I serve a powerful God

Chorale is finally over and done with; the Celebration concert was tonight. I followed it up with little pool [for the first time in a while] with Richard; it's been a tiring day. I'm sure I'll miss it given some time but right now, I'm not.

One of the most comforting thing I've learned about God is that He is not constrained by my actions (in inaction) in his working out what He knows is best for me even though I, in my shortsightedness, don't understand it. Though I delay for a week, a month, or even a year or more, He has ways to make it happen. Whether through the agency of others or through His orchestration of circumstances, He's kept me from both things and people that would destroy my soul if given the chance. But the wonderful thing is, the reverse applies even more; He is not restrained in His bringing of good into my life by my own inactions brought on by fear, inhibition, or failure of faith.

If you think God is waiting around for your cooperation to save you or to put virtue into your life, then you're worshiping a figment of your imagination.

Romans 8 is the only real foundation for a "if I had it to do over, I wouldn't have it any other way" life. There is no thing that did happen that could have made my life better than it is right now, because if there were, He would have made it happen. If He's taken something away, then it was going to do you harm. It's the only way you can say with any conviction at all -- "the Lord gave and the Lord has taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord."