"Prophesy......................................."

Some serious thunderstorms blew through our area early this morning, catching me in the middle of an errand for my wife, one requiring me, twice, to abandon my car for a few moments and simply endure the downpour. Back home again, I found the microwave, electric stove, and my computer all in need of a little readjusting due having suffered a temporary power loss; and it would be mid-afternoon before the grey, overcast skies parted to permit the sun any reign over the neighborhood. Lucky me: Puttering around with some of my plants just outside the front door, then, staking a few back into an upright position after the torrential rains had beaten them to the ground, I brought my hand near the opening of a gutter downspout and, with no warning, was suddenly attacked by wasps inhabiting such unthinkable domain. One hit my palm, his sting immediate and strong, but I did manage to outrun the others, escaping back into the house… Last night, during mid-week service, another “bolt from the blue” caught me by surprise. When you’re dealing with words, it’s quite easy for those receiving the message to hear it “in their own tongue”, to interpret it as they perceive it to be. In pointing us to Matthew and his having been called by Christ in spite of his vile status as a tax collector, the assistant pastor had me on the edge of my seat for most of his sermon. He went far beyond the truth of the Gospel being an offer unto whomsoever. He brought it forth in terms of the only difference between the alcoholic, the homosexual, the druggie, the prostitute, the guy-in-the-street and the believer being a “re-established connection” with the Creator, the addition not making US any more righteous, any holier, but the addition, itself, being a Reality who embodied such traits, a Grace whose manifestation through us would witness for itself. For a few minutes Wednesday evening, the clouds rolled away and God’s light shined in the darkness, or at least truth as I’ve long seen it to be……