our God….and to explain to them that they need to do nothing at all to benefit from it.
It’s really great fun when the opportunity arises and most people, religious or not, agree that what I am telling them really is good news. I couldn’t always say that when I preached the gospel as it was taught in church, especially when telling “the lost”. Treating all as accepted does wonders for opening their hearts….and possibly changing their minds in a very good way.
This is a great topic, thanks for bringing it up Jason. I’m finding especially recently that something is happening to people, their hearts are softer, they ‘open up’ quicker and are prepared to alter their way of thinking, just as Steve mentioned in his reply to you. I think they are being prepared already by the spirit. It’s got nothing to do with what topic we bring up or how we engineer the conversation to get to what we wish to share – more often than not using this method, we just end up ‘off-loading’ and they don’t get the ‘good news’ at all, or if they do it’ll be just in their heads. It’s their hearts that have to be reached. Reaching that spirit part of them has to come from the spirit part of us. So, it’s just like wanting to give a gift. Our heart is touched by the person and by speaking out what we feel, we connect with that person in the spiritual realm where he/she can ‘hear’ and ’see’. As we follow the spirit, that is speak out what we feel, the conversation will open up very naturally and you’ll be surprised and amazed at what you will say and what you will see, because you also will receive an uplifting gift. Try it Jason, just take them deeper to their hearts. And remember, not everybody has ‘been prepared’, for some it is not yet their time, but as you follow your heart feelings, you’ll soon get to know the soft hearts that are ‘prepared’.
Jason, I’m not sure my former comment was much help but let me just add that I too am not sure what I now believe day to day but my belief that God is truly good will not permit me to believe that any plan He has for any of us could be anything but good…..just like Him.
That makes it easy to look at any potential listener to what I might have to say concerning this gospel as an eventual recipient of His goodness…..and one of my “family” members.I guess I probably sound way too simple for some but being rather child-like in my way of thinking has made my life easier to face. Who knows….maybe I can make it easier for someone else too.
If there is anything we all need right now (especially after listening to the news) it is a little good news. I’m just glad I have learned to permit it to flow from my own heart and not think that I must receive it from a pulpit.
Steve and Audrey,
Thank you both for your answers. I appreciate you both for taking the time to respond.
Jason
Steve,
So glad to hear about all of your good news! I hope you have a wonderful vacation!
Thanks Mindy, the weather here is pretty nasty but it’s fine for just staying in and doing nothing so I am enjoying my time off.