Thanks.

We say God is "good," but that's not true...at least not our "good."  God IS, and that's all.  God is good because he creates, defines, and strengthens goodness in love.  God defies "good."

I saw a shirt that said: "God is good all the time."  It frustrated me.

It didn't frustrate me because I'm angry at God, or because I don't like the person wearing the shirt.  It frustrated me because it's an oversimplification of God.  It's a statement that gives God a box that we created and tells him: "You fit in here.  I know you do, because I measured."

Somewhere, there is a Christian being tortured, and eventually killed for their belief.

Somewhere there is a child being stolen with the intention of being sold for unthinkable purposes.

Somewhere there is a person praising God for winning a basketball game.

God has power over all these things.

Since my daughter was born, I've found myself wondering how I would survive God's passivity if she ever needed him, and no one else would or could fill in.


I don't know that I understand God, but I think the biggest step I've ever taken in my faith was to let go of God being "good," and believing that God was what I am missing.


For whatever reason, God lets the bad guys win sometimes.  Outside of the bubble of America, they win a lot more.  I don't know why humans have been given so much freedom to butcher, rape, and destroy one another.  Anyone that says they do, is lying.


What I have learned for myself is this:  Peace comes from God.


The Bible is not a history book, and it can't be used as a substitute for a real conversation with God. It can not be used to defend or defeat God.  There are stories in the Bible as terrible as some in the Koran.   The Bible, just like all other books on earth was written by men.  It's a diary written by people that witnessed God's power.  It's like reading a love letter from me to my wife without knowing either of us.  The Bible is a tool.  God is the power.  The only way to understand the love letter is to talk to the person it's about.  God is there, pull up a kneeling pad and sit a spell.


I know that Christ has spoken to my heart in the past.  I know this because those were the only times that I knew I could walk out of the hurricane without climbing out through the eye.  Those times weren't good because I got a great result, they were good because my peace wasn't reliant on that good answer.


I wish I could have that wisdom all the time, but usually I whine like a sissy any time God doesn't take care of me the way I think he should.


I praise God for the peace my life has experienced, and beg mercy for my ignorant expectation of anything greater because I "deserve" it. I praise God for the hope of righteousness gaining victory over serpents, and humbly pray that I might one day be a part of the destruction of evil.  I praise Christ because for whatever reason he stepped beyond all other "gods" and walked among his creation.  I am a Christian because he fought, and suffered, and forgave, and sacrificed himself for a mocking creation.

If there where another god, I would NOT follow him.  How could I follow a god so inferior to Christ?  If Christ isn't God, then I won't worship one.