"Medicine..........................."

”Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God; but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables; that seeing, they may see and not perceive; and hearing, they may hear and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted and their sins should be forgiven them”…..Mark 4:11-12

Still chewing on Tony’s thoughts concerning what Jesus meant in the above portion of Scripture, I circled the soccer field Friday afternoon silently talking to the men at the mission. The last time we were there, one fellow came to Dave afterwards confessing his conversion to Christ as a child, but also acknowledging a twenty-year addiction to drugs, his understanding of him being “saved” requiring some instantaneous victory over the latter. My view of the Gospel message, however, is a bit different, allowing for a walk with the Holy Ghost, a journey wherein an inner work is ever in progress, His patience willing to take us just as we are if we are but willing to give ourselves in a surrender of who and what we are, committing our stumble unto His grace. What’s more, I believe that the kingdom is won more so out of individual struggles than it is out of religious institutions that tend to get all wrapped up in organization and ego, losing sight of the personal pieces of the puzzle. I see it in the Church. I see it in government. The world around us right now is in a mess, people looking for answers, economically, socially, the nature of the beast revealed in widespread riots and war. Here at home, we are divided right down the middle. The solution, though, it seems to me, is not a matter of “who” occupies the office (and I’m talking about the whole can of worms up in D.C.), but “who” occupies the man (or woman) we have elected to sit in the seat. Never will we all think alike. We can, however, all know the same inner anchor-line and pray for each other as we go. The problem will not be cured merely with a ballot booth since the real root of the matter comes back to believers who think their faith no more than a doctrinal dogma held in their head rather than a Reality in their “belly” restored unto them via Jesus nailed to a Cross. If God IS "in" us, then it begins with “me”, leaven in the loaf, seed sown in the deepest part of who and what we are. It is a process, not an instantaneous transformation, yet it is contagious if that internal stream is allowed to come forth……