"Constriction..........................."

Brian McLaren’s “Generous Orthodoxy” is a walk on the wild side for anyone so immersed into their denominational identity that they no longer have ears to hear. He’s, no doubt, one of those whom my old-time holiness heritage warned me about decades ago, fearing any consumption on my part of whatsoever literature other than my Bible would have me backslid before I even knew what had happened. Maybe they were right. Looking around, though, I no longer see anyone at all who still resembles the old crowd. Indeed, time seems to have changed all of us in one way or another… In McLaren’s book, he points to a young snapping turtle that was found by someone in Florida. It was maybe a foot long in size, but, as a hatchling, had somehow acquired a plastic ring around its girth, one of those that white arrangements holding together a six-pack of soda. Growth continued, but with disfigurement, the shell pressured into a figure eight; and that image stuck in my brain at the moment... While I recognize the need for truth to “hold up our pants”, yet if it be no more than a man-made doctrinal noose set in cement, sooner or later we, too, like the turtle, are hindered in maturing, we, too, will die not looking much like the original blueprint. Give me an adjustable belt, His tug on the anchor line, and enough good sense to follow His opinion rather than my own. One thing is for sure: whatever just sits still, if nothing else, usually develops a bad odor over a period of time……